Point of View

 

Everyone has a point of view.

 The first draft may be trash, but it's better than nothing.

My talented writer-artist niece tossed this onto Facebook recently: “Got some more writing in. Big change from 3rd person . . . to 1st person POV!”

One of the most critical decisions a writer makes BEFORE putting words to manuscript is choosing the POV (Point of View.) How so?

The POV is the method used by the writer which allows the audience to listen in and watch as the plot unfolds. That could be one of three types:

    1) First-person (I, we)
    2) Second-person (you, your)
    3) Third-Person (he, she, it, they)

Which view the writer uses determines what the audience can or can not see, where they can travel within the story, and which minds can or can not be entered. Of all the players discussed in earlier eFiles, this is the first one selected for the story and determines how the story will be written. Let's look at each.


FIRST PERSON

Writing in the first-person means the narrator is also a player within the story whether that be the protagonist or some other player who takes actions, makes judgements, and expresses opinions. Typically, the audience only sees things through this set of “eyes” and can not become privy to the thoughts, feelings, or perceptions of other players. Within this construct, the narrator gives or withholds information based on a biased slant.

Some examples are:
1. The narrator as protagonist. (Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels.)
2. Another player privy to the thoughts and actions of the protagonist. (Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Homes series or Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby.)
3. The narrator reports the narratives provided by others (Mr. Lockwood in Wuthering Heights.)
4. The 1st person omniscient narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the other players. This is Rare. (The Book Thief. Here the narrator is Death. In The Lovely Bones, the narrator is a murdered girl making post-mortem descriptions.)

SECOND PERSON
This is a rarely used POV. Here the narrator refers to the reader as "you", therefore making the audience feel as if he or she is an actor within the story by making emotional comparisons between the thoughts, actions, and feelings of "you" versus "I". An example of this is Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney who creates an intense sense of intimacy between the narrator and the reader to feel a part of the plot.

THIRD PERSON
This POV is the most commonly used literary mode providing the greatest flexibility by using an omniscient entity who tells the story, but is not a player within the story. As if a god, they can go anywhere, any time, hear all, and see all.

ALTERNATING POV
This method switches the point of view between players. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Rick Riordan's The Heros of Olympus series do this.

In my story under construct, A Pirate's Legacy: Return of the Brethren, Third Person is used enabling the audience privy to the thoughts and actions of a number of other players depending on the action and location. While the story is linear, it jumps between what the protagonists (yes, there are two, father and son) are doing, and what other players are doing at other locations in support of the impending conclusion. The reader sees what is happening on the home front and the threat to the protagonists while away on the quest, events that have happened, what things are happening to each protagonist because they are not always together, and then how they deal with events upon returning home.

With this understanding it is possible to see how the choice of POV drastically effects the way the writer develops the story. The next choice to make is what “voice” to use and “time.” That's something for later.