Point of View - The Voice

Note: This eFile was posted 4/1/2014, but never made it out ??? So, we try again)

In an earlier post the discussion focused on Point of View, or the place from which the reader “listens in” and/or “watches.” This decision dictates how the story will be written. The next decision is what voice to use to convey the story.

Typically, the first or third-person POV narrator is a player who may or may not be involved in the action. In addition, they may or may not take a biased approach in telling the story, nor is the player necessarily the focal character. An example is Dr. Watson telling the story of Sherlock Holmes.

First-person is limited in that the story can only be told through the eyes of the teller (“I”) who can not truly know what others are thinking, or know about events taking place beyond their presence unless told by someone at that place (via phone, radio, telepathy, or what have you.)

Third-person telling uses “he", "she", "it", and "they", but not "I". Here the narrator is able to convey the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of one or more characters and relate events occurring in other times and places. Third-person is the most versatile in that the thoughts, feelings, and actions of all the characters can be detailed with the ability to jump from one location to another.

A widely-used format, this form can be subdivided into three classes. The first is third-person subjective where the storyteller is limited to one player (sometimes referred to as third-person limited). Although seeming to be a first-person mode, this form still uses third-person pronouns. Hemingway applied this in The Old Man and the Sea.

A second subdivision is third-person objective where the storyteller does not describe any character's thoughts, opinions, or feelings, thus sounding like a newspaper article or biography. Any feelings must be acted out by the player, and thoughts have to be vocalized, however information of which players are not privy can be revealed. The objective is for the storyteller to take a neutral or unbiased position and just relate the facts.

A third subdivision is third-person omniscient, the most commonly used in the late Nineteenth through Twentieth Centuries. The story is presented by a narrator who sees and knows everything within the the story world, and what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. Having this omniscient view, the storyteller can offer judgements and opinions about the behaviour of each player.

As example, I have written a series which utilizes both first-person, and third-person omniscient POV's. The first book takes place in our time period and is narrated in the first person by a character who is the focus of the story, David. By the end of the book he is joined by the ghost of his deceased ancestor who collaborates in telling his story which takes place in the early 1600's. That book (Volume 2) is told in the third person by David as his ancestor now knows everything that happened. The series then alternate.

While people will use different terms or refine subdivisions (splitting hairs) these are two of the three basic tools as relate to the Point of View a writer can use. The last is time which will be explored next.