Lesson Four: Everything You Need to Know About Point of View

Establishing your point of view, or abbreviated into POV, is one of the very first things you will do as a writer, and usually you will do it within the first two paragraphs of your story. Many aspiring, young writers make many mistakes when it comes to POV, and believe me, I am not an exception. To this day, I catch myself in a pitfall in regards to POV.

In this lesson, we will go over what a POV is, the types of POV and thoroughly go through each one, and some of the major pitfalls with each one. I may use some examples from my own writing as well. So get ready for a long lesson! (Credits to thewritepractice, a website I use often to help write these lessons)

What is POV?

Point of view for a creative writer is this: the narrator's position in the description of events.

I have also seen this referred to, albeit rarely, as "narrative mode." 

POV is basically who is telling the story. Whoever tells the story means everything and the reasoning is that whoever's view it is, you have to filter the story and the writing through that POV.

What are the 4 Types of Point of View?

1st Person POV: When "I" am telling the story. The character is in the story, relating his or her experiences directly. This is not a dig at novices, but many writers starting out will begin with 1st person because it's the most comfortable/perhaps the easiest and does not require expanding on (meaning with other characters actions outside was is known or other characters' thoughts etc.)

2nd Person POV: When the story unfolding is told to "you." While this POV generally not common within published fiction, it is very common (from what I've noticed) within fanfiction. To be specific, any time with a character X reader story. (Ex: my Levi X Reader one shots)

3rd Person Limited POV: When the story is about "he" or she." I see this the most for commercial fiction (published books). The narrator is outside of the story and relating the experiences of a character. This could be actually someone in the story who relates the story to the audience from a specific character because the narrator either knows the character or said character has told the story to the narrator person. Or it could just be a narrator that has no actual "place" within the story. 

3rd Person Omniscient POV: When the story is about "he" or "she." However, the narrator has full access to the thoughts and experiences of all characters in the story. I personally find this the most challenging POV to write in. Often the narrator is not a part of the story, or may be some higher power "observer" type (Ex: a god/angel/alien life form) and is explaining the story from all aspects.

Pronouns for Each POV

1st Person POV: I, Me, My

2nd Person POV: You, Your

3rd Person Limited and Omniscient POV: He/She, Her/His

see picture above

The Big No-No of POV

Before I explain what the "no-no" is, please understand...I do it. However, if you do this big "no-no", you have to be able to do it well (not that I'm saying I do, as I still need practice). You have to keep it consistent throughout the entire story, otherwise your readers will no longer trust the story at all.

So what is it?

Do not switch POVs in your story. Once you pick your POV, you're stuck with it. You can't start your story with 3rd person limited and then suddenly give your narrator complete omniscience. It's confusing to your readers if not done properly, especially if you don't make a clear indication of the change.

1st Person POV

This point of view is when the narrator is in the actual story. This narrator is telling the events of the story that pass through his/her eyes only.

Example: "Quietly, I picked up the vanilla folder in front of her and promptly whacked her across the back of her head with it. The pleasant music came to awkward halt because she had jumped slightly and slammed her fingers a little too hard on the keys. She jumped up from the stool and her eyes were wide, as if she were caught like a deer in headlights.

'Having fun?' I asked, making sure to keep my tone as deadpan as possible. "We didn't hire you to waste my time, you know.'"

From what I can tell, this POV is the most common in fiction, particularly with YA (young adult) fiction. Divergent, The Hunger Games, Twilight, The Fault in Our Stars, and If I Stay to name a few. To me personally, I also feel that 1st person POV is usually what most beginning authors start writing in, as it usually is the most comfortable for said writer.

This POV can be challenging though to some (like me). It requires the entire story to be filtered through only the narrator's eyes and through his/hers unique voice. This means that 1st person POV is not only completely biased, but it also means that the story is limited and has the potential to be unreliable. 

To expand, the narrator is biased about his/her opinions of the events unfolding and will differ from those of other character's in the book. The easiest example of this off the top of my head is from Twilight. Bella thinks Edward is charming, classy, and romantic, despite being a vampire. Jacob thinks that Edward is a creeper, dangerous, and unworthy of Bella's love. Two clashing views, but in the end, we follow Bella's biased view throughout the story. However, a well done novel written in this perspective is what many people love about 1st person; it gives a unique feel to the story because it is following the narrator's point of view.

1st person is limiting because the narrator cannot be everywhere at once in the story, which means as readers, we do not always (if ever) get every side of the story being told. The narrator is telling his/her story, not the story in full.

And finally, 1st person has the potential to be unreliable. There are authors that will use the limitations of this POV to basically surprise the readers. Meaning, eventually the audience find out the narrator was wrong about an event/person/etc and now this narrator cannot be trusted.

Two Pitfalls of 1st Person POV

The narrator is not likable: This is not to say your narrator has to be a hero or some sort of goody goody person. In fact, your protagonist can be an anti-hero or even the villain as long as you make your narrator interesting. No one wants to read a story from a character's eyes that they can't stand. *cough cough* Bella Swan??? 

The narrator tells but doesn't show: A major pitfall with this is that you are prone to spend little time on what the character/narrator is doing. To be clear, this means that many writers spend too much time in the protagonist's thoughts and will explain what he/she is thinking and feeling. Remember, actions speak louder than words do!

2nd Person POV

This point of view is not very common among the published world. In fact, I've only ever seen it used in nonfiction and in fanfictions. Ex: reader inserts. In this point of view, the narrator is relating the story as "you." This means that you are making the choices in the story, you are the protagonist, and you are moving through the plot.

Personally, when I first started writing in 2nd person, I found it extremely challenging. It is like 1st person, to some degree, but instead it's telling it through the reader's eyes. However, here is the good things about this POV: it's engaging, it makes the reader feel like they're in the story and experiencing the action, and the story becomes personal to the reader. Furthermore, it really does help your writing skills, as it is such an uncommon way to write/tell a story.

Example: "You poured another glass of water and finally went to check on Levi. The foul smell of vomit reached your nose and you automatically found yourself gagging. You had to back out of the bathroom for a moment to gather your wits; you took a deep breath to still your irritation and approached Levi's pathetic form on the floor."

The pitfalls of 1st person also apply here to 2nd person POV. Instead of I, it's you. With reader inserts, the writer still has to come up with a personality for the "you" character. So, make sure your "you" character is likable, and make sure you don't just get stuck inside the character's head (of "you").

Another one that I just realized that I do, is that although I'm telling the story of "you." I also tend to write the thoughts and feelings of Levi as well (in my Levi x reader book). This is technically NOT okay to do, because I'm not focusing on the "you" the character.

3rd Person POV

In this point of view, the narrator is outside the story and relating the experiences of the a character in the story. Generally, this narrator is not present in the story, although it could be told from an outside being observing the story and may be mention at the end of the story as a surprise or similar. The central character is not the narrator, to be clear.

Example: "Jiyong froze, his dark eyes fixed on her form that fit so perfectly next to his. A part of him wanted to wake her, to kiss her tenderly and hold her close, but the other part of him wanted her to rest. She had been working so hard the last few months. She deserved the time to relax and sleep in."

As shown, it shows the central character, Jiyong, and the narrator tells the audience what he is doing and and who he is with, without mention of you or I. He did such and such.

There are two types of 3rd person POV and they are as follows:

3rd Person Omniscient - The narrator has full access to all the thoughts and experiences of all the characters in the story.

 3rd Person Limited - The narrator has only some, if any, access to the thoughts and experiences of the characters in the story, often just to one character.  

Now, let me be very clear here. Most writers will write in 3rd person limited. It is far easier and frankly, cleaner. Usually, they will focus on telling the story of the central character and only show the reactions and actions of the supporting characters. Think Harry from Harry Potter. We follow the story of a famous wizard boy, through seven books. Yes, Hermione and Ron are also main characters. However, we do not get the inner workings of Harry's best friends' minds. We know what he thought of Ginny or Cho and how much he liked both girls, but we don't ever really know just what Hermione thought of Ron until it is shown to us through Harry's "eyes." That being said, the narrator is not Harry, it is an outside source. 

In 3rd person limited, it is perfectly okay to have access to the thoughts and feelings of more than one character, just not all of them. For example, if you were to do a reader insert, say Levi x reader, but you decided to write it 3rd person limited, it's okay to have access to both Levi and the reader's thoughts and feelings. In fact, it could be better that way because it allows you as the writer to show the audience what Levi is feeling internally instead of what he is showing externally to the reader.

Writing in 3rd person omniscient is difficult because that means you have to relate all the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story. That means all of them. Imagine writing a fantasy novel with so many varying people.... How could you possibly expand on the feelings and thoughts of that many people. So in an essence, there are very, very few novels written in this POV.

Going back and forth between all those characters and delving into their minds and thoughts would be exhausting. Not just for you, the writer, but for you readers as well. The story will lose its impact, its shock value, its intimacy because their is more focus on showing everyone's feelings and thoughts more than the actual scene at hand.

Imagine writing a death scene where five people witnessed it. It's a tragic death, meant to impact your audience and make them feel as if they lost someone real. Now imagine writing all those characters' thoughts, including the one who is dying. You would lose all the emotion in the scene just because you're trying to cover your grounds with each character. This would be what is known as "head hopping." DO NOT DO THIS.

To help new writers with 3rd person omniscient, I highly suggest you decide on which character you absolute full access to at all times. I read that it's best to focus on one character per chapter, not per paragraph before you switch to someone else's perspective.

Well, that just about covers everything. I think. Do you have any questions? Was it not explained thoroughly or properly? Let me know in the comments and I will help you out! 

Suggestions for Lessons would be lovely!