Point of View in Fiction Writing

Picture this: you’ve just come up with a brilliant story idea. You’ve gathered your journals, opened your word document, and you’re ready to get started. What’s the first thing you do? If you’re a pantser, maybe you just start writing. If you’re a plotter, maybe you build a detailed outline. But at what point do you consider point of view?

Point of view (POV) is one of the most important decisions an author can make for their story, yet it’s often eclipsed by more “exciting” things like world building, magic systems, and love interests. In fact, most authors simply default to one, familiar POV (most commonly third person close). I believe that knowledge is power, and understanding the different POV types is one of the most valuable tools in a writer’s toolbelt. Let’s talk about the three major points of view, variations within them, and how you might use POV more intentionally.

Point of View: Three Major Types

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been writing a story that just didn’t. feel. right. After hours of head-scratching, tweaking sentence structure, and adjusting plot lines, I almost always come to the same conclusion: the POV I’ve chosen isn’t working for the story I’m trying to tell. Understanding POV–and intentionally choosing your POV before you ever put pen to paper–can save you so much time and grief. What’s more, the right POV is often the difference between a lackluster story and an immersive reading experience.

First Person

A story told from first-person POV uses the “I” sentence construction and first-person pronouns (e.g. “me,” “my,” “mine”). In this POV, the story’s events are told through the lens of a character who is intimately connected to the story’s events–typically the protagonist. Compared with other POVs, first person is the most character-driven option, as the narration is filtered entirely through the thoughts, feelings, opinions, and experiences of the narrator.

First person often gets a bad rep. Because it’s the most commonly used POV in YA fiction, some writers are of the opinion that it’s an inherently juvenile choice for adult fiction writing. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Because every event in a first-person story is filtered through the unique perspective of the POV character, this POV gives writers the opportunities for indirect characterization, organic world building, and a close reader connection that you can’t replicate in other POVs. First-person point of view might be a good fit for your story if:

• Your protagonist has a unique voice: Some of my favorite books feature narrators with distinctive voices. A unique character voice–Like that of Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead or Andy Weir’s Ryland Grace–can immediately draw your readers into your story, keeping them turning the page to hear more of what they have to say.

• Your narrator is unreliable: If your novel’s protagonist is deceitful, emotionally repressed, or out-of-touch with reality in some way, first-person POV can be a really powerful tool to literally pull your readers into the character’s delusions and/or deceit. When we’re thrust into the mind of an unreliable character, it can get really hard to discern truth from lies, making for a more engaging reading experience.

• You're writing a memoir: Because memoirs are told from the perspective of the author, it makes good sense to tell these stories using first-person POV. This point of view can help memoir authors to tell their stories using their own unique voice, building trust and empathy with readers.

Second Person

Second-person POV is (in my opinion) one of the most misunderstood POV types. This POV uses the “you” pronoun, and it’s typically used to literally draw readers into a story by making it feel as if the narrator is speaking directly to them. This strategy is used to great effect in non-fiction works–like self-help and “how-to” books.

In fiction, second person can be used to create narrative distance between readers and POV characters. A brilliant example of this technique can be found in N.K. Jemisen’s novel The Fifth Season, in which second-person POV is utilized to illustrate a character’s reaction to a traumatic event. By creating distance between her reader and her viewpoint character, Jemisen is able to make her audience literally feel how her narrator has detached from herself in the aftermath of extreme trauma.

Third Person

Third-person limited is the most often used POV in all fiction genres and reading levels. That said, third person is also a surprisingly tricky POV to get right, primarily because it is so versatile. Writers who don’t have a firm grasp on the different types of third-person POVs are vulnerable to unintentional issues in their writing, like omniscient narrator creep and head hopping.

Three Types of Third-Person POVs

Because there are so many different types of third-person narrative styles, it’s important to have a firm grasp on what each one does. Otherwise, it’s easy to accidentally slip in and out of different vantage points without meaning to, which can be disorienting to readers. The three basic types of third-person POVs are:

Third-Person Omniscient

In a story told from a third-person-omniscient POV, the narrator is an all-knowing figure who has unlimited insight into the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of multiple characters all at once. This gives authors the freedom to explore multiple characters’ perspectives, though it can somewhat hinder the emotional buy-in that you get with first person and third-person-limited POV.

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Third-Person Objective

In a third-person-objective story, the narrator is not an amorphous, all-knowing, god-like being. Instead, the story is told from the perspective of an unbiased, neutral third-party observer. This narrator, who might be another character within the story, acts as a fly-on-the-wall observer recounting the events of the story. 

The main distinction between an objective and an omniscient narrator is that the third-person-objective narrator is not privy to the characters’ feelings and/or internal experiences. Instead, the author is limited to the knowledge, thoughts, opinions, and feelings of the chosen narrator. Depending on who this person is, this can give authors the opportunity to engage in creative indirect characterization, though this POV does present some similar complications with reader buy-in that one might find in omniscient POV.

Third-Person Limited

In third-person-limited POV, the narrator–usually the protagonist(s)–tells the story using “he,” “she,” or “they” pronouns. This narrative style most closely resembles first person, though the lack of “I” pronouns creates a very subtle amount of narrative distance. Stories told from this perspective are limited to the viewpoint character’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Often, the viewpoint character’s thoughts, feelings, syntax, and opinions heavily affect the prose. This POV very closely mimics first person, and it can be especially useful for highly character-driven stories that switch back and forth between multiple viewpoint characters.

Before sitting down to draft your next great manuscript, be sure to carefully consider which vantage you want to tell your story from.

Getting The Most Out of POV

To get the most out of your story’s POV, it’s important to remember that the perspective you tell your story from should be an intentional and strategic choice. Consider what your unique goals are and choose the POV that you think will best help you accomplish those goals. 

If you’re struggling with POV in your story, it never hurts to seek professional advice. I founded KnightWriting to make writing accessible to authors of all experience levels, and I offer a variety of services to meet the unique needs of your manuscript–no matter where you’re at in the process. Check out my website to learn about me, access more writing tips, and book a time to chat about your story!