The first thing to consider when writing a story? The plot. The second? Characters. The third? Point of view. Now while some people might consider point of view to be the least important of the three and thus, the reason it’s number three on my list, they would be wrong. Point of view is what makes a story. While yeah, of course the others are important, the point of view sets the tone, sets the pace, and sets the plot. Do you reveal what everyone’s thinking? Like in third person omniscient. Or do you want things to stay secret? If you choose option two then you have to narrow it down even further.
There’s advantages and disadvantages to each and every point of view. James Miller in The Real World Reader describes the different points of view and I will be going over what they are here.
First person is when a piece of work uses “I” and “we” pronouns to tell the story from one person’s point of view. This person is the narrator and the reader can hear their thoughts and understand their actions. This point of view is commonly found in fiction writing and used to make the reader relate to the narrator. Personally, this is my favorite point of view to use because it makes it easy to keep secrets from the reader if the narrator has no clue about them. It also makes it easy to put the reader in place of the narrator and so the writing can be more relatable and emotional for the reader. However, this point of view does not work for every piece of writing and if it’s not done well can be uncomfortable to sit through.
Well unless the point of the writing is to make you uncomfortable. Then you signed up for that.
The next type of point of view is second person. Second person point of view is the least commonly used type of point of view, but can be effective for certain purposes. Breaking the fourth wall is a common use for it. I also used it in the previous paragraph as a set up for this one. Haha meta jokes. Second person is often used in how-to manuals and the like so as to make the reader feel as though they are being talked to.
Would it make you uncomfortable if I started to do that? Do you like it when I talk directly to you? How was your day today? That’s good to hear. Do you like my blog? Well then you should keep reading!
One of my favorite series, The Cronus Chronicles by Anne Ursu, is mainly written in a cryptic third person limited, but will switch to second person in certain parts so as to make the reader feel as though they’re in the story and to add humor. In chapter ten of the second book, The Siren Song, the author says that “you couldn’t possibly be Zeus because that would make you the most powerful god and that guy has never read a book in his life!” Which, in addition to giving you more information on the characters, also adds humor to the story because it implies that you’re not powerful. And who’s to say just how powerful you really are? Go feral if you wish.
Nextly, there are two types of third person. I briefly touched on the first type in the last paragraph: third person limited. Third person limited is when the story is told with “he/him”, “she/her”, “they/them”, and other pronouns of the like. Sometimes there’s a narrator, like in The Cronus Chronicles, and sometimes the narrator is the main character, like in my favorite book of all time: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey Mcquiston. The main thing with third person limited is that the reader’s knowledge is limited to one character. The difference with third person and first person is that the reader can be privy to more knowledge than the main character, but they can’t read any minds other than the main character’s.
Whereas in third person omniscient the reader can understand every character’s motivation and read everyone’s mind. That can sometimes be a power trip if you let it be. Don’t let it go to your head that you can suddenly read everyone’s mind. That ability doesn’t translate to real life, you gotta let it go. I know you’ve always wanted to be a telepath, but it’s just not gonna happen. You gotta accept that. I’m so sorry I was the one to have to tell you this. Well I have to go eat dinner, so I’ll leave you to deal with this heartbreak in peace.
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