by PeggySue Wells @PeggySueWells
Point of view is the issue editors fix most often.
But just how many types of point of view can an author choose from? And why is point of view important?
- 1. Write excellent, life-changing work
- 2. Tell a compelling story readers can't put down
- 3. Write to a specific audience
- 4. Hone the craft so that your piece is better than everyone else's
- 5. Elicit an emotional response from the reader
POV is a writer’s secret weapon to accomplish these goals. POV is the tool a writer wields to collaborate with and tell the story in the most compelling manner.
Who is the narrator or storyteller? Essentially, there are four categories of point of view. Within those four, a couple have subcategories. All this adds up to a range of options for the writer to consider.
- First Person
- Epistolary
- Flashback
- Cinematic
- Plural
- Second person
- Third person
- Limited
- Objective
- Omniscient
- Fourth person
What variations of storytelling does First Person Epistolary POV offer the writer and what does this POV look like?
First Person Epistolary
Characterized by the words I, Me, My, and Mine, First Person Epistolary is a story told through letters, diaries or similar documents.
Penguin’s The Letters of John and Abigail Adams is a good example of this. Abigail asked John to destroy each of her letters after he read them because she was embarrassed with her lack of formal schooling. Though she could read and write, Abigail was aware that much of her spelling was phonetic.
Thankfully, John did not destroy his wife’s letters. The collection of their correspondence across years and continents provides readers with a trusted source of what life was like during the birth of the United States. Additionally, Abigail provides a rare record of what life was like for women of the times.
Likewise, The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letter of the Adams Family 1762 – 1784 by Butterfield, Friedlaender, and Kline tells the story of the shared life of John and Abigail through the collection of their letters.
“Miss Adorable,” was a common way John addressed Abigail. On October 4, 1762, he wrote “By the same token that bearer hereof sat up with you last night hereby order you to give him as many kisses and as many hours of your company after 9 o’clock as he shall please to demand and charge them to my account.”
Abigail addressed John as My Friend. “If I was sure your absence today was occasioned by what I generally is, either to wait upon company, or promote some good work, I freely confess my mind would be much more at ease than at present it is. Yet this uneasiness does not arise from any apprehension of slight or neglect, but a fear least you are indisposed, for that you said should be your only hinderance.”
Comparing their relationship to Lysander and Diana, she often signed her missives, “from the heart of your sincere Diana.”
Other titles that fall into the category of First Person Epistolary include:
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl
The Color Purple
First Person Options
When considering what POV will prove to be the best narrator for the story, First Person Epistolary is storytelling through letters, diaries, and documents.
This style allows the reader to look over the shoulder of the characters as they share their thoughts and feelings. The reader gleans impressions and insights by picking the obvious and subtle clues in the written entries.
TWEETABLE
Great example and one I'll return to.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tom. Digging into POV and seeing how many options writers have to tell a story, it is understandable that this is an issue for writers and editors.
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