by PeggySue Wells @PeggySueWells
Point of View may be the most efficient and effective tool a writer wields to elicit emotion in the reader.
Who is the narrator or storyteller of the project? Essentially, there are four categories of point of view. Within those four, a couple have subcategories.
Point of View Categories for Writers
- First Person
- Epistolary
- Flashback
- Cinematic
- Plural
- Second person
- Third person
- Limited
- Objective
- Omniscient
- Fourth person
First Person POV is a story told from the character’s viewpoint. Characterized by the words I, Me, My, and Mine, the story unfolds as seen solely through the eyes of the central character.
Within the category of First Person, John Erickson is a master. Author of the multi-book Hank the Cowdog series, Erickson begins and ends each of his adventures with the same phrase. Head of Ranch Security, Hank the Cowdog opens each detective case with, “It’s me again, Hank the Cowdog.” Each book concludes with Hank the Cowdog declaring, “Case closed.”
Huckleberry Finn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is self-aware about his role as a teller of his own story, mentioning the existence of the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer within the narrative.
An advantage to First Person POV is the reader can connect with the character when experiencing life through the character’s eyes, emotions, and thoughts. Readers consider:
- Would I feel the same in this situation?
- What does the character not know or understand?
- Are the conclusions of the character accurate?
In nonfiction writing, first-person POV provides curiosity, credibility, and integrity when the author is an expert in their field. Militant peacemaker and author Jamie Winship speaks from experience in his book, Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God. “If you endeavor to love God with your soul, life becomes nearly unimaginable—the impossible moves into the sphere of possibility. If you endeavor to love God with your body, you will physically change. You will look different. You will move beyond being well into being fit.”
First-person POV can feel intimate and immediate as the reader experiences the story from inside the narrator's head. This angle can hook the reader into the character's plight such as when the main character is betrayed or finds true love. Simultaneously, the author is limited to reveal plot points only within the narrator’s knowledge without exploring the thoughts or motivations of other characters.
In the book, Christy, by Catherine Marshall, the reader shares Christy’s curiosity around who calls her back from joining Fairlight. “From a great distance, someone was calling my name. The voice was familiar. Whose? I did not want to hear it. The voice was a weight pulling me backward, drawing me away from the light. I would ignore it.”
Alongside Christy in this final scene of the beloved novel, the reader shares the exquisite surprise Christy feels to learn who truly loves her. “So his was the voice that called me back, Dr. MacNeill’s. He needed me. He loved me. He loved me like that.”
Within First Person POV are four subcategories.
- Epistolary
- Flashback
- Cinematic
- Plural
POV is the tool a writer wields to collaborate with and tell the story in the most compelling manner.
TWEETABLE
Great description of first person narration, Peggy Sue. I love that POV both as a reader and a writer.
ReplyDeleteHello Kay, when I dug into the topic of POV, I understand why it is the issue most fixed by editors on manuscripts—a multi-layered subject and the POV a writer chooses decides how compelling the story is to the reader. All the best on your projects!
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