Point-of-View Primer: The Write It Right Series

By Tristi Pinkston

Point of view is a crucial element of storytelling. It helps your readers understand the plot through your characters' eyes and gives them a more satisfying story. Learn how to get in your characters' heads and show what they're thinking, feeling, and experiencing without giving your readers whiplash.

 

Writing Level: Beginning

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tristi Pinkston
• Release date: May 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201272555

Book preview

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THE FIRST EDITION OF this book was published in 2013. This 2021 version has been updated, corrected, and has a new cover. All the information is essentially the same.

Cover Design by Ammon Pinkston

ISBN-10: 1480005738

ISBN-13: 978-1480005730

Table of Contents:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

About the Author

Point of view is one aspect of writing that confuses many authors, frustrates many editors, and can make or break the presentation of your story. Like the elements covered in the other books in the Write It Right series, understanding point of view will boost your writing to a new level.

THERE ARE TWO ASPECTS to point of view, and we’ll discuss both at length. First is narrative point of view, and the second is perceptual point of view.

Narrative Point of View

Narrative point of view is the lens through which the reader sees the story. It’s the way the author chooses to speak to the reader, and it’s very important that the point of view be clear and established right from the start. The reader needs to know how to perceive the events as they unfold—they need to know whose head they’re in. If they start a chapter and see a dead body, but they don’t know yet if the chapter is written from the perspective of the murderer or the innocent person who finds the dead body, they won’t know how to feel about what they’re reading. They’ll feel uncertain of their footing until the point of view is made clear to them. My rule of thumb is to indicate the point-of-view character within the first two sentences of the book, and within the first sentence of each new scene if multiple points of view are being used.

Here are the most commonly used narrative points of view:

First Person: Everything is seen through the eyes of one person, referred to as I. The reader is in this character’s head, hears their thoughts, and is shown their feelings. It’s meant to give the reader deeper insight into the character, and is used quite a bit in young adult fiction.

Second Person: The character is referred to as you—for example, You walk down the hall and try opening the doorknob on the right. This method is used infrequently because it’s a little hard to get into and to write