Writing 101: Point of View Basics

Understanding point of view basics is essential for writing strong, emotionally resonant fiction, so this is a good topic to explore as part of our 101 series.

The viewpoint you choose determines who tells the story, how much the reader knows, and how deeply they connect with the characters. From first-person to third-person omniscient, your decision about point of view can make or break how your story unfolds and how readers experience it.

First-Person POV (“I”)

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. (To Kill a Mockingbird)

This option puts readers inside the narrator’s experience. That character’s voice, thoughts, and emotions are used to convey what’s happening to readers, with every detail being filtered through their perspective.

Writers often gravitate toward first person when they want to create a strong emotional tie between the reader and protagonist. This POV works for stories where the reader is meant to connect deeply with a single character or perspective.

The limitation with this viewpoint is scope, because readers will only know what the narrator knows. If the narrator has blind spots, the reader will also be blind in those areas.

Common Problems to Avoid

• Filter words (I saw, I heard, I felt) create distance between the reader and viewpoint character, which you don’t want in this viewpoint. Remove those words and simply show the character seeing, hearing, feeling, etc.
• Don’t resort to clunky methods or devices to convey information the narrator wouldn’t share (such as looking in a mirror to reveal appearance details). Show those details naturally, in ways that ring true for the character and the circumstances.
• Neglecting to fully develop the narrator’s voice. If you want to build intimacy between the character and your readers, it’s key to get the voice right. Do the background work so you know the character well, and write their voice consistently.

Second-Person POV (“You”)

With your ticket in hand, you follow a continuous line of patrons into the circus, watching the rhythmic motion of the black-and-white clock as you wait. (The Night Circus)

As you can see, this POV makes the reader the main character, allowing them direct access to the story events. When used intentionally, second-person viewpoint can have a strong emotional or stylistic impact and is good when you want to create a sense of disorientation, intimacy, or immediacy.

This format is popular in choose-your-own-adventure tales, literary fiction, and experimental short stories.

Common Problems to Avoid

• Because it’s so rarely used, some readers may find it off-putting, so only use this viewpoint when you’re sure it’s the best choice for your project.
• The unorthodox format and level of sustained intimacy can result in reader fatigue in long works, so it’s better reserved for short stories or brief chapters from a certain character’s perspective.

Third-Person POV (“He/She/They”)

Third-person narration is the most common viewpoint in fiction, and it comes in three variations.

Third-Person Limited

At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring. Inman’s eyes and the long wound at his neck drew them, and the sound of their wings and touch of their feet were soon more potent than a yard full of roosters in rousing a man to wake. So he came to yet one more day in the hospital ward.” (Cold Mountain)

Third-person limited focuses on one character at a time and is especially useful for utilizing multiple characters’ perspectives to tell the story. The great benefit of this viewpoint is that the author can choose how tight and personal the narration should be. For example, if they want to draw readers close to a certain character, those narrators’ accounts can be written from a tight and personal perspective. But if the authors wants to give readers space from another character—maybe the villain, or someone readers don’t want to connect deeply with? Pull out and write their sections with more distance.

Common Problems to Avoid

• Head-hopping. Only one character is narrating at a time, so during their time in the spotlight, you can only share details from their perspective. If you want to switch narrators, you’ll need to wait for a chapter break to do so.
• This viewpoint allows you to decide which character will narrate each scene. These decisions are important, so choice carefully and strategically, just as you would when choosing one character to narrate the whole story.

Third-Person Omniscient

The mother of our particular hobbit—but what is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. (The Hobbit)

In this viewpoint, the narrator has access to everyone’s thoughts, feelings, and memories, and since he or she isn’t bound to one character’s perspective, the story can move freely across people, places, and timelines. Omniscient narrators often share their own opinions and feelings about what’s happening, which is a handy way for the author to inject other perspectives (or perhaps their own) into the reader’s experience. Because of the scope it allows, it’s an ideal choice for epic fiction.

Common Problems to Avoid

• Hopping heads too frequently or chaotically can create confusion and a jolting flow for readers. As with third-person limited, change narrators at chapter breaks, not mid-scene.
• With an omniscient narrator, it’s easy to get carried away and slip into long passages of exposition, which is death for reader engagement. So keep that to a minimum.
• If the narrator feels god-like or too far removed, the reader may have trouble relating, resulting in a loss of intimacy. Give your omniscient narrator a clear personality and voice. Make them knowable, and therefore, relatable.

Third-Person Objective

With the first gray light he rose and left the boy sleeping and walked out to the road and squatted and studied the country to the south. Barren, silent, godless. He thought the month was October but he wasnt sure. He hadnt kept a calendar for years. They were moving south. There’d be no surviving another winter here. (The Road)

In this least common of the third-person perspectives, the narrator can see everything that’s happening in the story world—but only what’s visible to the naked eye. They can’t access any character’s internal thoughts, feelings, etc. This narrator is strictly an observer, reporting what they see in an observational tone, without events being colored by their own worldview. In this way, the narrator is a neutral character, merely noting and reporting what’s happening in the story.

Common Problems to Avoid

• As an outside observer, this narrator can’t get into anyone’s head, so you’ll have to find other ways to convey other characters’ emotions and thought processes.
• This narrator is neutral, so resist the urge to give them feelings and ideas about what’s going on.

Choosing the point of view for your project is an important decision that will impact the story on many levels. I hope this information helps clarify the options and simplify the decision making process!

Other Posts in This Series

Dialogue Mechanics
Effective Dialogue Techniques
Show-Don’t-Tell, Part 1
Show-Don’t-Tell, Part 2

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