Writing Voice by Writers Digest

Author:Writers Digest [Freese, Cris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

POV: KNOW YOUR OPTIONS

I had the first-person plural in mind from the beginning, but I switched back and forth and for a long while it was in the third person. Those were the novel’s lowest days.

—JOSHUA FERRIS ON THEN WE CAME TO THE END

Point of view, or POV, has to do with the narrator’s relationship to what’s being said: Is the narrator a participant in the events being told, an observer of those events, or someone reconstructing the events from a distance? Does the narrator announce its presence openly or try to remain invisible? Is the narrator seemingly dispassionate and detached, or does the narrator have a clear opinion of, or stake in, the story? Is the narrator qualified to tell the story in terms of access to information and the ability to provide that information to us? And do we trust what’s being said? All are questions you have to ask yourself of POV, as each kind opens up and allows certain freedoms in telling a story while limiting or denying others. The goal in selecting a point of view is not simply finding a way to convey information but being able to tell it the right way, making the world you create understandable and believable.

The following is a brief rundown of the basic forms of POV available to you and a description of how they work.

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