point of view essay examples

Point of View

Point of View Definition

What is point of view? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Point of view refers to the perspective that the narrator holds in relation to the events of the story. The three primary points of view are  first person , in which the narrator tells a story from their own perspective ("I went to the store");  second person , in which the narrator tells a story about you, the reader or viewer ("You went to the store"); and third person , in which the narrator tells a story about other people ("He went to the store"). Each point of view creates a different experience for the reader, because, in each point of view, different types and amounts of information are available to the reader about the story's events and characters.

Some additional key details about point of view:

• Each different point of view has its own specific qualities that influence the narrative. It's up to the author to choose which point of view is best for narrating the story he or she is writing.
• Second person point of view is extremely rare in literature. The vast majority of stories are written in either the first or third person. 
• You may hear "point of view" referred to simply as "perspective." This isn't wrong, it's just another way of referring to the same thing.

The Three "Modes" of Point of View

Stories can be told from one of three main points of view: first person, second person, or third person. Each of the different modes offers an author particular options and benefits, and the point of view that an author chooses will have a tremendous impact on the way that a reader engages with a story.  

First Person Point of View

In first person point of view, the narrator tells the story from his or her own perspective. You can easily recognize first person by its use of the pronouns "I" or "We." First person offers the author a great way to give the reader direct access to a particular character's thoughts, emotions, voice, and way of seeing the world—their  point of view  about the main events of the story. The choice of which  character gets to have first person point of view can dramatically change a story, as shown in this simple scenario of a thief snatching a lady's purse

• Thief's POV: "I was desperate for something to eat. Judging by her expensive-looking shoes, I figured she could afford to part with her purse."
• Victim's POV: "He came out of nowhere! Too bad for him, though: I only had five dollars in my bag."

Consider also one of the most famous examples of first person point of view, the very first line of Herman Melville's  Moby-Dick :

Call me Ishmael.

Melville uses first person here because he wants to establish a confessional tone for the protagonist. He wants the reader to feel like Ishmael has just sat down next to him on a bar stool, and is about to tell him his life's story. Only first person can have this colloquial and intimate effect. Saying, "His name was Ishmael," for instance, would insert more distance between the reader and the character Ishmael, because the third person narrator would sit between  the reader and Ishmael. First person, in this way, can have the effect of connecting the reader directly with the story.

First Person Point of View and the Protagonist

In a story told in the first person, the character who acts as narrator will often also be the protagonist of the story. However, some stories told from the first person do  not  make the narrator the protagonist:

• First person in which the narrator is the protagonist: In The Catcher in the Rye , the first person narrator Holden Caulfield is the clear protagonist of the story. His voice dominates the story, and the story he tells is his own.
• First person in which the narrator is  not  the protagonist:  The novel The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway, but the protagonist of the novel is Jay Gatsby. Nick Carraway tells the story, and the reader is limited to understanding the story through what Nick himself sees, knows, and thinks, but nevertheless the story that Nick tells is not his own but rather Gatsby's.

Second Person Point of View

Second person point of view uses the pronoun "you" to immerse the reader in the experience of being the protagonist. It's important to remember that second person point of view is different from simply addressing the reader. Rather, the second person point of view places the reader "on the playing field" by putting them in the position of the protagonist—the one to whom the action occurs. Few stories are appropriate for such a perspective, but occasionally it is quite successful, as in Jay McInerney's  Bright Lights, Big City , a novel in which the reader is taken on a wild night through Manhattan.

Eventually you ascend the stairs to the street. You think of Plato's pilgrims climbing out of the cave, from the shadow world of appearances toward things as they really are, and you wonder if it is possible to change in this life. Being with a philosopher makes you think.

Of the three points of view, second person is the most rarely used, primarily because it doesn't allow the narrator as much freedom as first person and third person, so it's hard to sustain this style of narration for very long.

Third Person Point of View

In third person point of view, the narrator is someone (or some entity) who is  not  a character in the story being told. Third person point of view uses the pronouns "he," "she," and "they," to refer to all the characters. It is the most common point of view in writing, as it gives the writer a considerable amount of freedom to focus on different people, events, and places without being limited within the consciousness of a single character. Below is an example of dialogue written in third person by Joseph Heller in his novel  Catch-22 :

"What are you doing?" Yossarian asked guardedly when he entered the tent, although he saw at once. "There's a leak here," Orr said. "I'm trying to fix it." "Please stop it," said Yossarian. "You're making me nervous."

The exchange above is narrated by a narrator who is outside the interaction between Yossarian and Orr; such distance is the hallmark of third person point of view.

Third Person and Degree of Distance

The third person mode is unique from first and second person in another way as well: third person has different variants. These variants depend on how far removed the narrator is from the events of the story, and how much the narrator knows about each character:

• Third Person Omniscient Point of View: "Third person omniscient" means that the narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of every character and can dip in and out of the the internal life of anyone, as needed. Omniscient just means "all-knowing." This type of narrator is more god-like than human, in the sense that their perspective is un limited.
• A story like Young Goodman Brown , which follows one character closely and reports on that character's thoughts and feelings (but not the thoughts and feelings of others), is an example of third person limited point of view. This type of story gives the reader the feeling that they are inside one person's head  without  using first person pronouns like "I."

Alternating Point of View

Many stories are told from alternating points of view—switching between different characters, or even between different modes of storytelling.

• Stories can switch between third person points of view: Many novels switch between different third person points of view. For instance, the chapters of George R.R. Martin's The Song of Ice and Fire books are all named after characters, and each chapter is told from the limited third person point of view of the named character. 
• Stories can switch between first person points of view: William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying is structurally similar to the Song of Ice and Fire books in the sense that each chapter is named after a character. However, each chapter is told in the first person by the named character. The Darl chapters are told in the first person by Darl, the Cash chapter are narrated by Cash, the Vardamon chapters by Vardamon, and so on. 
• Stories can even switch between modes of storytelling:  Though less common than other sorts of alternating points of view, some stories can shift not only between different character's points of view, but between actual modes of storytelling. For example, Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury has four parts. The first three parts are all narrated in the first person, with the first part narrated by Benjy, the second part by Quentin, and the third part by Jason. But the fourth part is told in the third person omniscient and follows a bunch of different characters at different times.

Point of View Examples

Every work of literature has a point of view, and so there are essentially endless examples of point of view in literature. The examples below were chosen because they are good examples of the different modes, and in the case of The Metamorphosis the the subtle shift in the nature of the narrator's point of view also shows how an author can play with point of view to suit the themes and ideas of a story.  

Third Person Point of View in Kafka's  Metamorphosis

A great example of third person point of view in literature is the first line from Kafka's  The Metamorphosis . 

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

For the remainder of the book, Kafka follows the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, in a limited third person point of view as he struggles to come to terms with his sudden transformation into an insect. For as long as Gregor remains alive, the third person narrator remains limited by Gregor's own consciousness—the story is told in the third person, but the narrator never knows or sees any more than Gregor himself does. 

However, in the few pages of the story that continue after Gregor dies, the narrator shifts into a third person omniscient point of view , almost as if Gregor's death has freed the narrator in a way not so dissimilar to how his death tragically relieves a burden on his family. 

Point of View in Tolstoy's  Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy's  Anna Karenina   is a great example of the omniscient third person point of view. In the novel, the narrator sees and knows all, and moves around between the lives of the different characters, dipping into their internal lives and thoughts, and commenting on the narrative as a whole. In Part 5, Chapter 6, the internal lives of two characters are commented on at once, in the moment of their marriage to one another:

Often and much as they had both heard about the belief that whoever is first to step on the rug will be the head in the family, neither Levin nor Kitty could recall it as they made those few steps. Nor did they hear the loud remarks and disputes that, in the observation of some, he had been the first, or, in the opinion of others, they had stepped on it together.

Point of View in Thoreau's  Walden

Henry David Thoreau's transcendental meditations on isolation were based on his actual lived experience. It makes sense, then, that  Walden  (his account of time spent alone in the woods) is written in the first person point of view :

When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile away from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again.

What's the Function of Point of View in Literature?

Point of view is the means by which an author relays either one or a multiplicity of perspectives about the events of their story. It is the lens crafted by the writer that allows the reader to see a story or argument unfold. Depending on how much information the writer wants to give the reader, this lens will be constructed differently—or in other words, a different mode of point of view will be chosen:

• If the writer wants the reader to have full access to a particular character's internal life, then they might choose either first person or a closely limited third person point of view.
• If the writer wants the reader to know select bits and pieces about every character, they might choose an omniscient third person point of view.
• If the writer wants the reader to know about the rich internal lives of multiple characters, they might choose an alternating first person point of view.
• Lastly, if the writer wants the reader to feel like they themselves are in the center of the action, they might choose a second person point of view.

Other Helpful Point of View Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Point of View:  An overview of narration with a focus on literary point of view.
• The Dictionary Definition of Point of View:   A very basic definition of the term point of view.
• Examples of Second Person:  A page with some examples of writing in the less common second person point of view.

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Point of View in Academic Writing

Point of view is the perspective from which an essay is written. The following chart lists both the personal pronouns and their possessive forms used with these points of view:

When choosing appropriate point of view for academic or formal writing, consider the type and purpose of the assignment.

First Person

First-person point of view is used to write stories/narratives or examples about personal experiences from your own life. Note the following paragraph:

Several people have made a lasting impression on me . I remember one person in particular who was significant to me . Dr. Smith, my high school English teacher, helped my family and me through a difficult time during my junior year. We appreciated her care, kindness, and financial help after the loss of our home in a devastating fire.

Note : Academic writing often requires us to avoid first-person point of view in favor of third-person point of view, which can be more objective and convincing. Often, students will say, “ I think the author is very convincing.” Taking out I makes a stronger statement or claim: “The author is very convincing.”

Second Person

Second-person point of view, which directly addresses the reader, works well for giving advice or explaining how to do something. A process analysis paper would be a good choice for using the second-person point of view, as shown in this paragraph:

In order to prepare microwave popcorn, you will need a microwave and a box of microwave popcorn which you’ve purchased at a grocery store. First of all, you need to remove the popcorn package from the box and take off the plastic wrap. Next, open your microwave and place the package in the center with the proper side up. Then set your microwave for the suggested number of minutes as stated on the box. Finally, when the popcorn is popped, you’re ready for a great treat.

Note : Academic writing generally avoids second-person point of view in favor of third-person point of view. Second person can be too casual for formal writing, and it can also alienate the reader if the reader does not identify with the idea.

Replacing You

In academic writing, sometimes "you" needs to be replaced with nouns or proper nouns to create more formality or to clarify the idea. Here are some examples:

Third Person

Third-person point of view identifies people by proper noun (a given name such as Shema Ahemed) or noun (such as teachers, students, players, or doctors ) and uses the pronouns they, she, and he . Third person also includes the use of one, everyone, and anyone. Most formal, academic writing uses the third person. Note the use of various third-person nouns and pronouns in the following:

The bosses at the company have decided that employees need a day of in-house training. Times have been scheduled for everyone . Several senior employees will be required to make five-minute presentations. One is not eager to speak in front of others since he’s very shy. Another one , however, is anxious to relate their expertise. The variation in routine should provide an interesting day for all people concerned.

Third Person Pronouns: Gender-Fair Use of Language and Singular “They”

In the past, if you wanted to refer to one unnamed person, you used the masculine pronoun: If a person is strong, he will stand up for himself . Today, you should avoid the automatic use of the masculine pronoun because it is considered sexist language.

Also avoid perpetuating gender stereotypes by assigning a particular gendered pronoun: A doctor should listen to his patients. A nurse should listen to her patients . These examples make assumptions that doctors are men and nurses are women, which is a sexist stereotype.

Instead, use the pronouns they or them to refer to a person whose gender is undisclosed or irrelevant to the context of the usage: If a person is strong, they will stand up for themselves when they believe in something.

Point of View

Definition of point of view.

Point of view is utilized as a literary device to indicate the angle or perspective from which a story is told. Essentially, point of view refers to the “eyes” of the narrative voice that determine the position or angle of vision from which the story is being relayed. Point of view is one of the most crucial choices made by fiction writers since it governs the reader’s access to the story and determines how much the reader is able to know at any given moment with regard to what is taking place in the narrative.

For example, Gregory Maguire is well-known for his novels that re-tell famous stories using a different point of view. In his work  Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister , the story of Cinderella is told by one of the “ugly stepsisters” herself, rather than a removed fairy tale narrator .

In the lives of children, pumpkins turn into coaches, mice and rats turn into men. When we grow up, we realize it is far more common for men to turn into rats.

By shifting the viewpoint of the narrative voice, the reader is given an entirely different perspective and version of the famous story. This not only makes for an engaging and innovative experience for the reader, but the change in point of view also changes the story itself by presenting otherwise “unseen” information and opinions.

Examples of Commonly Used Points of View

As a literary device, point of view is generally expressed through the use of pronouns. Each has its advantages and limitations. First and third person points of view are far more common than second person point of view in literature. First person narrative allows the writer to establish intimacy with the reader by allowing access to the narrator’s inner thoughts. Third person narrative is flexible in that the writer can focus on more than one character ’s actions and thoughts.

Here are some examples of commonly used points of view:

First Person

In first person point of view, one of the story’s characters is narrating the literary work. This viewpoint is indicated by the use of first person pronouns, including “I,” and the reader assumes that the character is close to the story’s action. First person narrative voice provides the reader an intimate and close look into a character’s thoughts, but the perspective of the story is limited by what the character is able to see and know.

Here are some well-known examples of literary works with first person point of view:

• The Great Gatsby
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Yellow Wallpaper

Third Person

With third person point of view, there is a narrative presence telling the story and referring to the characters in the third person, as “he” or “she.” Third person point of view can be omniscient , meaning the narrator can see and know everything within the story, or limited, meaning the narrator is restricted in what they see and know of the story.

Here are some well-known examples of literary works with third person point of view:

• Lord of the Flies
• Little Women
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Lowland

Second Person

Second person point of view utilizes the pronoun “you” to address the reader and bring them into the action of the story. However, second person point of view is problematic in a couple of ways. First, it is a stylistic choice that is uncommon, especially in novel -length works. In addition, second person point of view can overwhelm the writer and confuse and/or alienate the reader. Most writers avoid constructing a narrative voice through second person point of view.

Difference Between Omniscient and Third Person Limited Point of View

Third person point of view is flexible as a literary device in that a writer can choose between omniscient or limited perspectives for the narrator. An omniscient narrator is aware of and knows everything about the story and its characters. There are no limitations for this narrator in terms of expressing any character’s thoughts, and this includes their own opinions and observations. An omniscient point of view features a narrator who knows more than the characters of a story.

A third person limited narrator utilizes third person storytelling, but is closely “assigned” to one character. Therefore, this limited narrator shares access with the reader to a character’s thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc., but is limited in doing so with other characters in the story. Writers choose third person limited point of view to create a deeper bond between a specific character and the reader.

Writing with Point of View

Writers decide who tells a story and the intended audience for it. When determining point of view as a literary device, the story can be told from the viewpoint of a character who is part of the story or from a narrative perspective that “sees” and knows the characters but is not one of them. It’s important for writers to consider benefits and limitations when deciding point of view, as it is essential for character development and the relationship between the narrative voice and the reader.

In addition, it’s important for writers to establish point of view as soon as possible for the reader so they are aware of whose perspective they are following. Though some writers choose to change point of view, done most often within a novel, the narrative voice should be consistent throughout a particular scene. Otherwise, disrupting the narrative perspective in the middle of a story’s action can be confusing and jarring for the reader. Changing the point of view for a subplot , alternate section, or different chapter of a literary work can be valuable; however, there should be continuity of narrative throughout the course of a story’s scene in consideration of the reader.

Alternating Point of View

Alternating point of view is a complex type of observation or narration. While narrating, he/she can change their position from the first person to the third person or even second person. It depends on the setting , situation, and voice of the characters and their different perspectives. This technique was used very successfully by Kurt Vonnegut or Italo Calvino in their novels with authorial assertion and intervention, such as Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Also, the alternating point of view is used for long narration or a chapter-wise, to develop characters and story. It is not used for one sentence or a paragraph.

First Person Point of View as a Protagonist and Common Character

The first person point of view uses first-person pronouns. I, me, mine, etc. The first-person point of view is mostly used in fiction, autobiographies , or semi-autobiographies. The person speaking becomes the center point of the narrative, thus becoming a protagonist of the story most of the time. However, sometimes this person is also a typical narrator when it comes to the big events or significant happenings in history. Such a first-person narrator takes part only as a commoner but describes all the major events and characters through him/her. Usually, they paint the picture of a person, presenting him/her as a protagonist and himself as an ordinary character. Fiction usually adapts this form of narration when they use great heroes from history as protagonists.

Use of Point of View in Sentences

• He loves to people from the window of his castle. But, such is his life; he is not allowed to step outside. (Third-person point of view)
• I heard a shrill cry followed by speeding footsteps. I wondered if someone was in trouble. Sadly when I reached the alley, there was no one. (First-person point of view)
• This is how you prepare a tasty lemonade. You juice the lemons, and you can get more juice by rolling the lemons on the counter using force. (Second-person point of view)
• Although Jay viewed the group with suspicion when he decided to meet them and said, “I do not suspect you in any way, but we still need to talk.” (Third-person objective point of view)
• As the children settled into their rooms, Lisa hoped they would sleep peacefully without fear. She silently wished them goodnight before closing the door.”

Examples of Point of View in Literature

Example 1:  invisible man  (ralph ellison).

I was never more hated than when I tried to be honest. Or when, even as just now I’ve tried to articulate exactly what I felt to be the truth. No one was satisfied.

In Ellison’s novel, the protagonist tells his own story from a first-person point of view. This passage reflects both the power of this narrative perspective and its limitations. By telling his own story, the protagonist is able to have a close connection with the reader and directly express his true thoughts, feelings, and ideas. However, due to this restricted form of narration, the reader must rely solely on the viewpoint of the protagonist. This puts a level of responsibility on the reader to determine whether the protagonist is reliable in his narration and to fill in any gaps in the story that are ambiguous or unaddressed in a full manner by the narrator.

Example 2:  The Story of an Hour (Kate Chopin)

She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

Chopin’s short story is told through a third-person limited point of view. The narrative perspective is that of Louise Mallard, the protagonist of the story, though she does not relay the narrative herself in the first person. Instead, the narrator relays to the reader Louise’s actions, thoughts, and feelings as she learns of her husband’s supposed death. This is a clever literary choice due to the fact that Louise spends much of her time in the story in a room alone , away from the other characters.

Chopin establishes a relationship between the third-person narrator and the reader in terms of access to Louise’s mind. This is reflected in the passage as the narrator conveys to the reader that Louise feels “free” at the news of her husband’s death. This “freedom” is something that Louise would not have expressed to any character in the story, yet the narrative perspective allows the reader to know and understand her thoughts.

Example 3:  The Death of Ivan Ilych  (Leo Tolstoy)

In reality it was just what is usually seen in the houses of people of moderate means who want to appear rich, and therefore succeed only in resembling others like themselves: there are damasks, dark wood, plants, rugs, and dull and polished bronzes — all the things people of a certain class have in order to resemble other people of that class. His house was so like the others that it would never have been noticed, but to him it all seemed to be quite exceptional.

Tolstoy’s well-known story of Ivan Ilych is told through an omniscient point of view. This passage reflects that the omniscient narrator governs the telling of the story through the information that is presented to the reader and the manner in which that information is relayed. For example, the omniscient narrator describes for the reader the setting of the character’s home by describing the objects inside. This creates an image that allows the reader to picture the scene.

However, the omniscient narrator is also characterizing the setting of the home by inserting opinions about it with phrases such as “who want to appear rich.” This is important because the omniscient narrator’s description and the inserted characterization influences both the reader’s literal image of the scene and their perception of its meaning in terms of an emotional response. As a result, the omniscient narrator holds the power to influence all aspects of a story for a reader–not just the way things look or what events take place, but how the reader should feel about it, Therefore, in response to an omniscient narrator, the reader should be aware of this effect so as to approach this point of view with critical thinking.

Synonyms of Point of View

Some of the words close to the point of view in meanings are opinion, view, attitude , feeling, sentiment, thoughts, ideas, position, perspective, viewpoint, standpoint, outlook, stand, stance, side, or position.

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Types of Point of View: The Ultimate Guide to First Person and Third Person POV

by Joe Bunting | 72 comments

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In my experience as an editor, point of view problems are among the top mistakes I see new writers make, and they instantly erode credibility and reader trust. Point of view isn't easy though, since there are so many to choose from: first person point of view, third person limited, third person omniscient, and second person.

What do those even mean? And how do you choose the right one for your story?

All stories are written from a point of view. However, when point of view goes wrong—and believe me, it goes wrong often—you threaten whatever trust you have with your reader. You also fracture their suspension of disbelief.

However, point of view is simple to master if you use common sense.

This post will define point of view, go over each of the major POVs, explain a few of the POV rules, and then point out the major pitfalls writers make when dealing with that point of view.

Table of Contents

Point of View Definition The 4 Types of Point of View The #1 POV Mistake First Person Point of View Second Person Point of View Third Person Limited Point of View Third Person Omniscient Point of View FAQ: Can you change POV in a Series? Practice Exercise

Point of View Definition

The point of view, or POV, in a story is the narrator's position in the description of events, and comes from the Latin word, punctum visus , which literally means point sight. The point of view is where a writer points the sight of the reader.

Note that point of view also has a second definition.

In a discussion, an argument, or nonfiction writing, a point of view is an opinion about a subject. This is not the type of point of view we're going to focus on in this article (although it is helpful for nonfiction writers, and for more information, I recommend checking out Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy ).

I especially like the German word for POV, which is Gesichtspunkt , translated “face point,” or where your face is pointed. Isn't that a good visual for what's involved in point of view? It's the limited perspective of what you show your reader.

Note too that point of view is sometimes called narrative mode or narrative perspective.

Why Point of View Is So Important

Why does point of view matter so much?

For a fiction writer, point of view filters everything in your story. Everything in your story must come from a point of view.

Which means if you get it wrong, your entire story is damaged.

For example, I've personally read and judged thousands of stories for literary contests, and I've found point of view mistakes in about twenty percent of them. Many of these stories would have placed much higher if only the writers hadn't made the mistakes we're going to talk about soon.

The worst part is these mistakes are easily avoidable if you're aware of them. But before we get into the common point of view mistakes, let's go over each of the four types of narrative perspective.

The Four Types of Point of View

Here are the four primary types of narration in fiction:

• First person point of view.  First person perspective is when “I” am telling the story. The character is in  the story, relating his or her experiences directly.
• Second person point of view. The story is told to “you.” This POV is not common in fiction, but it's still good to know (it is  common in nonfiction).
• Third person point of view, limited. The story is about “he” or “she.” This is the most common point of view in commercial fiction. The narrator is outside of the story and relating the experiences of a character.
• Third person point of view, omniscient. The story is still about “he” or “she,” but the narrator has full access to the thoughts and experiences of all  characters in the story. This is a much broader perspective.

I know you've seen and probably even used most of these point of views.

While these are the only types of POV, there are additional narrative techniques you can use to tell an interesting story. To learn how to use devices like epistolary and framing stories, check out our full narrative devices guide here .

Let's discuss each of the four types, using examples to see how they affect your story. We'll also go over the rules for each type, but first let me explain the big mistake you don't want to make with point of view.

The #1 POV Mistake

Do not begin your story with a first person narrator and then switch to a third person narrator. Do not start with third person limited and then abruptly give your narrator full omniscience. This is the most common type of error I see writers make with POV.

The guideline I learned in my first creative writing class in college is a good one:

Establish the point of view within the first two paragraphs of your story.

And above all, don't change your point of view . If you do, it creates a jarring experience for the reader and you'll threaten your reader's trust. You could even fracture the architecture of your story.

That being said, as long as you're consistent, you can sometimes get away with using multiple POV types. This isn't easy and isn't recommended, but for example, one of my favorite stories, a 7,000 page web serial called Worm ,  uses two point of views—first person with interludes of third-person limited—very effectively. (By the way, if you're looking for a novel to read over the next two to six months, I highly recommend it—here's the link to read for free online .) The first time the author switched point of views, he nearly lost my trust. However, he kept this dual-POV consistent over 7,000 pages and made it work.

Whatever point of view choices you make, be consistent. Your readers will thank you!

Now, let's go into detail on each of the four narrative perspective types, their best practices, and mistakes to avoid.

First Person Point of View

In first person point of view, the narrator is in the story and telling the events he or she is personally experiencing.

The simplest way to understand first person is that the narrative will use first-person pronouns like I, me, and my.

Here's a first person point of view example from Herman Melville's  Moby Dick :

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world

First person narrative perspective is one of the most common POVs in fiction. If you haven't read a book in first person point of view, you haven't been reading.

What makes this point of view interesting, and challenging, is that all of the events in the story are filtered through the narrator and explained in his or her own unique narrative voice.

This means first person narrative is both biased and incomplete, but it can also deliver a level of intimacy other POVs can't.

Other first person point of view examples can be found in these popular novels :

• The Sun Also Rises  by Ernest Hemingway
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• The Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte

First Person Narrative is Unique to Writing

There's no such thing as first person in film or theater—although voiceovers and mockumentary interviews like the ones in The Office and Modern Family provide a level of first person narrative in third person perspective film and television.

In fact, the very first novels were written in first person, modeled after popular journals and autobiographies which were first-person stories of nonfiction..

First Person Point of View is Limited

First person narrators are narrated from a single character's perspective at a time. They cannot be everywhere at once and thus cannot get all sides of the story.

They are telling their  story, not necessarily the  story.

First Person Point of View is Biased

In first person novels, the reader almost always sympathizes with a first person narrator, even if the narrator is an anti-hero with major flaws.

Of course, this is why we love first person narrative, because it's imbued with the character's personality, their unique perspective on the world.

The most extreme use of this bias is called an unreliable narrator. Unreliable narration is a technique used by novelists to surprise the reader by capitalize on the limitations of first person narration to make the narrator's version of events extremely prejudicial to their side and/or highly separated from reality.

You'll notice this form of narration being used when you, as the reader or audience, discover that you can't trust the narrator.

For example, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl  pits two unreliable narrators against one another. Each relates their conflicting version of events, one through typical narration and the other through journal entries. Another example is  Fight  Club , in which *SPOILER* the narrator has a split personality and imagines another character who drives the plot.

Other Interesting Uses of First Person Narrative:

• The classic novel Heart of Darkness is actually a first person narrative within a first person narrative. The narrator recounts verbatim the story Charles Marlow tells about his trip up the Congo river while they sit at port in England.
• William Faulkner's Absalom,  Absalom  is told from the first person point of view of Quentin Compson; however, most of the story is a third person account of Thomas Sutpen, his grandfather, as told to Quentin by Rosa Coldfield. Yes, it's just as complicated as it sounds!
• Salman Rushdie's award-winning  Midnight's Children  is told in first person, but spends most of the first several hundred pages giving a precise third person account of the narrator's ancestors. It's still first person, just a first person narrator telling a story about someone else.

Two Big Mistakes Writers Make with First Person Point of View

When writing in first person, there are two major mistakes writers make :

1. The narrator isn't  likable. Your protagonist doesn't have to be a cliché hero. She doesn't even need to be good. However, she must  be interesting .

The audience will not stick around for 300 pages  listening to a character they don't enjoy. This is one reason why anti-heroes make great first person narrators.

They may not be morally perfect, but they're almost always interesting. (Remember Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye ?)

2. The narrator tells but doesn't show. The danger with first person is that you could spend too much time in your character's head, explaining what he's thinking and how he feels about the situation.

You're allowed to mention the character's mood, but don't forget that your reader's trust and attention relies on what your character does , not what he thinks about doing.

Second Person Point of View

While not used often in fiction—it is used regularly in nonfiction, song lyrics, and even video games—second person POV is still helpful to understand.

In this point of view, the narrator relates the experiences using second person pronouns like you and your. Thus, you  become the protagonist, you  carry the plot, and your  fate determines the story.

We've written elsewhere about why you should try writing in second person , but in short we like second person because it:

• Pulls the reader into the action of the story
• Makes the story   personal
• Surprises the reader
• Stretches your skills as a writer

Here's an example from the breakout bestseller  Bright Lights, Big City by Jay Mclnerney (probably the most popular example that uses second person point of view):

You have friends who actually care about you and speak the language of the inner self. You have avoided them of late. Your soul is as disheveled as your apartment, and until you can clean it up a little you don't want to invite anyone inside.

Second person narration isn't used frequently, however there are some notable examples of it.

Some other novels that use second person point of view are:

• Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure series? If you've ever read one of these novels where you get to decide the fate of the character (I always killed my character, unfortunately), you've read second person narrative.
• The Fifth Season  by N.K. Jemison
• The opening of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

There are also many experimental novels and short stories that use second person, and writers such as William Faulkner, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Albert Camus played with the style.

Breaking the fourth wall:

In the plays of William Shakespeare, a character will sometimes turn toward the audience and speak directly to them. In  A Midsummer Night's Dream , Puck says:

If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear.

This narrative device of speaking directly to the audience or the reader is called breaking the fourth wall (the other three walls being the setting of the story).

To think of it another way, it's a way the writer can briefly use second person in a first or third person narrative.

It's a lot of fun! You should try it.

Third Person Point of View

In third person narration, the narrator is outside of the story and relating the experiences of a character.

The central character is not the narrator. In fact, the narrator is not present in the story at all.

The simplest way to understand third person narration is that it uses third-person pronouns, like he/she, his/hers, they/theirs.

There are two types of this point of view:

Third Person Omniscient

The all-knowing narrator has full access to all  the thoughts and experiences of all  the characters in the story.

Examples of Third Person Omniscient:

While much less common today, third person omniscient narration was once the predominant type, used by most classic authors. Here are some of the novels using omniscient perspective today.

• War and Peace  by Leo Tolstoy
• Middlemarch  by George Eliot
• Where the Crawdad's Sing by Delia Owens
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• Still Life by Louise Penny (and all the Inspector Gamache series, which is amazing, by the way)
• Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
• Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (one of my favorites!)
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• More third person omniscient examples can be found here

Third Person Limited

The narrator has only some, if any, access to the thoughts and experiences of the characters in the story, often just to one  character .

Examples of Third Person Limited

Here's an example of a third person limited narrator from  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone  by J.K. Rowling:

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous…. He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: “To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!”

Some other examples of third person limited narration include:

• Game of Thrones s eries by George R.R. Martin (this has an ensemble cast, but Martin stays in one character's point of view at a time, making it a clear example of limited POV with multiple viewpoint characters, which we'll talk about in just a moment)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
• ​The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
• The Da Vinci Code  by Dan Brown
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• Love in the Time of Cholera  by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• 1984  by   George Orwell
• Orphan Train by   Christina Baker Kline
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Should You Use Multiple Viewpoint Characters vs. a Single Perspective?

One feature of third person limited and first person narrative is that you have the option of having multiple viewpoint characters.

A viewpoint character is simply the character whose thoughts the reader has access to. This character become the focus of the perspective during the section of story or the story as a whole.

While it increases the difficulty, you can have multiple viewpoint characters for each narrative. For example,  Game of Thrones  has more than a dozen viewpoint characters throughout the series.  Fifth Season has three viewpoint characters. Most romance novels have at least two viewpoint characters.

The rule is to only focus on one viewpoint character at a time (or else it changes to third person omniscient).

Usually authors with multiple viewpoint characters will change viewpoints every chapter. Some will change after section breaks. However, make sure there is  some  kind of break before changing so as to prepare the reader for the shift.

Should You Use Third Person Omniscient or Third Person Limited

The distinction between third persons limited and omniscient is messy and somewhat artificial.

Full omniscience in novels is rare—it's almost always limited in some way—if only because the human mind isn't comfortable handling all the thoughts and emotions of multiple people at once.

The most important consideration in third person point of view is this:

How omniscient are you going to be? How deep are you going to go into your character's mind? Will you read their thoughts frequently and deeply at any chance? Or will you rarely, if ever, delve into their emotions?

To see this question in action, imagine a couple having an argument.

Tina wants Fred to go to the store to pickup the cilantro she forgot she needed for the meal she's cooking. Fred is frustrated that she didn't ask him to pick up the cilantro on the way home from the office, before he had changed into his “homey” clothes (AKA boxer shorts).

If the narrator is fully omniscient, do you parse both Fred and Tina's emotions during each back and forth?

“Do you want to eat ? If you do, then you need to get cilantro instead of acting like a lazy pig,” Tina said, thinking, I can't believe I married this jerk. At least back then he had a six pack, not this hairy potbelly . “Figure it out, Tina. I'm sick of rushing to the store every time you forget something,” said Fred. He felt the anger pulsing through his large belly.

Going back and forth between multiple characters' emotions like this can give a reader whiplash, especially if this pattern continued over several pages and with more than two characters. This is an example of an omniscient narrator who perhaps is a little too comfortable explaining the characters' inner workings.

“ Show, don't tell ,” we're told. Sharing all  the emotions of all  your characters can become distraction. It can even destroy any tension you've built.

Drama requires mystery. If the reader knows each character's emotions all the time, there will be no space for drama.

How do You Handle Third Person Omniscient Well?

The way many editors and many famous authors handle this is to show the thoughts and emotions of only one character per scene (or per chapter).

George R.R. Martin, for example, uses “ point of view characters ,” characters whom he always has full access to understanding. He will write a full chapter from their perspective before switching to the next point of view character.

For the rest of the cast, he stays out of their heads.

This is an effective guideline, if not a strict rule, and it's one I would suggest to any first-time author experimenting with third person narrative. Overall, though, the principle to show, don't tell should be your guide.

The Biggest Third Person Omniscient Point of View Mistake

The biggest mistake I see writers make constantly in third person is  head hopping .

When you switch point of view characters too quickly, or dive into the heads of too many characters at once, you could be in danger of what editors call “head hopping.”

When the narrator switches from one character’s thoughts to another’s  too quickly, it can jar the reader and break the intimacy with the scene’s main character.

We've written about how you can get away with head hopping elsewhere , but it's a good idea to try to avoid going into more than one character's thoughts per scene or per chapter.

Can You Change POV Between Books In a Series?

What if you're writing a novel series? Can you change point of view or even POV characters between books?

The answer is yes, you can, but whether you should or not is the big question.

In general, it's best to keep your POV consistent within the same series. However, there are many examples of series that have altered perspectives or POV characters between series, either because the character in the previous books has died, for other plot reasons, or simply because of author choice.

For more on this, watch this coaching video where we get into how and why to change POV characters between books in a series:

Which Point of View Will You Use?

Here's a helpful point of view infographic to help you decide which POV to use in your writing:

Note that these distances should be thought of as ranges, not precise calculations. A third person narrator could conceivably draw closer to the reader than a first person narrator.

Most importantly, there is no best point of view. All of these points of view are effective in various types of stories.

If you're just getting started, I would encourage you to use either first person or third person limited point of view because they're easy to understand.

However, that shouldn't stop you from experimenting. After all, you'll only get comfortable with other points of view by trying them!

Whatever you choose, be consistent. Avoid the mistakes I mentioned under each point of view.

And above all, have fun!

How about you? Which of the four points of view have you used in your writing? Why did you use it, and what did you like about it? Share in the comments .

Using a point of view you've never used before, write a brief story about a teenager who has just discovered he or she has superpowers.

Make sure to avoid the POV mistakes listed in the article above.

Write for fifteen minutes . When your time is up, post your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop (if you’re not a member yet, you can join here ). And if you post, please be sure to give feedback to your fellow writers.

We can gain just as much value giving feedback as we can writing our own books!

Happy writing!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

72 Comments

My book is a memoir so first person is what I chose.

That was my choice for memoir, but am exploring other avenues for better character development.

I hate to be such a nag but isn’t the plural “points of view” and not “point of views”? As in brothers in law and not brother in laws

Joe, excellent post on POV. Probably the best I’ve read. Thanks!

I go for third person deep. In the PoV character’s head, using her unique voice, no author intrusion, no filter words. Am I doing it right? Far from it, but I’ve attended deep writing classes, an it’s easier to pinpoint slips.

Greetings from Greece!

Thanks for sharing this tit bit. I will be looking out for a deep writing class!

When deciding your POV, I strongly believe genre and tense should be considered as well.

Here is my first time ever uploading a “practice.” I chose to try second person, please be kind!

I couldn’t believe it when you called me, waking me from an intense fantasy dream, to tell me that you had been somehow magically transformed overnight into some type of superhero. You cannot blame me if my reaction appeared to be less than awe and more of disbelief and worry for your current state of mind. You will not want me to ask this, but have you started doing drugs? Remember, Freshman Health class, one of the signs to look for was if your friend suddenly changes or acts crazy. Well dude, you are acting more than just a little bit crazy.

Can you really fly? I have been waiting for 15 minutes for you to appear at my bedroom window, and so far nothing. I can envision you, at this very moment, running down the alley and between the houses. You will get to my back gate, jump over, and scurry behind the bushes; all bent over and believing that I can’t see you. When you are sure of your timing and that I have no idea at your mastery, you will jump out and try to convince me that you flew to your location. Please try to remember that I have known you since Kindergarten. Very little about you surprises me anymore, yet you are entertaining.

Although, you did sound different on the phone this morning, you voice had a quality I had never heard before. I would call it confidence. You weren’t trying to convince me that you had a special new talent. You were telling me, informing me.

You need new boots, I know this because I noticed the hole in the bottom of the left one as you slowly descended from the top of my window. Your smile was radiant, your arms crossed confidently across your puffed out chest. You are transformed.

You don’t look peaceful, but you look at peace. Morphine will do that to you. Your flaky, red eyes flutter in your sleep—do you dream, there? “The eyes are the windows to the soul,” so they say; with the curtains drawn, does your gaze turn inward? Do you dream of me amidst the pain, or are you cradled in the gentle embrace of the abyss?

This was your fault, you know; waving that gun in my face, pushing me around; what did you expect?

Certainly not this; no one could have expected this. Dazzling cords of fire springing from the fingertips of your would-be, should-be victim—perhaps it would’ve been wiser to hand over the money—but then, who next? Woudl you have let me go in the first place?

It wasn’t for anything venial, was it? Not for clothes or jewelry—not from what I can tell; you don’t seem the type. But it’s hard to tell. There’s not much left of your clothes, you know.

There’s not much left of you.

They’ll pour maggots over your chest and into your eyes, and flake off the blackness with gentle sponges, and alcohol over everything. That will hurt.

Your hair was so pretty. The doctor says most of it will grow back.

The cops are taking your side, you know. Figures. At least guns don’t burn. I wouldn’t be sticking around if they hadn’t cuffed me to the bed, and set it beside yours—someone in blue has a sick sense of irony.

There are birds fluttering by the windowpane, and whispers of white amidst pastels of blue. Your burns will heal. Mine have only just begun.

Yeah, having superpowers would actually be terrifying. Especially fire. Fire is bad.

I’ve used second-person before, but very rarely, so I went with it, since I’ve used all the points of view you mentioned.

Changing point of view is not only acceptable, it’s quite common. You just italicize it. I don’t know how to do that in a comment, but the general form would be something akin to: He felt around for the plot device. *Damn; I can’t find this thing. Woe is me, I am woe, woe unto me, woe betides me, etc.* He found it. *Huzzah!*

Further, your example for third-person POV includes a sputter of second-person: “the very last place *you* would expect astonishing things to happen.” This is the rhetorical “you,” not an actual pronoun—that is, “you” isn’t referring to anyone—but it still counts.

I think the argument shouldn’t be “never switch POV,” but, rather, “use the turn signal;” that is to say, give the reader an indication that the POV is changing, and why. Italics for brief periods, chapters for changing the individual narrator (you can have lots in one book), etc. Much like turning in traffic, problems generally arise not from the turn, but from the surprise. “Head hopping” is easy to avoid with, for instance, section separators—a vertical space, or a line of three little stars if the space breaks across a page, so that the reader knows a shift is happening. After familiarizing the reader with the mechanism, you can abuse it as much as you want.

Hemingway’s way works too, although I was never a big fan of Hemingway.

P.S. Give away an antique typewriter; brilliant—plenty of nostalgia; tangled ribbons, torn sheets, jammed keys; I can see why you want to inflict it on somebody else!

Wow, that was amazing descriptions. I loved your opening and closing lines as well. You did a great job of setting the dark mood of the story. Very well done.

Great post! It is quite thorough and engaging, and you offered plenty of terrific examples and practical tips.

I tend to write my stories more in the third person POV, I tend to focus on one main character but sometimes try to give some insight on another character’s perspective. The only reason I shy away from first person is because it can be emotionally exhausting to write. The funny thing is my most dramatic story was written in first person (though I did switch between two people) but I felt it would come off stonger in first person rather than third.

I’m not sure I qualify for this practice, because I’ve written in pretty much every POV: My novel is 3rd person deep, my short stories are first person, my articles are second, and my songs cover all of the above plus the others. 🙂 In my book I have several POVs, but I make sure to change the scene completely before changing the person. (Like Jerry Jenkins’/Tim Lahaye’s Left Behind.) I’m not breaking any rules like that, am I? This is a great and informative article that I’ll definitely reference in the future. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

“Whatsoever ye do, do unto the Glory of God” Reagan

Nice post! Very helpful of keeping them strait. I tend to lean toward first person or third person limited, so I decided to try out second person for the prompt. I also used a dialogue prompt, which is the first line of the story. Here goes nothing!

“The last time I said yes to you, a lot of people died.” You say it low, under your breath, perhaps because you don’t really want him to hear you or perhaps because you don’t want to hear yourself, don’t want to remember that it happened.

“You know,” He reaches out to you, and you pull away, not wanting to touch his hands, hands that could have prevented the deaths of so many, but that have always been so gentle with you. He turns his face to the ground and, you realize, he is just as pained by the memory as you. “You know that I couldn’t have done it.”

“No.” The word comes out all wrong, because of your still upper lip, “You couldn’t have. I knew that then and I know that now.” You lock eyes with him, “Don’t you understand that’s what I’m saying? Don’t you understand that the answer is no?”

“But I can’t…” He grimaces, as though someone has twisted a knife in his gut, “I can’t just let you kill yourself.”

And now it’s your turn to grimace, to feel the pain twisting your stomach into knots. You don’t really know why you do it though. Are you afraid to die? No. That’s not it. You’re afraid for him. For the pain your death will cause him.

“You have to be strong.” You say, “For me.” This time it’s you that reaches out, to lay a hand gently on his shoulder, “You know if I don’t do this, a lot of people will die. Because I know, if I go berserk again, you won’t be able to pull the trigger. And it wouldn’t be fair to ask you to do that anyway. So the answer is no, I won’t let you be my safety net anymore.” His only response is a nod. You slide the hand gently off of his shoulder. That will be your only goodbye. It will be easier that way.

The cup that holds the poison looks normal. Just a regular coffee cup, containing your favorite blend of Colombian roast, and, of course, the substance that will kill you, quickly and painlessly, which is more then you deserve. You are not afraid. You are ready. You pick the cup up off the table and bring it close to your lips but then hesitate, because you see that shining in his eyes, the shining that means he’ll start crying. There is that twisting feeling in your stomach again. Seeing him in pain has always hurt the worst. But you can’t risk it anymore. You can’t let yourself live at the cost of more deaths.

Before you can hesitate, you take a gulp, the coffee burning your throat as it goes down. The room wobbles and you fall, but he catches you, like you knew he would, so that your head doesn’t crack open on the concrete floor.

You are paralyzed, but still conscious, and you know you only have a few seconds before the world grows dark.

He sinks to his knees, cradling you in his arms, like a child. He is no longer holding back his tears. Perhaps because he already thinks you dead.

“I wish,” He says, through sobs and tears and unbecoming bubbles of snot, “I wish you would have said yes.”

He puts his forehead to yours and you feel warm drops of moisture fall on your cheeks. In that moment you, too, wish you had said yes. That things could have been different. That you could have been alive and happy.

But you do not doubt your decision, not in the last seconds that you have breath. Because the last time you said yes to him, a lot of people died and this time, the death tole would be a single, solitary, one.

That was amazing and beautiful and very very emotional. You’ve used second person very effectively! I love it. Did this just come from the top of your head or is there a longer story behind it?

Thanks! It was a sort of top of my head thing. I used this writing prompt and also a dialogue prompt. Also, I’ve been thinking of werwolfs a lot lately for some odd reason (which is what the main character is). The rest of it kinda flowed from there. I’m glad you liked it!

Wonderful story

Not knowing much about POV, I believe I’ve been hedge hopping between them, but appear to prefer Third Person Omniscient, but will have to first discover what that last big word means? Then a re-write may well be called for!

The post is excellent, extending a warm hug of inspiration to the budding writers. I prefer ‘third person omniscient’ POV, with no room for any boredom in my narration.

Peter had his normal “I’m paying attention” look plastered on his face, but his mind was chasing super villains, decimating evil minions with mighty punches that laid ten low at one swipe.

One ear caught, “Good morning, we have a guest speaker this morning, the Rev. Charles Birch, from the 2nd Baptist Church. Rev. Birch will present the creationist side to what we have been studying in the physical sciences. Rev. Birch.”

“Blah … blah … blah,” Peter heard in his public ear but his private ear heard Dr. Daemon spewing his maleficent threats, “Capt. Magnificent, you have no hope of defeating my eco-destroying minions!” On and on it went, Birch preaching “let there be light … the dominion of man over all things … everything in it’s proper order … on the first day God created the second day … and on the third day blah blah blah,” and of course during all of this Dr. Daemon and Capt. Magnificent continued their mighty struggle on the farside of the moon, until Peters public ear heard, “of course the universe can only be 10,000 years old …”

What? What was that his public ear just heard? The Universe is a maximum of 10,000 years old? Peter was now attentive to what the pompous windbag in front of the class was saying.

A single hand raised itself amongst the sea of blank faces.

“Yes, young man?”

“Uh, Rev. Birch, how can the universe be 10,000 years old?”

“Easy uh huh,” Ms. Murphy whispered into the Reverends ear, “yes, Peter, we know the age of the universe from the generations that are recorded in the Bible.”

“But … I was at a dig in Colorado last summer and the rock strata around the fossils …”

“Humph, all conjecture. I believe God made the fossil and the rocks surrounding it ten thousand years ago.”

“All fossils are like that then?”

“Well of course. Given He made the fossils He made the surrounding rock. We only think that it took millions of years.”

Peter’s hand shot up again.

Rev. Birch tried to avoid him, but Peter was a persistent little son of… “Yes?”

“So God’s just a practical joker, creating false evidence to fool the sciences?”

The class was coming out it’s “guest speaker” lethargy, as Peter again had his hand up and spoke before acknowledged, “Does the Bible say what the speed of light is?”

“Well, now I think that has no bearing …”

Susan piped up, adding onto Peter’s question “How can Andromeda be millions of light-years away if the universe is only 10,000 years old?”

“Uh well … Andromeda?”

“No wonder He didn’t have time to save my baby sister if He wasted all that time making fossils look millions of years old,” came a loud, whispered, comment from the back of the room.

Ms. Murphy quickly ushered Rev. Birch from the classroom, and shook his hand in the hall, “Thank you so much for coming. We do appreciate all view points.”

“Who are those kids?” the Reverend asked.

“Oh, the Anderson District Scholars Program. Basically our high school geniuses in sciences and math. It’s required we allow all view points to be presented.”

Interesting. Uh, Gary, how could you have written the story in 15 minutes? Or did you dig up a fossil story you wrote millions of years ago…?

Does it matter?

It took a day and a half to percolate through my gray matter. I then took approximately 15 to 20 minutes to rough it out and get it into Draftin. Then another while, hours, lots of minutes, to get it to where I wanted to post it. Once posted, I’ve gone back and edited it, probably dozens of times, making changes as it has continued to peroclate.

I loved the flashing between reality and a story he is telling himself in his head. That’s me about 90% of the time. lol

I would also just like to add, that all creationists aren’t young earth creationists. There are a lot of different theories. Take the gap theory and theistic evolution for example. Then you have people who take it as a literal six days and others who don’t because of the bible verse that says “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day”. Then, there are two different meanings to the word “day” if you look at the translation of the bible from Hebrew to English. So there is argument over which version of the word “day” is being used sense one can be taken literally and the other figuratively. There are literally of books written on these subjects, with Christians arguing amongst themselves over which is right. I have actually meet very few people who think the way the reverend in this story does, especially sense when you go to seminary they teach you how to not look like an idiot in these situations.

I think It’s important to remember when you’re writing Christians (or any group that often gets stereotyped) that they are not stereotypes. I’ve written atheists and it’s really easy just to make them injured people who are angry at God and dissatisfied with life, but that’s just not the reality. A lot of atheists know their stuff and have good reason for their beliefs. The same applies to Christians. If you still want to debunk the Christian in the end, I’m totally cool with it. I would just say, have the Christian have a better argument then “God put the fossils their like that”. Make it harder for your main character to debunk him, create more conflict, and make us cheer him on all the more when he wins.

Just thought that was worth mentioning. All in all, the piece is very well written.

Assumption: Pastors and or reverends have been to seminary. Not true. In the Southern Baptist Convention, at least when I was in the SBC, pastors were not assigned by the convention, nor was any kind of, pre or post graduate, pastoral education required. Pastors were called by the local church, without guidance from the convention, and could easily not even have finished high school. There are many churches that have no affiliation with any established denomination, and therefore call whomever they want as their pastor.

Oh, yes, you handled POV nicely. I’m just the kind of person that will comment on every part of the story. And I’m sorry if the comment was too much, or you didn’t find it helpful. I just tend to say what I think. But for the exercise you did a good job on the POV.

Oh the comment wasn’t too much. After 68 years my hide is pretty tough and criticism I tend to take in a constructive manner and/or with a grain of salt.

But you assumed something in your comment that, in my experience is simply not true. In my experience, the pastors that had graduated college, let alone ever attended seminary were zero. My denomination, at the time, was lucky to have pastors that finished high school.

68 years, wow that’s a lot of time and experience! You have the respect of a young Padawan.

You’re right. I was looking at it from a United Methodist view point (sense that’s the denomination I belong to). Our denomination is pretty strict with schooling and is very organized when it comes to chain of command. I discounted the fact that not all denominations and churches are like mine. My current pastor actually has a PhD and really knows what he’s talking about, so were lucky in that. I’ve also grown up in a home where ignorance isn’t tolerated. We learn about our religion (and everything else we can learn about) and are not victims of blind acceptance.

I’m sorry you had experiences with uneducated pastors. I hope they weren’t all as bad as the one in the story. If they were, then that stinks. And I do realize that there are, sadly, some pastors like the one from your story who don’t have very good arguments when it comes to the science of their faith. But I also hope that people know that all Christians aren’t, to put it frankly, stupid.

Again, assumptions. Christianity was never equated to stupidity, and above all else no attempt to equate uneducated to stupid was ever made. In all those 68 years I have seen incredibly educated people, read that doctorates, that were, above all else, stupid. I have also encountered uneducated people that could best be described as genius.

Birch was, at best, unprepared. His fault, Murphy’s fault, irrelevant, not what I was striving for. It was simply the vehicle used to convey POV switching from character to character. Birch could have been Islamic and quoting the Torah.

I wrote for 20 minutes before I realized it, so here’s what I got.

“Okay, calm down, calm down. You must get a hold of yourself” I murmured frantically to myself, I had to calm down before I blew another hole through the wall, or worse. I sat still on the hard floor, and I still couldn’t believe what had happened, it didn’t make sense at all, but there was evidence of it right before my eyes: a brick wall that now had a wide circle in its middle, still glowing hot from what I had done. Yet it was nothing compared to the silver glow that came from my hands, it felt strange, alien yet oddly comfortable, like I was wearing a glove while sparks coursed throug my arms.

I kept staring at my hands for a long time, trying to find some explanation for what had happened, it couldn’t have been me who did that, I wasn’t that special, I didn’t have some special blood, nor had I gone through any experiment, I didn’t even fit in any origin story of any Super. I was sure of that, I had even taken the tests at the Dome.

“This can’t be happening!” I screamed, letting loose all the emotions I had tried to hold back. “ARGGGHhhh!”

Then, it happened again, the room was bathed again in a silver hue as another silver beam left my hands and destroyed the wall a bit more, leaving behind only one third of what had been an sturdy wall once. That flash had confirmed my fears, this was the reality I had been the one to destroy the wall. I was angry, scared and happy at the same time, these emotions clashing one against the other as I witnessed the destruction I had wrecked in less than 10 minutes.

A grave sound pierced the old room I was in, it sounded like a lament, a sorrowful lament from a strange lonely monster. It only lasted a few seconds, and then, a piece of the roof fell about 5 meters from me. It was followed by another one, and another one bigger than the first two. Soon the whole roof was falling in, and fear once again took a hold of me. I was going to die, I knew I was going to die, buried beneath the rubis of the room.

“I, I don’t want to die” I screamed with all the force of my lungs while I tried to protect my head with my hands, I knew it wasn’t going to be enough, it wasn’t going to be enough if I wanted to live. I want to live. That thought was the last one I had before a surge of power coursed through my body, engulfing my vision in a white blanket before I passed out.

When I woke up, I felt groggy, moving my body was hard, and the air was packed with dust. But I didn’t hurt anywhere, not did I feel like I was buried under something. I slowly made my way to my knees, looking at myself for any sign of injuries, but there was none, in fact except for the dust my clothes were exactly the same as they had been before the fall in.

“This is impossible” I said out loud to no on, but how did this happen? I thought I was done for sure. It was only then that I looked around me and I was shocked for the fifth time that day.

There wasn’t any rubis near me, no for a meter around me. Was that possible? How?

Well done. There are a couple of times where the protagonist is thinking, not speaking. It would help to clarify that like using italics, or at least quoting.

Thanks for the advice- I usually use italics when it comes to thoughts, but I wasn’t sure if they were going to copy that way from writer. So I’ll try to use them next time.

I wrote one short story in the first person POV twenty five years ago. I never tried it again. Since I decided to face my fears, here I go again.

I had just opened my eyes and before I could see clearly, I was standing next to the bed jumping up and down. All of a sudden, i was standing next to the dresser drawer. did I run? I had so much energy. It seemed as if I had four cups of coffee and six energy pills. I looked across the room at the hamper. The hamper was empty and the clothes that were stuffed there were clean and folded. Last night the hamper was full of dirty clothes.. I head a soft voice that sounded like mine. “Esther, you now have super human power. The clothes were washed and folded last night. If you go to the kitchen, there is no longer a pile of dirty dishes. They have all be washed and put away. That’s all I have to say.” “What are you talking about? Who are you?” Suddenly, I was jumping up and down next to my dresser drawer.. I paused and looked into my mirror. I still looked the same. A long braid with a hair pin fastened to the left close to may ear. I did feel energized. At once I felt like I needed or wanted to run. I walked down the stairs toward the front door. The moment that i stepped out. I had dashed down the block, turned to the right and dashed down that block and Paused, standing in right in from of me was me. she looked exactly like me. She had a long braid that was pinned to the side like i did. She was wearing a light tan tee-shirt and black short shorts, blue gym shoes. Just like I am wearing. We both stood there, sweating, jumping up and down as though there were springs.under our shoes. ” Who are you?” ” I just you told you when we were in the house.” Then, she said “I’ll just tell you this much. Let’s race back to the house and up the stairs and stand next to the bed. Whoever get there first wins. “Win what,” “You’ll find out.” she dashed past me to the right. I spun back around so fast that I became dizzy. I dashed down the block and turned left. Before I knew it, I was in the kitchen. Mama was there. I was downstairs sitting at the table with her. “I am impressed. you have fixed breakfast and washed the dishes and I see you have been running.” Thanks mama, I said. Then in my mind and my ear I heard my own voice. There are two Esther. The one who procrastinate and don”t get things done and the one that get things done immediately without being told.. Then mama looked at me and smiled. She never smiles in the morning. but today, she did. She said, well today you cooked the breakfast and washed the dishes without waiting until you got home from school. I like this part of you, Esther. Then, I knew what had happened, KEN Well, there it is. Now, this means that I have used the first person again. I feel okay because, even if it’s terrible. I tried.

My go to POV is 3rd Person, limited.

Oops!! Just realized I completely blew the prompt.

Oh well … back to he drawing board (or computer).

This app helps me understand a lot about the 3d person

The first time it happened took me by surprise. It would anyone wouldn’t it? I was standing in line at the grocery store with my mom. I was tapping my foot to the beat of my own boredom, impatiently waiting for the guy ahead of us to move his cart; which if you ask me he didn’t even need. I added in some finger snaps. 1…2…and…3. The third snap brought with it an echo. When I looked around, I wasn’t in the grocery store anymore. I was in a cave.

I had waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark. The only light that was coming through was a small crack far ahead of me to my left side. I looked down at my feet for a path. Right in front of me the rock I was standing on dropped off into an abyss of black. Behind me stood the edge of the cave. I remember hyperventilating. I was so scared I couldn’t move. I started snapping my fingers again and said out loud, “think, think, think,” matching my snaps to the words in my head. On the third snap, I was back in the grocery store. Police were there talking with my mother. I had been gone a long time.

After that day I tried experimenting with my new formed ability. I started thinking of specific places that I wanted to visit; I wanted to see if I could control it. After a few failed attempts ending up in grungy basements, restaurant cooler storages, and an actor’s cottage, I got a hold of the pattern.

The success of my teleportation was contingent on my ability to breathe evenly. I needed to remain completely calm. When I realized that my ability was never going away, my excitement is what kept me from perfection. Failure after failure brought an increased frustration with myself.

It’s good. You haven’t overdone anything. You’ve shown what happened through your character really well. I particularly like the line “dropped off into an abyss of black.”

This was my attempt at using 2nd person. I rarely use it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you 🙂

“Now what can you tell me about God? Anybody? Yes, yes, um Alice?” “Alicia, Miss. God is often described with the three Os. He is omnipotent, all powerful, omnipresent, everywhere and omniscient, all knowing.” You suppress a groan. “Which textbook did she swallow to spew that out?” you whisper to your friend. She giggles quietly. “Shhhh,” she replies. You sigh and put your head on the table. You’ve been stuck in this stuffy classroom for half an hour and you really won’t last for another half. You can practically eat religion in this school.

“Hey you, you, sleepy child,” the teacher says. For a moment you’re confused but then your friend nudges you and you realise the woman is talking to you. ‘Can’t she learn our names?’ you think. “Yes, Miss?” you dare to risk saying. “What can you tell me about God?” she asks. ‘Oh for God’s sake,’ you think before realising the irony. “Um,” you reply. You could almost swear that time was slowing down. Everyone’s eyes turn towards you almost in slow motion before they stop as if frozen. You wish the ground would hurry up and swallow you. It takes you a moment to realise that no one is blinking. “Hello?” you say, hoping you don’t sound like an idiot. Nobody responds. ‘Okay, this is really creepy.’ You poke your friend but she doesn’t move. A bead of sweat trickles down your forehead that has nothing to do with the heat. What is going on? A cold feeling washes over you and you sit back in your seat feeling dizzy. You try to control your breathing but it is rapid and coming in gasps. You glance at the clock only to see that the second hand has stopped moving. Hands clammy, you glare at it willing it to move. Millimetre by millimetre it does. You sigh with relief when everybody’s movement resumes only to find yourself under the scrutiny of 30 pairs of eyes.

“Well?” asks the teacher. Suddenly desperate, you look at the clock and wonder if you can make time go faster.

Who’s point of view;

So there’s this guy, this one guy I never liked, he’s constantly stealing my ideas, getting credit for the success, or if the idea fails, that’s when he throws me under the bus. Oh it’s so aggravating when he takes the words right outta my mouth, when I try to participate in the discussion, he cuts me off, I swear he thinks he knows everything he’s talking about. Oh, yeah and he’s always making an ass out of me, no matter what it is, especially at every work party. This guy thinks he’s so slick, two steps ahead of everyone, but he’s not quick, I know every move he’s gonna make before he makes them. It’s also extremely embarrassing he always seems to wear what I have on, then to hear people say how good he looks, I swear his heads swelling from the compliments. Have you seen him? That car he’s driving, that watch he’s wearing, his house, and kids, and his wife, most people only dream of marrying. He has everything I ever wanted, yet he takes it all for granted, he won’t let anyone else enjoy the spot light, like it’s impossible for him to share it. He never talks to me, which makes it that much more awkward, because I always see him in the bathroom, and every time I wash my hands, there he is, just starring, blocking my reflection. When I try to move, he moves too, it’s so obvious he’s doing it on purpose, but I don’t like drama, quite frankly his demeanor makes me a little nervous. So I just ignore it, I’m starting to wonder if I should report him, but what if the boss thinks I’m jealous? I much rather prefer waiting until the day he quits, or who knows maybe he’ll get fired, I just hope he’s not still here up until the day that I retire.

Until the age of five almost six, I thought everyone could figure out how to walk through walls. The morning my mom was walking me to my first day of school she broke the news to me. Once we reached the first intersection, and we were standing at the corner waiting for the light to change, she first asked me, “Maddy, remember that I mentioned to you every person in the world is unique?” I nodded while I kept my eye on the street light. “and what did I say was so unique about you?” “That I have three freckles on my nose.” “Maddy! Not that but the one thing nobody can tell by looking at you.” I looked up at her and said, “That I am a smart kid and I figured out that walls don’t divide or separate?”

Chapbook 25

Last night I was scared, I had another bad dream I just wanted my mommy there but she was in another room asleep. It was a nightmare, the one I often have, about a monster, who’s over 6ft. He chases me down, grabs me by my hair, thrown me into walls, I don’t know why he’s so angry, he’s even kicked me down the stairs.

I woke up sweating, my eyes filled with tears, and what scared me the most was bruises had appeared. They covered me from head to toe, I couldn’t hide them underneath my clothes. Today I was supposed start my first day of school, but mommy said I couldn’t go.

Back to sleep, I don’t even remember getting ready for bed, I just blacked out, when I woke up a pain filled my head. My dream had some how become real, there was the monster, standing over my body, breathing, and grunting, where is my mommy. Why doesn’t she come and help, why isn’t she protecting me, can’t she hear me if I yell.

Can anyone hear me, why can’t anyone figure it out, I wish my daddy was here, but mommy won’t let him around. When will this nightmare finally end, what will it take for him to leave, one of us dead, or broken and bleeding?

Years have gone by, I’m learning to deal, he’s still in our lives, drinking his meal. He is always mad always drunk, never caring, incapable of feeling love. Beating satisfies a need inside him, one that reminds him he’s alive, he’s in control, that everyone’s beneath him, we do as were told.

My other siblings have dealt with it their own way, my oldest sibling has different personality traits. One minute he’s him, by the next someone else, he swears one day he’ll be free of this hell, and when he does he never wants to see any of us again, he disowns our family, he can’t be my friend. The pain is so much more than anyone should take, it won’t be long from now till one of us breaks.

It finally happened, as I began to prepare my food, cutting up vegetables, trying not to listen to them argue, but low and behold i couldnt ignore the thump, at that very moment I snapped into somebody else.

Someone stronger than who I thought I’d become, with a knife in one hand, and a plan in the other, I made my way to the second floor, and found the that thud was my mother. As the plaster in the wall shaped like her head, I looked for the monster, and seen him covered in red.

Like a bull I charged toward him, digging the knife in his gut, 1,2,3 times ain’t enough. Like the monster he’s always been, courage from his bottle, the pierces in his side didn’t stop him, he was numb from the booze, and like a mad man, he retaliated, nothing could keep him from trying to kill me.

I just woke up from a terrible dream, just to find myself in a worse reality. Laying at the bottom if the stair case, in a puddle of my own blood, flashing lights reassured me help had finally come, but I couldn’t move, my body paralyzed, what had I done? I see my mother screaming she is covered in blood, Then I seen the monster sitting up with tape across his abdomen arms crossed in cuffs, finally he will get what he deserves, but what does this mean or us?

The only girl out of eight kids, the second eldest of the bunch, I thought we stuck together this long, and through such hell, we’d most likely stay together, but only time could tell. If only the words for what’s felt could every truly be spoken, perhaps only then could anyone listening would know just what was dealt, but sometimes you can’t mutter out the words that would allow others to understand what kind of welt gets lashed across a tiny body when beaten with a belt.

Even after hundreds of beatings, thousands of black and blue marks, fractured bones like ribs and wrists, almost on a daily basis. I bet your thinking how the hell does this go on for so long, when a parent allows another adult to enter their home, use them for everything they own, get drunk and stands by as that person takes their angers and frustration out on the innocent lives they should be protecting. When a mother or father chooses a stranger over their own little ducklings. That is how monsters get away with it so long, because an active parent allows it to go on.

The truth is of all the afflictions none bare as much pain as the very thought that a mother could prefer a stranger, a monster, putting her babies in danger, actually acts like she doesn’t see what she did wrong. She won’t acknowledge her errors, and the ultimate worst, the day she would choose another guy over us, again, this guy just another monster, and yet he is her life, treats her like crap, calls her an asset, not as his wife. Let her keep him, and the life she’s made, I have my own daughter now, I will never allow her to grow up this way, I will be nothing like my momster, this is the ultimate promise I make, and would die before I’d ever let it break.

Great piece about a super villain, and how this kind of thing does not happen in a vacuum. Your POV was consistent, first person, but there are places where you need to highlight that these are the thoughts of the protagonist. Italics would work, or even quotes.

I only just came across this site today an I was immediately intrigued. I’ve always been self conscious about my writing but I like the idea of being about to just practice like this and get genuine feedback. Anyway I wrote mine in third person limited, I trying to practice how to use better descriptions without overdoing it and getting to fluffy. Here goes..

I remember the day Melissandra first told me she had superpowers. I would have laughed right then and there if I hadn’t learned to recognize the tension burrowed between her brows. Her pale youthful skin now sagged to that of a woman three times her age. The bags beneath her eyebrows had become so swollen and dark you would have thought she hadn’t slept in weeks. The dark shadows behind her eyes gave way to little life. She hunched over me, her body twitching like little jolts of electricity pulsed through her. In health classes we had often seen videos of the effects of hard drugs on addicts, the way they scratched and clawed, itching to escape their bodies. Could she had gotten herself into hard drugs? No, I definitely would have noticed. This was something worse, as a tenth grader living in the suburbs true terror had never struck me very hard, but the fear that gripped her eyes sent a chill through my spine.

“Mel, is everything okay?” I ask as we push our way through the crowded cafeteria.

Mel leans in close looking over her shoulder with unease checking to see that no one else is listening. She whispers, almost inaudibly.

“I think I have superpowers Suz.”

Laughter roars through my belly, which is quickly stifled by the lifeless expression on her face. I’ve never seen her so afraid.

“I’m sorry, did you say superpowers Mel?” I ask in disbelief.

Her eyes fix on me with a cold hard expression, there’s no laughter in her eyes, no punch line at the end of this story.

She lowers her voice as she begins to explain.

“Last night I went for a climb on Bears Peak. I must of got 150 feet when I lost my footing on the rocks. I was so sure I had all my ropes secured, but as I started to fall nothing caught. In that moment I thought I was going to die. Than, just before my body hit the ground I stopped. My body just suspended, hovering in mid air. It wasn’t long, only a moment, a few seconds at best, but enough time for my body to correct itself and find its footing on the ground.”

I stare at her in bewilderment, she’s not saying what I think she is, is she.

“Suzan!” she exclaims as her eyes show a flicker of light. “Last night I flew.”

I just discovered this site tonight, I like it already. I wrote mine in third person limited.

I remember the day Melissandra first told me she had superpowers. I would have laughed right then and there if I hadn’t learned to recognize the tension burrowed between her brows. Her pale youthful skin now sagged to that of a woman three times her age. The bags beneath her eyes had become so swollen and dark you would have thought she hadn’t slept in weeks. The dark shadows behind her eyes gave way to little life. She hunched over me, her body twitching like little jolts of electricity pulsed through her. In health classes we had often seen videos of the effects of hard drugs on addicts, the way they scratched and clawed, itching to escape their bodies. Could she had gotten herself into hard drugs? No, I definitely would have noticed. This was something worse, as a tenth grader living in the suburbs true terror had never struck me very hard, but the fear that gripped her eyes sent a chill through my spine.

Great article, Joe! I really appreciate the detail you went into. You made the different points of view so clear. The breadth of your knowledge of literature is awesome, and your two graphics were helpful and concise.

Katherine Rebekah, great story! You did the second-person POV seamlessly.

All the best, Deena

Well thanks, Deena. 🙂

My genre is romantic suspense, or romantic thrillers, if you will. I always write third person point of view, omniscient, and steer clear of first person for exactly the reasons you’ve stated above. I find first person too limited and stifling. When I read a novel written in first person I find myself distracted, wondering what the other main character(s) are thinking or feeling. Particuarly in a romance – I don’t want to spend my entire reading experience wondering: Is he feeling the same way way or she on her own here?

Granted, the authors that I habitually read do not typically write in first person, but when they do, I will admit, they’re pretty good at showing me the thoughts and feelings of the other party without actually going into their POV. But, I would say it is a tough thing to accomplish, and only the best writers do.

Any feedback would be nice, thanks!

There are no more villains to fight you. No more evil-doers who wish to challenge your right—the right the people gave you to defend their lives. The monument that watched over the city like an old father is the tribute they built for you. The responsibility that you now stand in. Watching over them. An extraterrestrial guardian.

You look up to see grey clouds swirling, forming some odd shape. You take flight, and burst through the glass pane, as people below begin to chant your name. The clouds merge with one another, swirling in and out of each other. With your vision you can see the faces of the ones you swore to protect, even at the cost of your life. Some are smiles, the faces of those that believe in you—the ones if they could would join you without a second thought. Others had grief-stricken eyes; doubt lined their faces. How could you protect them forever? Surely someone greater than you, stronger than you would destroy everything that you deemed worth saving. Maybe there was someone that could take your place, someone that made all this easier. Hopefully.

No. Your chest bursts out and the veins in your arms feel ready to explode. Your fists clench tighter with each breath. Your eyes narrow. Never will you doubt yourself ever again. A crash of lightning hit a nearby building, signifying your resolve. You charge into the vortex still swallowing the sky. The mass of clouds block your path and out the whirlwind a humanoid shape takes form. You. You face off against yourself. “Of course. A hero’s greatest challenge is his or herself,” you say.

How I hate head-hopping! This is a common mistake my students make – and an easy one that can slip into our drafts. Hence, the importance of revision and beta readers.

Thank you for this thorough discussion of such an important element of story!

The worst limitation I find writing in first person is exactly what Joe pointed out, that you cannot be everywhere at once. I find myself getting frustrated at having to switch POV’s between characters in order to be able to tell the story better and show how different characters are feeling because of certain situations; or in my story’s case: one very sinister character.

But since I’m using my past experiences as a means to write the way I do, I kind of need to stay in first person. It’s both a blessing and a curse.

How interesting that a man who has written a 7000-page story is the author of a bestselling book about writing a short story. 😉

“Tina, what the heck. Put me down.”

“Sorry Charlie, I just ate a spinach salad.”

“Clever, but not humorous. Popeye wouldn’t be so frivolous. What if mom and dad had seen you showing off, or worse, if one of the Dancings is spying on us.”

“You’re no fun, you’re boring and paranoid. Brother or not, I may look for another partner”

“Be my guest. I’ll find someone who takes our mission seriously. Who won’t jeopardize our friends and family out of boredom, and the childish need for attention. Grow up a little. You’re sixteen years old.”

“And, you’re eighteen going on eighty. It’s true what they say about friends and family.”

“Whose they?

“Idiot. They’re the consensus.”

“What does the consensus have to say on the subject?”

“Family is the luck of the draw. Friends are deliberate choices.”

“I’d mention a few of your choices but that won’t get this conversation on track. I, we, need to find out what the Dancings are up to. You need to get close enough to read their daughter’s mind. I’ve got a plan. It could work if you can augment your powers with a dash of maturity.”

My sister Tina and I were abducted a month ago while hiking in the Grand Canyon. If I had the words to describe the aliens or their vessel, I’d share them, but I don’t. They were spirits as much as anything and I may have been sedated somehow. They separated us. Apparently Tina was more qualified for mental and physical superpowers than I was. She can read minds and has the strength of The Hulk. My power is cooler though. My eyes shoot lasers when I squint and concentrate. If it was just a matter of squinting, the neighborhood would be ablaze. My vision is less than perfect. I’ve been squinting for years. Maybe that’s why I got this power? Whatever. If the Dancings are building a dirty bomb in their basement, I may need to set fire to them and their house. Soon maybe. First, I need to know that my suspicions are warranted.

Tina needed to befriend the Dancing’s daughter Tanya, an introvert who spoke to no one at school. If she couldn’t befriend her, Tina at least needed to sit by her at lunch, hopefully to learn something from her thoughts. My sister gets bored easily, so sitting near a person who won’t acknowledge her was going to be a challenge. That’s why I was so irritated with Tina and her circus tricks just now. I’m convinced our neighbors are terrorists. But I can’t just burn their house down. What if somebody died and I was wrong? It was time for my sister to step up and put her powers to good use.

Appreciate the write up Joe. Laura

I am having a lot of difficulty with point of view. For instance, Let’s say you have a Memoir or “Diary” type fiction. You want to it to be from the point of view of the person writing the diary; however, you need your reader to know facts about the characters the speaker interacts with that he couldn’t possible know. (perhaps he just met them, etc.) How can you give the reader information about a person that the speaker deosn’t know yet?

hey, I am in the same boat as you, and I uncovered something called First Person Omniscient, which is– if you are still not away after a year of writing the comment I am replying back to– the character is in first person, still uses “I” and “we” and such, but also knows information about other characters that he/she does not yet know, precisely as what you described in your comment. However, this type of first person is rare, as very few novels and authors decide to use this method. But whatever floats your boat! Hope I helped, even though I am clearly late!

Try second person

One question I have in regards to POV and which to choose, is suppose you’re writing a story about something that’s already happened. The story is being told by the main character in the story, years later after the story is “over” (kind of like in a journal of what happened, how it ended- to a certain point- leaving out what has happened to the main character due to his choices made). But, one of the unique situations is that the main character is not just one person, but a person literally divided into 3 separate selves. He himself is the Present self, the other two are what has already happened (past- alternate choice of reality) and the last one is “what could be if” situation” (future). The main (present) is part of the three, but only knows the whole story after it’s happened and how the other two responded to events as they occurred. How would the story be told in what point of view? Both first and third? I know it probably sounds confusing; so if you’re willing to give me advice and need some clarification I can do that. Thanks.

Amanda stared at herself in the mirror. She lifted her hands and gazed at all of the blood on them. “Why am I not dead?” she asked herself puzzled. “It was a head on collision…with a truck!” she exclaimed to herself in amazement. She turned on her heel and marched to her kitchen and grabbed a large knife. She waved the knife around in the air before placing it on her wrist. “If I can’t make it look like an accident, I guess my parents would have to deal with the fact I wanted to die.” Amanda spat. She winced as the blade dug deep into her delicate flesh and watched her blood flow. But the seconds later it stopped. Blinking, she brought her arm closer to her face and stared at her smooth skin -without a single scratch on it. In disbelief she dropped the knife and ran back into the bathroom and wiped her arm of its blood and confirmed there wasn’t a wound. Desperate, Amanda ran down into the basement and grabbed her father’s rifle. “Heal from this if you can.” Amanda put the point under her chin and pulled the trigger. Everything went black and she felt herself crash to the floor. Moments later, Amanda woke up with a huge headache. “What happened?” she groaned but then gasped when she remembered what she had tried to do. “What is happening to me?!” she cried. “I don’t want to be in this world anymore, let me die!” she screamed. Amanda got up from the floor and shuffled up stairs to take a warm shower. “Maybe drowning would work…”

You forgot deep pov; close third. >:(

Deep POV is still third person limited.

Great write-up! Worth sharing and bookmarking.

As for me, I prefer to write (and read) in either first person or third person limited.

Good article except that the plural of point of view is points of view and NOT point of views! C’mon!

Though I’ve only started writing in earnest this year, POV is a topic that has been pointed out to me again and again concerning my WIP. TODAY, as I go through the comments I received overnight POV is the stumbling block I inadvertently put in my story. I’m consciously employing the third person omniscient POV, but it’s not coming through to my readers. I’ve read this article before and anew and I still don’t get it… I’m doomed.

talented writer, Noddy, mentioned this article . is good read . reread since wanted to make the third person omniscient viewpoint cleaner without head hopping . soon peruse Italo Calvino book written in second person pov to see how a master wrote .

Write two pieces of 750 words. One will be from the point of view of a traveller travelling to a foreign country. The other will be from the point of view of a native of that country who receives that traveller which person do I write form the first person, second person or the third person please help

You know, i had a dream once… I wanted to redo my entire life, I’m getting a divorce from my wife, Scarlett. We have two children, Alex and Maggie, and they’e both seniors in the high school I used to attend. I was driving to Ned’s house one rainy night and saw a man on a bridge. I got out and ran after him. When I got there he jumped, i looked over the edge and then I fell off. I woke up in Ned’s house and looked in the mirror. I was my young self again… I was 17 again.

What about this post is actual, and what part’s a dream? It’s hard to distinguish what dialogue this follows, and what efforts are trying to be accomplished.

Everything about this was my dream… I woke up after i fell and thought, I need some pancakes.

Hi- I’m writing a novel in 3rd omniscient. I struggle with the point of view on a micro level, never dipping into 1st or second person. Here is an example of what I mean is this… ‘While Eunice and Barbara were in the nursery spending a few minutes with the baby boy, Margaret walked away from a group and then grabbed a quick nibble of cheese from the buffet. She continued on to the bar where she picked up a full glass of vodka with a twist of lemon. On her way out the door to the patio, she looked back over her shoulder directly to where Jules stood, as if she had known his position to the inch.’ Does ‘she looked back over her shoulder’ now put the reader in Margaret’s POV???

I could use some advice.

I have a novel focusing on the relationship of two people. This is entirely written in 3rd person limited with occasional internal dialogue.

Initially, this story was focused on one character (A); however, I realised the protagonist was the other character (B). I re-wrote the novel to be inside B’s head, and generally this works *much* better.

Here’s the problem. Although the entire novel is written in 3rd person limited for B, there are several action points within the novel that follows A, not B because there is not much going on with B during this time.

There’s no head hopping or reading of A’s mind in these few scenes, but nothing is happening to B at this point, so narrative-wise, it seems okay to follow A through action (not thought).

So, question 1) because there’s no head hopping, is following A occasionally too distracting for this story? And if so, 2) I’m open to suggestions on how to handle this, because it’s what happens to A in these scenes that changes things.

Very good article. Great examples.

Nice article

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• Literary Terms
• Point of View
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use Point of View

I. What is Point of View?

Point of view (POV) is what the character or narrator telling the story can see (his or her perspective). The author chooses “who” is to tell the story by determining the point of view. Depending on who the narrator is, he/she will be standing at one point and seeing the action. This viewpoint will give the narrator a partial or whole view of events as they happen. Many stories have the protagonist telling the story, while in others, the narrator may be another character or an outside viewer, a narrator who is not in the story at all. The narrator should not be confused with the author, who is the writer of the story and whose opinions may not be those written into the narrative.

II. Examples of Point of View

Sandra Cisneros wrote a story called “Eleven.” The point of view is the perspective of 11-year-old Rachel. The story takes place at school during her birthday and is about her humiliation of receiving an old sweater. Throughout the story, she speaks in the first-person point of view, sharing her thoughts as events unfold.

“Only today I wish I didn’t have only eleven years rattling inside me like pennies in a tin Band-Aid box. Today I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven because if I was one hundred and two I’d have known what to say when Mrs. Price put the red sweater on my desk” (Cisneros).

A fun activity is to rewrite the story from each character’s point of view. What is the teacher thinking as she tries to get rid of this ugly red sweater in her classroom? Maybe it reminds her of her demanding mother! How does the sweater feel being tossed and pushed around, unwanted and unloved?  Maybe some sweet old lady had knitted it with love for a granddaughter who now has rejected it. Why does Sylvia say it belongs to Rachel? Is she jealous of Rachel for some reason? Each character will have a slightly different story from his or her perspective.

III. Types of Point of View

First person: The example above with little Rachel is told in the first-person point of view, meaning that we are seeing events through the eyes of the character telling the story.

Second person: In second person, the narrator is speaking to YOU. This isn’t very common in fiction, unless the narrator is trying to talk to the reader personally. We see second-person point of view mostly in poems, speeches, instructional writing, and persuasive articles.

Third person: With third-person point of view, the narrator is describing what’s seen, but as a spectator. If the narrator is a character in the story, then we are reading what he or she observes as the story unfolds. This narrator has three possible perspectives.

• Limited – In limited third-person, the narrator sees only what’s in front of him/her, a spectator of events as they unfold and unable to read any other character’s mind.
• Omniscient – An omniscient narrator sees all, much as an all knowing god of some kind. He or she sees what each character is doing and can see into each character’s mind. This is common with an external character, who is standing above, watching the action below (think of a person with a crystal ball, peering in).
• Limited Omniscient – The limited omniscient third-person narrator can only see into one character’s mind. He/she might see other events happening, but only knows the reasons of one character’s actions in the story.

IV. The Importance of Point of View

Point of view is important in a story because it helps the reader understand characters’ feelings and actions. Each character will have his or her own perspective, so whoever is telling the story will impact the reader’s opinion of other characters and events.

As in the example above with Rachel and the red sweater, each point of view could be an entirely different story. Perhaps Rachel had embarrassed Sylvia horribly one day, so the sympathy we feel for Rachel in her perspective may change to sympathy for Sylvia if the point of view was switched.

Additionally, reading the story from a character in the story versus an external character changes the amount of information a reader has as the story unfolds. With an omniscient third-person, we can see everything before other characters do, which gives us forewarning about other events. With a limited third-person, we are not allowed to see other events until the narrator does so. This may leave us with more surprises as we read.

V. Examples of Point of View in Pop Culture

A very popular (and very old!) game is Mario Brothers. A gamer took the game and made a video of it in first-person point of view. It’s almost a dizzying experience to see Mario catch coins and jump around from his viewpoint.

Arcades have had games with a first-person POV for years. You sit in the console to drive the car in a race, or use the pistol and fire at targets. Racing games are probably the easiest to play as a first-person. With most games, you control the character in a game, but almost from a second-person POV. You can see your character as you control it within the game space just as another character would.

VI. Examples of Point of View in Literature

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney has been cracking kids up since 2007, as the protagonist, Greg Heffley, details his experiences in his trusty journal; he claims it’s NOT a diary. He even supplies stick drawings with bubble speech to illustrate special, usually devastating or hilarious, occurrences. Written in the first-person POV, we follow him through his days with his friends and family. Greg’s dry sense of reality as he tells his sad tales leaves us giggling sympathetically – you can’t help but feel sorry for him, and many kids can relate to his frustrations. There are nine books as of 2015, each one focusing on specific conflicts Greg must overcome as he makes his way through middle school and attempts to fit in with his family.

“First of all, let me get something straight: This is a Journal, not a diary. I know what it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I specifically told her to get one that didn’t say “diary” on it. Great. All I need is for some jerk to catch me carrying this book around and get the wrong idea” (Kinney 1). http://www.funbrain.com/journal/Journal.html?ThisJournalDay=1&ThisPage=2

The book is so popular, that it was also made into a movie.

VII. Related Terms

Narrator: The narrator is the person who tells the story. There are different types of narrators, such as internal and external. Each narrator will have his or her own perspective or point of view as the story is told.

Viewpoint: Viewpoint is the perspective at which something is seen. If three people see an accident, each person will have his or her own version of what happened depending on where the person was at the time it happened.

VIII. Conclusion

Point of view is an important part of all writing. It makes stories interesting, gives research its serious tone, poems and persuasive works their personal tone, and allows readers to easily follow all writing. Keeping in mind the different types of POV and when to use them will make your writing stronger.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

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Guides • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Nov 14, 2022

Point of View: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Perspectives

Point of view (POV) is the narrative perspective from which a story is told. It’s the angle from which readers experience the plot, observe the characters’ behavior, and learn about their world. In fiction, there are four types of point of view: first person, second person, third person limited, and third person omniscient. 

This guide will look at each point of view, and provide examples to help you understand them better. Let’s dive in.

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First person

First person narratives are quite common and relatively intuitive to write: it’s how we tell stories in everyday life. Sentences written in first person will use the pronouns I , we , my , and our . For example:

I told my mother that we lost our passports.

First person can create intimacy between the reader and the characters, granting us direct access to their emotions, psyches and inner thoughts. In stories where the protagonist’s internal life is at the fore, you will often find a first-person narrator.

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Having a single fixed narrator can limit the scope of a story 一 the reader can only know what the narrator knows. It’s also said that a first person narrator is biased, since they provide a subjective view of the world around them, rather than an objective one. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and intentionally unreliable narrators are fascinating literary creatures in their own right. 

Genres that commonly use a first person POV

Young Adult . Introspective coming-of-age narratives often benefit from a first-person narrative that captures the protagonist’s voice and (often mortifying) internal anxieties. Some examples are novels like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins , The Fault in Our Stars by John Green , and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Science Fiction . In sci-fi novels, a first person perspective can nicely convey the tension and awe associated with exploring unfamiliar environments and technologies. Some examples of this approach include Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Memoir . The first person is perfect for memoirs, which allow readers to relive life events with the author. Some pageturners in this genre are Open by Andre Agassi, Educated by Tara Westover, and Becoming by Michelle Obama. 

As you might expect, after first person comes…

Second person

Second person narratives are far less common in literature — but not entirely unheard of. The pronouns associated with second person include you , your , and yours , as in:

You instruct the chief of police to bring the prisoner to your office.

Second person POV is all about putting the reader directly in the headspace of a particular character: either the protagonist or a secondary figure. When mishandled, this POV can alienate readers — but when executed well, it can create an intimate reading experience like no other.

Since this POV requires quite a lot of focus for most readers, it’s often suited to shorter, lyrical pieces of writing, like poetry. It can also be used alongside other points of view to provide variety in a longer novel, or to indicate a change of character (see: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin).

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Genres that commonly use a second person POV

Creative Fiction . Short stories, poetry, and screenplays can benefit from the immediacy and intimacy of the second person. Two examples are The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, or Pants are Optional by Aeris Walker 一 a brilliant piece from Reedsy’s Short Story competition. 

Nonfiction . In self-help in particular, the second person can be used to ‘enter the reader's mind’, establish rapport, and guide them through a transformation process. For example, in Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now many teachings are conveyed through a series of questions and answers written in second person.

Now that you have seen how second person narratives work, let’s meet some third person limited narrators and see how they handle things.

Third person limited

Everyone has read a third person limited narrative, as literature is full of them. This POV uses third-person pronouns such as he , his , she , hers , they , their , to relate the story:

She told him that their assessment of the situation was incorrect. 

Third person limited is where the narrator can only reveal the thoughts, feelings, and understanding of a single character at any given time — hence, the reader is “limited” to that perspective. Between chapters, many books wrote in this POV switch from character to character, but you will only hear one perspective at a time. For instance:

“ She couldn't tell if the witness was lying.”

The limited third person POV portrays characters from a bit of distance, and asks the readers to engage and choose who they’re rooting for 一 but this POV poses a challenge for authors when trying to create truly compelling characters . A limited perspective definitely adds intrigue, but writers should bear in mind that being able to tell only one side of the story at a time can limit their ability to reveal important details.

Genres that commonly use a third person limited POV

Romance . A love story always has two sides, and the third person point of view is ideal for authors who wish to convey both. Examples in this genre include Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, and The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer.

Thriller . In suspense-driven plots the limited third person POV works well, since it’s fun to try and solve a mystery (or mysterious characters) alongside the protagonists. Two examples are Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, or Nine Perfect Strangers by Moriarty Liane. 

A solid story structure will help you maintain a coherent point of view. Build it with our free book development template.

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If you’re done with the intimacy of “close” viewpoints, perhaps we can interest you in one final POV — a God’s-eye view of storytelling.

Third person Omniscient

The third person omniscient is as popular as the limited one, and uses the same pronouns. The difference, however, is that the narrator is “all knowing” — meaning that they’re not limited to one character’s perspective, but instead can reveal anything that is happening, has happened, or will happen in the world of the story. For example:

He thought the witness was honest, but she didn't think the same of him .

It’s a popular point of view because it allows a writer to pan out beyond the perspective of a single character, so that new information (beyond the protagonist’s comprehension) can be introduced. At the same time, it heavily relies on the voice and authority of the narrator, and  can therefore take some focus away from the character.  

Genres that commonly use a third person omniscient POV

Fantasy fiction . In elaborate fantasy worlds, being unencumbered from a character’s personal narrative means that the narrator can provide commentary on the world, or move between characters and locations with the flick of a pen. You’ll see this approach in action in Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, and The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.

Literary fiction . An all-encompassing perspective can allow authors to explore different character quirks, but also interpersonal dynamics between characters. Leo Tolstoy does this masterfully in his great classics Anna Karenina and War and Peace .

Now that we have established the basics of the major points of view, let’s dig a little deeper. If you’re ready for a closer look at POV, head over to the next post in this guide to learn more about first person perspective.

5 responses

Aysha says:

19/04/2020 – 19:56

The Book Thief would be considered First Person POV, similar to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, right? Thank you for the wonderful information. It gave a lot of insight into choosing which POV would be most suitable for a particular story. Pretty clear-cut.

Sasha Anderson says:

31/05/2020 – 10:41

I sometimes have difficulty telling the difference between third person limited and omniscient. For example, in the quote from I am Legend, the sentence "If he had been more analytical, he might have calculated the approximate time of their arrival" sounds very omniscient to me, because Robert wasn't, and didn't. Is there an easy way to tell that this is limited rather than omniscient, or does it not really matter as long as it reads well?

Lilian says:

18/06/2020 – 05:15

This was a very helpful piece and I hope it's okay to share the link for reference.

↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:

18/06/2020 – 08:51

Of course! Share away :)

18/06/2020 – 05:44

It deal with the challenges associated with POV in writing. I like that it clearly distinguishes between third person limited POV and third person omniscient POV as most beginner writers are guilty of abrupt and inconsistent interchange in the two leading to head hopping. Greattach piece, I muse confess.

Comments are currently closed.

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• Writing Tips

First-Person Point of View: Definition and Examples

4-minute read

• 13th August 2023

The first-person point of view is a grammatical person narrative technique that immerses the reader into the intimate perspective of a single character or individual.

In this literary approach, the story unfolds through the eyes, thoughts, and emotions of the narrator, granting the reader direct access to their inner world. Through the narrator’s use of pronouns such as I and me , readers gain a personal and subjective understanding of the narrator’s experiences, motivations, and conflicts. For example:

If the author uses the third-person point of view , the sentence would read like this:

Why Write From the First-Person Point of View?

This point of view often creates a strong sense of immediacy, enabling readers to form a deep connection with the narrator while limiting the reader’s knowledge to what this character or narrator knows. It’s a dynamic viewpoint that allows the rich exploration of a character’s or narrator’s growth and provides the opportunity to delve into their personal struggles.

First-person narration shouldn’t be used or should be considered carefully in some situations. Familiarize yourself with genre style and tone before making this decision.

Using the First-Person Point of View in Fiction

The first-person point of view is a powerful tool in fiction because it can create an intimate and engaging connection between the reader and the narrator. It is particularly effective for the following purposes.

Developing a Character’s Voice and Personality

First-person narration facilitates a deep exploration of a character’s or narrator’s unique voice, thoughts, and personality. It enables readers to experience the story through the lens of the narrator or a specific character, giving the reader direct insight into their emotions, motivations, and growth.

Portraying Subjective Experiences

When the story relies heavily on the narrator’s or a character’s subjective experience, emotions, and perceptions, the first-person point of view can help the reader connect on a personal level. This bond is especially beneficial in stories that explore complex internal conflicts and psychological themes.

Enhancing Reader Empathy

First-person narratives can foster empathy by enabling readers to see the world through the eyes of the narrator. This perspective can lead to a more emotional and immersive reading experience, allowing readers to relate to and invest in the narrator’s or a character’s journey.

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Conveying Unreliable Narrators

First-person narration is excellent for stories featuring unreliable narrators . Readers can uncover discrepancies between what the narrator says and what they actually do, revealing layers of intrigue and mystery.

Delivering Engaging Storytelling

When the narrative requires a strong and engaging storyteller, the first-person point of view can make the story feel more like a conversation or confession, drawing the reader in.

It’s also important to note that using the first-person point of view comes with limitations. The narrator’s perspective is confined to what they personally experience, possibly limiting the scope of the story’s atmosphere and the portrayal of events that occur outside the narrator’s awareness. Consider how authors of classic novels have utilized point of view in their writing.

The First-Person Point of View in Research Essays

Generally, it’s preferable to avoid the first person in academic and formal writing. Research papers are expected to maintain an objective, unbiased, and impartial tone, focusing on presenting information, data, and analyses clearly. The use of I or we may introduce subjectivity and personal opinions, which can undermine the credibility and professionalism of the research.

Instead, the third-person point of view is preferred because it allows a more neutral and detached presentation of the material. Follow the guidelines and style requirements of the specific field or publication you’re writing for: some disciplines may have different conventions regarding the use of first-person language.

The first person can lend itself to some types of research description when the researcher is discussing why they made a particular decision in their approach or how and why they interpret their findings.

But be aware that when writers attempt to write without reverting to the first person, they often overuse the passive voice . In nonfiction or academic writing, staying in the first person may sometimes be better than using the passive voice.

Ultimately, the decision to use the first person in fiction or nonfiction depends on the specific goals of the author. Fiction authors should consider how this narrative choice aligns with the story’s themes, characters, and intended emotional impact. Research writers should carefully consider whether the use of the first person is necessary to convey their findings and decisions or whether that information could be described as or more effectively without it.

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point of view

What is point of view definition, usage, and literary examples, point of view definition.

Point of view  (POYnt of VYOO) describes the person from whom the events of the story are told. In any written work—including  narratives ,  poems , and songs—the speaker or narrator provides the point of view.

The term is derived from the Latin  punctum visus , meaning “point sight,” or where your sight limits what you can see. In literature, the point of view limits the amount of information the reader has about the events in the story. The reader can only experience events as the narrator sees and describes them. Any information the narrator is not privy to, the reader will also not be privy to.

Types of Point of View

There are three main types of point of view: first person, second person, and third person. Each type offers a different vantage point into a story’s events. Writers use them depending on how they want readers to experience the story.

First Person:  I / me / mine

In first person, the story is narrated by a single character within the story. It uses the pronouns  I ,  me , and  mine . It can also use  we  and  our  if the narrator is part of a group. This offers the most limited view of events because only one character’s perspective is shared. It’s also considered the easiest to write and most likely to ensure the audience empathizes with the speaker. Some stories also have different sections narrated by different characters, such as Bram Stoker’s  Dracula  or Gillian Flynn’s  Gone Girl . This is a way for authors to provide multiple interpretations of the story’s events.

Consider this example from Margaret Atwood’s  The Handmaid’s Tale , narrated by main character Offred:

I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name; remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me. I want to steal something

Second Person:  You / your

Second-person narration is written as if the reader is a character. It uses the pronouns  you  and  your . Atypical of fictional narratives, second person is often used in  poetry , songs, nonfiction directional texts like cookbooks, and advertising slogans. Choose-your-own-adventure books also use second person.

Author Junot Diaz uses second person in his collection of short stories  This Is How You Lose Her . Here is an example from the story “The Cheater’s Guide to Love”:

You ask everybody you know: How long does it usually take to get over it? There are many formulas. One year for every year you dated. Two years for every year you dated. It’s just a matter of will power: The day you decide it’s over, it’s over. You never get over it.

Third Person:  He / she / they / their

Stories in third person are told from an authorial point of view outside the story, not a character within it. Most published books are written in third person, as it offers the most objective view of a story’s characters and events.

There are multiple types of third-person narratives.

Third Person  Omniscient

This is where the narrator knows and shares the thoughts, feelings, and actions of all characters. Omniscient narrators can jump in and out of any character’s inner dialogue, depending on how it suits the narrative’s flow. However, not all thoughts, feelings, or actions are revealed chronologically—or even at all.

Lord of the Flies  by William Golding is an example of a third-person omniscient narrative. The narrator is not a character, so they can tell the reader what the boys on the island are thinking and feeling at any moment.

The fair boy said this solemnly; but then the delight of a realized ambition overcame him. In the middle of the scar he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy.

“No grownups!”

Third Person Cinematic

This is technically a subset of third person omniscient. While omniscient narrators describe how characters feel at any given moment, cinematic third-person narrators refrain from revealing characters’ inner thoughts. Instead, the scene and actions are described solely in objective fact.

Some aspects of J. R. R. Tolkien’s  The Fellowship of the Ring  uses third-person cinematic storytelling. In this example, Tolkien provides a wide-lens view of the wizard Gandalf’s arrival without providing any character’s thoughts:

An old man was driving all alone. He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat. Small hobbit-children ran after the card all through Hobbiton and right up the hill.

Third Person Limited

From this point of view, the narrator only describes the thoughts and feelings of one character at a time. Though, just as in first-person narration, writers may have the limited narrator switch between different characters’ perspectives.

George Orwell’s  1984  is a famous third-person limited book. It follows protagonist Winston Smith, and though there are many characters, the narrator never discloses their thoughts.

What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?

Why Writers Use Each Point of View

Each point of view type has advantages depending on the story a writer is telling. The primary factor is how close a writer wants the audience to feel to the narrator and the characters.

Uses for First-Person Narration

Writers use first person to create an explicit connection between the reader and narrator. With this point of view, the reader inherently roots for and empathizes with the narrator because the narrator is a character. Because the reader can experience the narrator’s thoughts and emotions, the reader is more likely to invest in the story being told.

This  narrative  structure also lends itself to clarity because the reader doesn’t need to piece together the narrative. However, there are instances where first-person narratives can confuse or complicate the story being told. This can be found in literary works with multiple narrators, as in  As I Lay Dying  by William Faulkner, or an unreliable narrator, as in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s  Notes from the Underground .

Unreliable First-Person Narration

When a story has an unreliable narrator, the narrator’s thoughts or opinions cannot be trusted often because of a certain bias or character flaw. Writers typically use this type of character to force readers to question their preconceived notions or assumptions about the story and its characters. They also use this technique to make a distinction between objective truth, which is undeniably factual, and narrative truth, which covers events that may not have actually happened but still have meaning and importance.

While primarily an aspect of first-person narration, unreliable narrators can also be found in second-person and third-person omniscient stories. This technique is used in film, where audiences are shown events that are later revealed to be inaccurate.

Examples of unreliable narrators in literature include J.D. Salinger’s  The Catcher in the Rye , where narrator and protagonist Holden Caulfield is a self-proclaimed liar, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s  The Great Gatsby , where narrator Nick Carraway is biased both by his reverence for the titular Jay Gatsby as well as his distaste for other characters in the novel.

Movies with unreliable narrators include the 2000 film  Memento , where events are muddled by the protagonist’s inability to make new memories, and the 1995  The Usual Suspects , where Roger Kint is masking his true identity from the police.

Uses for Second-Person Narration

Writers use second-person narration to lend a sense of immediacy and urgency to the story and the action. It puts the reader directly into the action, causing them to feel invested because it’s as if the story is happening to them. Second person can also be read as a command or explicit direction, which is why it is the point of view writers use for instructional texts.

Uses for Third-Person Narration

Because there are different types of third-person narration, each one serves a distinct function in stories.

Uses for Third Person Omniscient

Third person omniscient allows writers to convey many  perspectives  without losing trustworthiness or authority. The reader understands that the story’s events are being fully contextualized because the narrator has access to all the characters’ thoughts and emotions.

Third person omniscient was the preferred point of view for most classic literature,  epics , and fairy tales—genres that often detail how societies became organized and the role natural phenomena played in those societies’ survival. Speaking from a godlike distance lends authority to these tales and allows the narrator to share many aspects of the characters’ history. Writers of  mystery novels  or action thrillers also prefer this point of view because the narrative focus is on dramatic action and relationships.

Uses for Third Person Cinematic

Writers use the third-person cinematic point of view to position the reader as a voyeur or witness. This point of view allows readers to experience a story’s actions without accessing characters’ inner thoughts or feeling like they are the story’s protagonist. This means the writer must show what happens with visual descriptions and dialogue rather than through an editorialized perspective.

A drawback to third person cinematic is that it lacks intimacy and does not invite an immediate connection between the reader and the characters. The reader must do the emotional work to determine characters’ motivations and the meaning behind actions and events. As such, this narrative style can be alienating.

Uses for Third Person Limited

With third-person limited narration, writers depict one character as the protagonist, giving the reader intimate access to only that character’s interiority. The reader, as a result, roots for and empathizes with the protagonist because they understand that character so well. Unlike certain first-person narrators, the reader can trust that a third-person narrator is an objective outsider describing the protagonist’s experiences. This viewpoint lends itself well to mysteries and suspense novels because the reader can discover aspects of the plot along with the protagonist.

This limited point of view can leave readers wanting more thorough comprehension of the story’s events. Without multiple inner dialogues, the reader can’t know how events affect all characters. They can only rely on the protagonist’s interior speculation.

Point of View and Other Literary Devices

There are several literary devices that relate to the way people—whether characters, narrators, or writers—relay a story.

Point of View vs. Perspective

While point of view is the specific format of narration—literally who is telling the story— perspective  is the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural background that shapes the characters’ attitudes and judgments. Therefore, point of view is the clinical rhetorical device, whereas perspective is the result of that choice of rhetorical device.

Point of View vs. Bias

Like perspective, bias can result from point of view but is not synonymous with it. Bias refers to a speaker’s goal to denigrate or laud one side or aspect of an argument or story. Biases are created by people’s life experiences and are often founded in misconceptions. Point of view, on the other hand, is simply a writer choosing speak through a character or narrate from beyond the story. While the narrator may hold a bias, especially if they are a character in the story, point of view is not inherently biased.

Point of View vs. Ethos

Ethos refers to a speaker’s merits or credibility and is usually applied to nonfiction  persuasion . While it’s desirable for the reader’s trust in the narrator to create buy-in for the story, the narrator’s ethos is not always discernible. This is especially true outside of first-person narration, when the narrator exists outside of the story and doesn’t divulge how they interpret events. However, readers can consider the writer’s ethos in a third-person work. For example, the cultural importance of James Fenimore Cooper’s  The Pioneers , a story about the 18th century development of New York State, must be considered in conjunction with Cooper’s ethos. As a white man writing from a time not far removed from the novel’s setting, readers question whether he is overly romanticizing the conquest of the frontier and, by extension, Native Americans.

Point of View vs. Tone

Tone  is another term that is related to but not synonymous with point of view. Tone refers to the writer’s attitude towards their work’s subject. Though it may come through the narrator’s description of events, it is communicated by the writing itself. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s  Uncle Tom’s Cabin , for example, is written in third person and its tone is one of overt disgust and horror for slavery. Similarly, abolitionist Olaudah Equiano’s first-person account of slavery uses a subtler tone to criticize the practice.

Examples of Point of View in Literature

1. Nathaniel Hawthorne,  The Blithedale Romance

This novel showcases how first-person point of view can lead to a somewhat skewed description of events. Here, the narrator, Mr. Coverdale, passes judgment on Zenobia’s character:

Her unconstrained and inevitable manifestation, I said often to myself, was that of a woman to whom wedlock had thrown wide the gates of mystery. Yet sometimes I strove to be ashamed of these conjectures. […] Stilll it was of no avail to reason with myself, nor to upbraid myself.

Even as Mr. Coverdale admits to judging Zenobia, he feels no need to stop. Thus, the reader will have no other way to perceive her other than through his biased eyes.

2. Ken Kesey,  One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Chief Bromden is a good example of an unreliable narrator. He is a paranoid schizophrenic whose thoughts are further complicated by medications he takes and his resultant hallucinations. As a result, his perception is skewed, meaning the reader cannot fully trust his narration.

The novel opens with Bromden wandering the halls of the asylum, wary of everything and everyone:

They’re out there.

Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.

[…] I creep along the wall quiet as dust in my canvas shoes, but they got special sensitive equipment detects my fear and they all look up […]

Even though the reader is not yet aware that Bromden was institutionalized for schizophrenia, it is clear from the beginning that his testimony might not be entirely truthful.

3. Richard Siken, “A Primer for the Small Weird Loves”

Poet Richard Siken uses second person to make the action in “A Primer for the Small Weird Loves” immediate and visceral:

The blond boy in the red trunks is holding your head underwater

because he is trying to kill you,

and you deserve it, you do, and you know this

This  poem  addresses the reader directly, causing them to imagine being in this extreme scenario. Though the reader may understand that Siken is recounting something that is happening to an unnamed third party, his use of second person makes the reader feel deeply connected to the events.

4. Nathanial Hawthorne,  The Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne uses third person omniscient to great effect in this critique of Puritanical society and its hypocrisy. While the novel’s protagonist is the shamed Hester Prynne, Hawthorne shares other characters’ thoughts and feelings with the reader as well:

But there was a more real life for Hester Prynne here, in New England, than in that unknown region where Pearl had found a home. Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence. She had returned, therefore, and resumed,—of her own free will, for not the sternest magistrate of that iron period would have imposed it,—resumed the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale. Never afterwards did it quit her bosom. But… the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, and yet with reverence, too. [bolded for emphasis]

With this excerpt, the reader knows what happened to Pearl, what Hester chose to do and why, and the townspeople’s changed opinion about the titular scarlet letter, which one stood for adultery but now carries a more nuanced meaning.

5. Ernest Hemingway, “ Hills Like White Elephants ”

Hemingway is well known for using third person cinematic in his writing. He employs this method in one of his most famous short stories, “Hills Like White Elephants.” In this example, he describes the scene as visually as possible without passing judgment:

The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.

“They look like white elephants,” she said.

“I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer.

“No, you wouldn’t have.”

Because Hemingway depicts the narrative from an observer’s distance, the reader is left to piece together the story themselves—namely, that the protagonists are discussing whether the girl will get an abortion. The frank portrayal does not invite the reader to pass judgment or take sides, which leads to ambiguity regarding Hemingway’s intent and overall message.

6. Orson Scott Card,  Ender’s Game

Card’s use of third person limited causes the reader to sympathize with protagonist Ender Wiggins by only providing his inner thoughts:

But Ender knew, even as he thought it, that Peter wouldn’t leave him alone. There was something in Peter’s eyes, when he was in his mad mood, and whenever Ender saw that look, that glint, he knew that the one thing Peter would not do was leave him alone. [bolded for emphasis]

Here, the reader sees Ender’s interpretation of Peter but not Peter’s own perception or emotions. While this scene is clear—Peter is someone who often antagonizes Ender, so much so that Ender can predict it—it does not offer up the whole picture. Instead, Card only divulges his protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, and intent.

Further Resources on Point of View

In this  Masterclass video , author Margaret Atwood describes how choosing the right point of view impacts a story.

This blog post  on novelist and illustrator Ingrid Sundberg’s blog discusses the three main types of point of view and why each one matters.

Writer support website Now Novel offers  tips on how writers can perfect their work’s point of view .

Related Terms

• Perspective

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, what is point of view first, second, and third person.

General Education

One of the best ways to prepare for the AP Literature exam is to learn about different literary devices and how you can use them to analyze everything from poetry to novels. Not only will this help you on the multiple choice section of the test, it’s critical for earning perfect scores on your essays, too!

Today, we’re going to take a closer look at one specific device: point of view. First, we’ll give you the point of view definition, then we’ll explain how the work’s narrator affects its point of view. Then we’ll explain the four types of point of view and provide examples and analysis for each one.

By the end of this article, you’ll be a point of view expert! So let’s get started.

Point of View: Definition and Meaning

In literature and poetry, point of view is defined as the perspective from which a story is told. Put another way, a story’s point of view is a way to articulate and analyze the position of the narrator in relation to the story they’re telling. Is the narrator a participant in the story they’re telling? Or are they describing events that happened to someone else? Both of these perspectives are different types of point of view (which we’ll talk about in a lot more depth later in this article, so hang tight)!

So how do you figure out the point of view in a text? In order to find the point of view of a story, you first have to identify whose perspective the story is told from. That’s because the perspective of the story determines a piece of literature’s point of view! That means that in order to establish a text’s point of view, you have to figure out the narrator of the text first.

What Is a Narrator?

Okay...so obviously figuring out the narrator of a piece of literature is important. But what’s a narrator, exactly? No matter what type of text you’re reading—whether it’s a newspaper article, a textbook, a poem, or a best-selling novel—someone is communicating the story to the reader. In literary terms, we call that someone the text’s narrator.

In other words, the narrator of a piece of literature is the person telling the story. And you know what’s even more helpful than that? Almost all written texts—whether they’re fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or otherwise—have a narrator.

And since a narrator and point of view go hand in hand, that means that almost all texts have a point of view, too!

Finding the Narrator

So how do you figure out the narrator of a text? Sometimes the narrator of a text is pretty easy to determine. For example, for a newspaper article, the narrator of the story is obviously the reporter who’s written the piece to report the facts. They’re the person who followed the story’s trail, and now they’re sharing the story with you!

Another good example of an “easy to find” comes from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick . The very first sentence of the book reads, “Call me Ishmael.” Because that’s a line in the text rather than a piece of dialogue that uses quotation marks, you know it’s the narrator speaking to the audience. In other words, the narrator of Moby Dick identifies himself and tells you his name in the very first line of the book!

But figuring out the narrator of the text isn’t always that easy. For example, the Harry Potter books by J.K Rowling don’t have an easily identifiable narrator. Neither do some classic works, like The Giver by Lois Lowry or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen . What do you do in those situations? Well, just hang tight: we’ll walk you through how point of view can help you figure out the narrator in these tricky situations !

Narrator vs. Point of View: What’s the Difference?

Before we start really digging into point of view, it’s worth pausing a minute to talk about the differences between point of view and narration. Because narration and point of view are closely linked, it’s tempting to think of them as interchangeable terms.

But the narrator of a text and the point of view of a text are two different things. The narrator is who is telling the story. In contrast, a text’s point of view is the perspective the story is being told from. If you think of the narrator as a person, their point of view is the angle they’re taking on the story.

Think of it this way: in literature, point of view and narrators go together like...well, like thunder and lightning. You can’t have one without the other, but they’re definitely not the same thing.

The 4 Types of Point of View

Okay, let’s look more closely at the four different types of point of view found in literature . In the following sections, we’ll explain each type of point of view, give you tips for figuring out if something is written in that perspective, and then walk you through a real-life example of that point of view in literature.

In first person point of view, you see the story through the narrator's eyes

First Person Point of View

In first person point of view, the story is told from the narrator’s perspective. This allows the narrator to give readers their first-hand experience, including what they saw, felt, thought, heard, said, and did. Think of it kind of like The Blair Witch Project : in first person point of view, it’s like the narrator is wearing a GoPro camera strapped to their forehead. The reader sees exactly what the narrator sees and gets their singular perspective on the events that unfold. In other words, a first person point of view makes the narrator the eyewitness to the plot of the story.

Using a first person point of view allows an author to dive much more deeply into the narrator’s character, since the reader gets to hear the narrator’s inner thoughts and experience the narrator’s emotions. Additionally, it makes the narrator the main character, or protagonist, of the story. If something is written in first person, it’s a pretty big indicator that the narrator is going to play a pivotal role in communicating the text’s messages or themes.

But there are also some pretty major limitations to a first person point of view, too. Just like real life, readers won’t be able to get the thoughts and feelings of other characters in the novel. Also, the narrator’s observations might be skewed depending on how they feel about other people. Because of that, first person narrators can be unreliable, meaning that their perspective skews the accuracy of the story they’re telling. That means it's up to the reader to determine whether they believe the narrator is being truthful or not.

Tips for Identifying First Person Point of View

In many ways, a first person point of view is one of the easiest to pick out because it uses first person pronoun s, like I, we, me, my, our, and us. If the book is written using these terms, then you can pretty much guarantee that the author is using first person!

Keep in mind that not all first person narrators are the book’s main character, l ike Moby Dick’s Ishmael or The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen. That’s because first person narrators aren’t always the main characters in the work. Take, for instance, the Sherlock Holmes stories, where Dr. John Watson is the narrator. While he’s an important character in the story, he’s definitely not the main character--Sherlock Holmes is!

Additionally, sometimes first person narrators are anonymous, like third person narrators often are. (Don’t worry: we’ll get into third person narration in just a minute.) That’s why it’s best to look for pronouns when trying to figure out a work’s point of view! If you’re trying to find the narrator’s name, it might not always be there. A good example of this is Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” where the narrator is describing the woman he loves. The narrator of the poem is never named, but because he uses pronouns like “I” and “my,” you know it’s written in first person.

Example of First Person Point of View: Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29”

Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets are written in first person, and “Sonnet 29” is no different. Let’s look at the full poem and see why it qualifies as being written in first person:

I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;      For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings     That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Remember, we can tell that something’s written in first person if it uses first person pronouns outside of dialogue. Since there’s no dialogue in this poem at all, we can look at the entire text to find evidence of the first person point of view.  

Notice that the narrator (or speaker, as the narrator is often referred to in poetry) uses words like “I,” “me,” and “myself” throughout the poem. This is a clear indicator that this poem is written in a first person point of view!  

Actually, “Sonnet 29” is a good example of something written in first person where the narrator isn’t named. But we can still learn quite a bit about them through the poem itself! For example, we learn that he’s an outcast (line 2) who is unhappy with his current status (line 4). Despite his all-encompassing misery (line 9), when he thinks upon his love, his spirits are lifted (lines 10, 11, and 12). As we start piecing the evidence together, we begin to get a clearer picture of who the narrator of the poem is, and the power love has to lift us out of even the bleakest circumstance.

Other Works Written in First Person Point of View

First person is a really popular writing technique, so it’s no surprise that there are tons of books written in this point of view! Here are a few other poems, books, and book series that you might be familiar with that use first person point of view:

• Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”
• Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games book series
• Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
• Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories

Second person point of view uses pronouns like "you" and "your" to tell the story.

Second Person Point of View

In second person point of view, the story is told from the perspective of another character. Sometimes this character is another person in the book, but it can also be the reader themselves! More importantly, when a writer uses second person, they want readers to connect emotionally with the topic they’re writing about!

Here’s an example of what we mean. Say you’re reading an article about the amount of plastic pollution in the ocean. If the writer wants to pull on your heartstrings and make you take the issue they’re writing about seriously, they might use a second person point of view and write something like this:

“Imagine you’re on the vacation of your dreams sailing across the Caribbean. You can’t wait to get out into the open water, where everything will be calm, peaceful, and gorgeous. You take a nap as the captain sets sail, and when you return to the deck, you’re shocked by what you see. Instead of a vast expanse of sparkling blue water, you see a huge, bobbing mound of trash. Fast food containers, plastic bags, and discarded water bottles bob along the surface as far as you can see. It looks like you’re sailing through a garbage dump, and you feel equal parts disgust and despair.”

Using the second person point of view in a passage puts the reader into the story—in this case, it’s a story about pollution. Second person makes the reader feel like they’re making every move...from the joy of going on vacation, to the shock of seeing so much plastic in the water, to the “disgust and despair” of realizing what pollution is doing to the sea. Suddenly, the reader becomes more invested in what the author has to say about the problem, since the second person point of view makes them feel like they’ve experienced it first-hand!

While it’s very rare to find a text that’s written completely in second person, many authors will switch to this perspective when they want readers to feel connected to the topic they’re writing about.

Tips for Identifying Second Person Point of View

Like first person point of view, it’s pretty easy to spot the second person point of view...when you know what you’re looking for, that is. When something is written in second person, the writer uses second person pronouns (like “you,” “yourself,” and “your”) in the text that falls outside of dialogue , too.

Like we just mentioned, it’s pretty rare to find a whole text that’s written this way. More than likely, you’ll find a few paragraphs written in second person, rather than an entire work. The one exception to this rule is the classic Choose Your Own Adventure book ! You probably remember these from when you were a kid: each book had a topic, and at the bottom of each page, you were given decisions to make. Depending on what you chose, you’d flip to a different page in the book, and your decisions would affect the story!

Example of Second Person Point of View: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerny

Jay McInerny uses second person to open his book, Bright Lights, Big City , which tells the story of life in the fast lane in 1980s New York. Let’s look at the first paragraph to see the second person point of view in action:

Notice that all the pronouns in this section are either “you” or “your,” which is a clear indicator that this is written in second person! It’s also a good example of how using second person can immediately pull someone into a narrative by making the reader and the main character one in the same. In this case, McInerny is creating a whole backstory for your character—from giving you friends like Tad to hinting at your dysfunctional marriage.

Other Works Written in Second Person Point of View

Second person is probably the rarest of the points of view. Usually writers will use second person in sections of their work to emphasize a point, rather than throughout their entire work. Here are some pieces of literature that use a second person point of view (at least in part):

• Langston Hughes’ “Hard Luck”
• Italo Calvino’s If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller
• Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric
• Emma Campbell Webster’s Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure

In third person omniscient point of view, the narrator is god-like and tells the reader everything!

Third Person Omniscient Point of View

The third type of perspective you can find in literature is a third person omniscient point of view. In third person omniscient, the narrator uses third person pronouns like “he,” “she,” “they,” and “their” to refer to all the characters in the work. As a result, the narrator removes themselves as a critical character in the work (unlike the narrators that use a first or second person point of view).

Additionally, because this is a third person omniscient perspective, the narrator is given god-like qualities over the story. ( Merriam-Webster defines an “omniscient” person as someone who has “universal or complete knowledge”! ) That means the narrator can dive into any character’s head and share their thoughts and emotions with the reader. Additionally, the narrator can move around in time and place to show the reader events that the characters themselves may not be aware of! That includes jumping around from location to location, or even moving backward and forward in time.

Using a third person omniscient narrator lets an author show the reader the whole gameboard, so to speak. There’s no real limit to what a narrator can show the readers! Consequently, it allows the author to build a robust world full of well-developed characters, since the author no longer has to contend with the single-character limits of a first or second person point of view. It’s also a particularly useful technique in works with large casts of characters, since the narrator can introduce the reader to each character more quickly—and with more detail—than other points of view would allow!

Example of Third Person Omniscient Point of View: Middlemarch by George Eliot

The narrator of George Eliot’s Victorian novel, Middlemarch, is an excellent example of how a third person omniscient narrator can give readers a comprehensive view of a text. Let’s take a look at the book’s opening paragraph to see this type of point of view in action:

Remember: omniscient narrators are god-like in that they can give you more information than a single character could provide from their limited perspective. In this case, Eliot’s omniscient narrator gives us tons of information about Miss Brooke. We know that she’s beautiful but not financially well off ( the narrator calls this living in “mixed conditions”), which is reflected in her “plain garments.” Regardless, Miss Brooke is also “remarkably clever.”

Beyond that, the narrator tells us about Miss Brooke’s family by looking into her past—which is easy given that the narrator is omniscient! We learn that she and her sister, Celia, aren’t aristocratic, but they come from a good family that includes admirals, clergymen, and politicians. This helps Eliot develop characters and situations quickly, which is important in a book with a large cast of characters like Middlemarch.

Other Works Written in Third Person Omniscient Point of View

Third person omniscient is a common point of view, especially in longer texts. Here are some examples of other works that feature an omniscient point of view:

• Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
• Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest
• Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter
• Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

In third person limited point of view, it's as if the narrator is standing behind one character's shoulder.

Third Person Limited Point of View

The last point of view an author can use is the third person limited point of view. Just like the omniscient perspective we talked about earlier, texts written in a third person limited point of view use third person pronouns to discuss characters outside of dialogue. The difference between the two is in how much information the narrator shares with the reader.

With a third person limited perspective, the narrator is limited to giving you the perspective of a single character. The narrator can peek inside the character’s head to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences, similar to a first person point of view. Unlike first person, however, a narrator using a third person limited point of view can also zoom out to give readers a better understanding of how the character they’re following fits into the text’s plot, setting, or situation!

Here’s an easy way of understanding the difference between a first person, third person omniscient, and a third person limited point of view. Think of the narrator as a person holding a camera. You, as the reader, get to see everything the camera sees. With first person point of view, it’s like the character has had the camera implanted in their brain. You can see whatever the character looks at and nothing more. With a third person limited point of view, on the other hand, it’s like the narrator is standing behind one character and filming over his shoulde r. Not only can you get a sense of what the character is seeing, the narrator can also step back a little bit to show readers what’s going on around the character...as long as the character stays in the frame.

Third person omniscient is the most comprehensive view. It’s as if the narrator is filming from the rafters of the building. They can zoom out to show everyone for a global perspective, or they can zoom in on different events to give you a better idea of what’s happening in specific situations. So why would a writer use a third person limited point of view? Well, it’s great for situations where knowing every single detail of a story would spoil the plot. Mystery novels, for instance, often use third person limited point of view. It allows the narrator to give you the detective’s thoughts and feelings while not spoiling the whodunit! It also allows the writer to focus on developing a single character while giving readers a better view of what’s going on around that character.

Example of Third Person Limited Point of View: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Like we mentioned earlier, all texts have a point of view...which means that the Harry Potter stories do, too! Let’s look at a passage from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to get a better idea of how a third person limited point of view works. In this scene, Harry and his friends, Hermione and Ron, are looking through the library to learn more about the sorcerer’s stone :

It’s clear that this passage is written in third person: the narrator uses pronouns like “he,” “she,” and “them,” instead of first person pronouns like “I” or second person pronouns like “you.” But how do we know it’s third person limited? Well, we get Harry’s thoughts and feelings—like his curiosity about Nicholas Flamel—but no one else’s. We don’t know what Hermione and Ron are reading, or if they’re excited, nervous, or scared.

Rowling wrote all seven Harry Potter books using a third person limited point of view that made Harry the focal point. The narrator can tell us what Harry’s thinking, feeling, and seeing—as well as zoom out to tell us more about the precarious situations he finds himself in. But because the narrator is tied to Harry, they can’t give us a glimpse into other characters’ minds, nor can it show readers what’s happening in other parts of Hogwarts (where Harry isn’t) . That helps readers get to know Harry, even as it helps Rowling maintain the mystery around the sorcerer’s stone (or the chamber of secrets, or the half-blood prince, etc.).

Other Works Written in Third Person Limited Point of View The third person limited point of view is a popular perspective for writers to use, so there’s no shortage of examples! Here are a few works you might be familiar with that feature a third person limited point of view:

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Christabel”
• Eudora Welty’s The Golden Apples
• Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
• Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time

What’s Next?

If you’re studying for the AP Literature exam, you’ll need to know about more literary devices than point of view. Why not check out our other comprehensive guides, like this one on personification ? The more familiar you are with literary terms, what they mean, and how to use them, the better your test score will be!

Did you know that there are two English AP tests? One is the literature exam, which focuses on literary analysis and comprehension. The second test is the language exam, which tests your ability to understand argument and write persuasively. Click here to learn more about the AP Language exam, how it differs from the literature exam, and what you need to do to knock it out of the park !

After you learn the fundamentals, the best way to prepare for an AP exam is to take practice tests. Check out this article on how to find the best AP practice exams , and learn how to use them to boost your score!

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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You might not notice it, but most published writing contains a narrative point of view. This includes every book, poem, email, instruction manual, even some street signs and cereal boxes.

For us writers, defining the point of view of a story or poem is essential: it’s an important part of making our writing “believable.” Like a camera lens to a photograph, narrative point of view makes the story possible.

So, what is point of view in literature? This is a surprisingly simple concept with surprisingly complex applications, so let’s take a thorough look at some point of view examples, followed by how writers can experiment with point of view in literature. We will also examine point of view in poetry versus prose. But first, what is point of view?

What is Point of View in Literature?

The 3 types of point of view in writing, why does narrative point of view matter, point of view in poetry, point of view in poetry & prose: venn diagram, experimenting with point of view in writing.

• Choosing and Managing Point of View (from Instructor Jack Smith)

Narrative point of view (POV) defines who is communicating to the reader . Every written text comes from a certain person’s viewpoint. When we understand who’s speaking to us, we can better understand the story that’s being told.

Narrative point of view defines who is communicating to the reader.

Sometimes, the point of view of a story is given immediately. Herman Melville’s first-person novel Moby Dick begins “Call me Ishmael.” The story then goes on to tell us why Ishmael’s point of view matters —in other words, what makes the story compelling .

However, most stories rarely introduce their protagonists so readily, and it’s much more likely that the narrative point of view will develop alongside the story.

For example, the identity of the narrator in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is never revealed. The television series names her June, based on their interpretation of the story’s opening chapter, but the original novel never reveals her real name. She is simply Offred, or “of Fred”—Fred being the commander she is property of. Despite this, the reader comes to know about the narrator’s past life, current dilemma, and enduring trauma as a handmaid in fictional Gilead.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a cautionary dystopia, and by leaving the narrator anonymous, Atwood suggests that the narrative point of view could be all women’s experiences, not just the narrator’s. This is where understanding what is point of view helps us understand the text, relating it to the novel’s themes and ideas.

Some narrators are entirely absent from the narrative. In other words, no single person is named as the storyteller: they are an unnamed, maybe unbiased viewer, relaying the story from the third person point of view.

Classic novels told by a distant narrator include Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

You’ll notice that the above point of view examples are in “first person” or “third person.” What is point of view’s “person?”

“Person,” better described as the story’s frame of reference, identifies who the narrator is in relation to the text. Are they a part of the story, or somewhere outside of it? The point of view of a story is directly impacted by who tells it, so defining the narrator is a crucial component of any story or poem.

The story’s “person” identifies who the narrator is in relation to the text.

This brings us to the 3 types of point of view: 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person.

First person uses the “I” pronoun, and it occurs when the narrator is a part of the story. You’ll see first person used most frequently in poetry and autobiographical work, but many novels also choose to write from the vantage of a fictional character. Example: I walked the dog.

Second person uses the “you” pronoun, and it’s rarely used in long passages of prose . Second person is used when the reader is the subject of the story. Although this requires a certain suspension of disbelief , second person storytelling can help make the reader feel more intimate with the story’s plot , as it casts the reader as the protagonist. Example: You walked the dog.

Third person uses impersonal pronouns—he, she, they, it, etc. The majority of fiction is told in the third person, as is non-autobiographical work and some poetry. Example: She walked the dog.

There are divisions within each respective point of view, which we’ve summarized in the chart below. These point of view examples have different uses in storytelling, and when chosen properly, the narrative point of view can amplify certain meanings and ideas.

It’s important to consider the point of view of a story. Doing so will help make certain texts easier to understand—and, potentially, easier to write.

Think of the narrator as the cameraman of the story. We see what the camera sees; our view of the story is determined by where the camera points, and what the camera omits.

The narrator is the cameraman of the story

In other words, narrative point of view defines how the story is told . The author may choose a narrator that’s unbiased and objective, but this is only possible with a third person omniscient narrator.

Other than the third person omniscient, narrative viewpoints cannot be truly objective. First and second person narratives are inevitably biased, as we are perceiving the story through a single point of reference. The same is true for the third person limited, where the narrator tells us about solely the protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, desires, and interpretations. Even if that narrator is not central to the story, they also have a personality, and they also have blindspots and biases.

As a result, narrative point of view goes hand-in-hand with character development . No matter what point of view the author chooses, the story’s style and ideas will be affected by the protagonist’s personality. The most authentic stories lean into the protagonist’s style, making them seem like living, breathing characters.

So far, we’ve mostly discussed the point of view of a story, including how storytellers can (and should!) write from the protagonist’s limited perspective. Does the same apply to poetry?

In short, yes: a poem contains a point of view, and this helps define the poem’s tone , message, and identity. However, the role of point of view in poetry differs from that of fiction. Here are a few key differences:

1. Point of View in Poetry: Narrator vs. Speaker

In prose, the person telling the story is called the narrator, and the narrator is usually well defined. We usually know their name if the story is in first person; if it’s in third person, we know who the story’s frame of reference is, and can discern whether the narrator is biased or not.

In poetry, the person writing to us is called the speaker .

Now, the speaker is less defined in poetry than the narrator is in prose. It’s easy to assume that the poet is the speaker, and in many cases, the speaker writes directly from the poet’s heart.

However, when it comes to poetry analysis, it’s important to distinguish the speaker from the poet. A poem operates best when its meaning is universally applicable, rather than attached to one specific person.

For example, the poet Sylvia Plath is well known for her confessional poetry, and it’s hard to disconnect her poems from her own lived experiences. Plath struggled greatly with death and mental illness, which become recurring themes in much of her poetry.

Although Plath was certainly writing about her own experiences, poems are multifaceted and convey different truths to different people. By decontextualizing the author from the poem, the poem can be interpreted as a standalone unit. For more on this, you may be interested in Roland Barthe’s critical essay The Death of the Author.

Lastly, some poems have explicitly defined speakers where the poet and the speaker are different. These poems, known collectively as persona poetry , allow the poet to write from the experiences of other people, organisms, or objects. An example of persona poetry is the spoken word poem “Skinhead” by Patricia Smith , as well as Louise Glück’s poetry collection Wild Iris , which was written from the point of view of flowers.

2. Point of View in Poetry: Crystalized vs. Fluid Pronouns

In prose, the time and place of the story are usually well defined. We know when and where the story takes place and from whose point of view we’re experiencing the story.

Because of this, the pronouns in prose will be consistent, or crystalized . A story that begins in the third person will remain in the third person, unless there is a clear shift in the story’s time and format.

For example, the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is told from four different perspectives, and each perspective has a different frame of reference. One character’s story is told using first person point of view diary entries; another character is written strictly in the third person limited. Although the pronouns change, they change per chapter , not just randomly. The novel makes clear who is narrating and when the event they are narrating occurred.

There are, of course, notable exceptions to this rule. William Faulkner, for one, was famous for experimenting with narratology.

For example, Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury is told from four different perspectives. Quentin’s story, the second part of the novel, jumps between different points of view, due to its stream of conscious narrative. The present is told in the first person, but some of Quentin’s thoughts are in the second or third person point of view, depending on whom he’s thinking towards.

Thus, in some parts of The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner uses fluid pronouns—a narrative tactic much more common in poetry.

Poems can switch between first, second, and third person pronouns much more fluidly, though of course these pronoun shifts must be meaningful. Poets from the Modernist Era were especially likely to experiment with narratology, such as T. S. Eliot and his poem “ The Waste Land .”

“The Waste Land” can be described as a Modernist lament of the death of culture and society. Whether Eliot was right is still a topic of intense debate, but to accomplish this lament, the poem frequently jumps between different perspectives and pronouns. Take this excerpt from the poem’s second section:

And other withered stumps of time Were told upon the walls; staring forms Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed. Footsteps shuffled on the stair. Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair Spread out in fiery points Clawed into words, then would be savagely still.

“My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me. “Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. “What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? “I never know what you are thinking. Think.”

I think we are in rats’ alley Where the dead men lost their bones.

The perspective shifts from third to first person here, transitioning from the woman in her lavish room to her husband’s inner monologue. Transitions like these help the poet juxtapose different narratives, and altogether, this style of interweaving narratives happens much more frequently in poetry than in prose.

3. Point of View in Poetry: Objective vs. Imaginative Storytelling

Finally, prose and poetry have different styles of storytelling. The goal of prose is to tell a story as truthfully as possible, explaining a set order of events through strictly set viewpoints. Prose, in general, should be clear and concise , conveying information through as few words as possible.

Poetry, by contrast, can take a much more imaginative focus. We’ve already seen how the point of view can change in poetry; because of this, a poem’s setting and mood can also change much more fluidly.

Here are some examples of imaginative storytelling :

• Writing from unique points of view. Wild Iris by Louise Glück is a collection of poems told from the perspective of flowers.
• Using metaphor as plot. Take the poem Entanglement by Carmen Giménez Smith : obviously, the speaker does not have a tiny telephone physically inside of her, but this metaphor sets up the poem’s message about love and growing together.
• Writing towards a global “us.” Prose functions best when it focuses on a few key individuals, but poetry can address everyone without a clear setting. Example: A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde ..
• Interweaving disparate voices, often without signifying a change in speaker. This tactic is used frequently in “The Waste Land.”

Let’s return to “The Waste Land” as an example. Many elements of storytelling change frequently throughout the poem, including its setting, characters, and tone. Take this excerpt from the poem’s second and third section, where we suddenly transition from the rituals of posh London society to the dismal bank of the Thames:

[End of II. A Game of Chess]

And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot— HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME Goodnight Bill. Goodnight Lou. Goodnight May. Goodnight. Ta ta. Goodnight. Goodnight. Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.

III. The Fire Sermon The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.

Of course, longer works of prose can also include a wide array of characters, settings, and tones. The difference is, prose explores those elements in depth, whereas the poem hardly offers “backstory” for the characters or an extended description of the settings.

Rather, these storytelling elements are used symbolically , intertwining with the poem to develop its many complex themes.

Throughout the poem, we hear many different voices interwoven: that of the speaker, a countess named Marie, the spouse of a shell-shocked WW1 veteran, the voices of women undone by men, etc. No singular line of the poem tells us what the poem is “about,” but as we visit the many souls in England whose lives were forever changed by The Great War, a tapestry of decline emerges. We don’t need the poem to tell us that society is in jeopardy: we can see it with our own two eyes.

Note: “The Waste Land” is an exceedingly complex poem. Literary critics and historians still debate the poem’s many different meanings, and the poem itself is best read alongside T. S. Eliot’s marginalia. This analysis does not offer a full understanding of the poem, but if you’re interested, this summary of the poem from critic Dr. Oliver Tearle might elucidate.

There are a few key differences between the point of view of a story and the point of view in poetry. These differences are summarized below.

How do writers experiment with point of view, and what can they achieve with it? In the same way that a film director can play with cinematic style and the camera’s filmography, writers can play with point of view in writing.

In creative writing, rules are made to be broken. We’ve described the narrator as the faithful , objective cameraperson of the story, who keeps the storytelling tidy by using the same pronouns , and situating those pronouns in clearly defined settings and plots .

Yet, we’ve already offered several examples of prose writers who broke those rules—namely William Faulkner, who spearheaded much of the 20th century’s experimentations in prose.

Here are some ways that prose writers can experiment with narrative point of view. These strategies also apply to poetry, but since point of view is less-strictly defined in poetry, many of these rules either don’t apply or are easy to experiment with.

• The Unreliable Narrator: narrators can deceive, though this deception should be relevant to the story itself. This tactic is often used in mystery and suspense novels, as the narrator often lacks all the necessary information— or the narrator is the antagonist . A contemporary example is the novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
• Pronouns as Scene Changes: to create a truly immersive world, the narrator might jump freely in and out of a character’s stream of consciousness. Rather than telling the reader “these are the character’s spontaneous thoughts,” the narration can jump inside characters’ heads through the use of pronouns changes, as well as other shifts in style. A classic example is the novel The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.
• Multiple Narrators: when the story’s plot is complex and multifaceted, the writer might tell the story from multiple vantage points. Different chapters will be told from different viewpoints, and those viewpoints are (usually) well defined. A recent example is the novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, or  Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress. 
• Omniscient Flashbacks: you might want the reader to know more than the protagonist does. Why? Because authors are evil and love to make their protagonists suffer. That, and because this information will be revealed to the protagonist later, so it helps make the story more compelling and suspenseful. As a result, some stories might interrupt the main narrative to offer a third person omnipotent flashback. A recent example is the novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami.
• Story Within a Story: the story might utilize a first person narrator who is not relevant to the story—in other words, a first person peripheral narrator. This narrator might tell the bulk of the story in a different point of view, as they are often telling stories that happened before the narrator’s present day. A classic example of this is Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte.

Choosing and Managing Point of View

Here are instructor Jack Smith’s thoughts on finding the right cameraman for your story.

Whatever your character is like, one thing to consider—early on, if possible—is whether or not this character will, in fact, be the character with the most interesting or compelling vantage point, or perspective, on the story’s action, the one you’ll give the most time to.

For instance, let’s say your story is about a bank heist. Let’s say you have a protagonist in mind, the one who will be your point of view character: the bank robber who has planned the heist. Should you stick with that character, or would a different POV character work better? Who might this be? One of the bank robbers? Which one? A hard-nosed killer who’ll stop at nothing? A novice who’s nervous? A robber with a dashboard filled with robberies he’s committed, one who is going to make this his last heist? How about the driver of the getaway car?

Each of these characters will play a different part in the robbery, and have a different experience. Which is likely to make the most interesting story? Which will have the most impact?

Let’s say it’s a bystander outside of the bank, who witnesses the robbery from across the street. Will that make a good story? Let’s say that you yourself witnessed a bank heist, or perhaps a robbery of a convenience store, or liquor store, and you want to tell that story. But will you have enough conflict ? Perhaps if you heard guns going off, saw a person killed about to enter, or exit, the bank (or store)… maybe then. If your witness brings enough to this story, maybe a past of witnessing different acts of violence, they might make a good protagonist, or POV character. As I’ve described it, your witness is an observer only. But perhaps this character could become a participant, not in the robbery, but in some other way.

Let’s say you’re really invested in this story. You have to tell it because it happened to you.

Be careful not to be bound by what happened, but instead let your imagination run free. Here’s a link on writing autobiographical fiction you might be interested in:

https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/filtering-fact-through-fiction/

Another point of view example:

Let’s say your novel is going to be about a strained relationship between two family members. You’ve chosen to focus on the difficult relationship between a teenage daughter and her mother. Would it be better to tell it from the daughter’s point of view or the mother’s? If you’re writing autobiographical fiction, and you’re coming from the daughter’s perspective, you might try telling your story from the mother’s point of view. This would keep you from getting too personally invested in one point of view over the other. Could the mother’s POV work? Let’s say that the mother tends to be a bit myopic? That could come across in the kinds of things she notices and says. You could have a case of unconscious irony , and, to the extent to which the mother seems unaware of her own biases, etc., perhaps (if you use first person point of view) an unreliable narrator—at least at times. Just keep in mind that choosing your protagonist is a matter of choosing a perspective, a vantage point, on one’s self and others. Other POV characters are possible, of course, but they would be secondary.

This takes us to multiple points of view. In the case of the bank heist, you could tell the story from several POV’s: the guy who plans the heist, one of the robbers, and the driver of the getaway car. You’d have to decide if their points of view are of equal weight, or if one is more important than the other two. In the case of the strained relationship between the teenage daughter and mother, you could alternate points of view from chapter to chapter.

Ask yourself what stakes your protagonist has in this story. How invested are they? This question pertains to motivation. If you’re a plotter, you can decide on this early on; if you’re a pantser, get a good feel for this protagonist—what are his or her stakes? What motivates them to do what they do, to care about the outcome, to get involved in the fray?

Before you get too far into your story, think of the best perspective(s) from which to tell your tale. The earlier you make a choice, the less work you’ll have doing revision later on.

Explore Narrative Point of View at Writers.com

What else can writers do with narrative point of view? It’s up to you to find out! Writers are constantly experimenting with different ways to tell their stories, and while point of view is not the only way to experiment, it is an essential component of any story you write. So follow the rules, break them, or create entirely new ones—the blank page is yours to command.

When you’re looking to workshop your writing, check out our upcoming course schedule . Our instructors are ready to help fine tune your story’s point of view.

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Point of View

Point of view (POV) refers to the perspective from which a story is told. It is a crucial element that shapes the reader’s experience and understanding of the narrative. The main types are first person, using “I” or “we”; second person, which directly addresses the reader as “you”; and third person, which uses “he,” “she,” or “they.” Each POV provides different levels of intimacy and insight into the characters’ thoughts and feelings, influencing the tone and depth of the story. Understanding POV helps readers grasp the narrative’s emotional and psychological layers.

What is a Point of View?

Point of view (POV) is the perspective from which a story is narrated. It determines how readers perceive events and characters. Common types include first person (“I”), second person (“you”), and third person (“he,” “she,” “they”). Each type offers varying degrees of insight and emotional depth, significantly influencing the narrative’s impact. The choice of POV shapes the reader’s understanding and engagement with the story.

Types of Point of View

Point of view (POV) is essential in shaping how information is conveyed, influencing the audience’s perception and engagement. Here’s an expanded look at the different types:

First Person Point of View

The first-person POV offers a narrative seen through the eyes of a character involved in the story.

• First Person Central : The narrator is the protagonist, providing a deeply personal and immersive experience. This POV allows readers to experience the story through the character’s own emotions and thoughts, making it intimate and engaging.
• First Person Peripheral : The narrator is not the main character but a secondary figure observing the events that revolve around the protagonist. This perspective can offer a broader view of the main character and their interactions with the world.

Second Person Point of View

Unique among narrative forms, the second person POV directly involves the reader or viewer by addressing them as “you.”

• Second Person : It creates an immersive experience, allowing the audience to feel as though they are active participants in the narrative. This point of view is rare in traditional novels but more common in interactive media like video games or choose-your-own-adventure books.

Third Person Point of View

The third person POV uses “he,” “she,” or “they,” and is the most flexible in terms of narrative scope.

• Third Person Limited : This perspective sticks closely to one character at a time , limiting the narrative scope to what this character knows, sees, feels, and thinks. It combines the intimacy of first-person narration with the flexibility of third-person distance.
• Third Person Omniscient : The narrator has an all-knowing perspective, providing insights into the thoughts, feelings, and hidden motives of any character. This POV can build a comprehensive understanding of the plot and character dynamics, but it can also distance the reader from the emotional nuances of individual characters.
• Third Person Objective : Here, the narrator does not enter the minds of any character. Instead, the narrative is restricted to actions and dialogue. This can lend a journalistic or documentary feel to the story, presenting events in a detached, unbiased manner.

Synonyms of Point of View

How to create point of view.

Creating a point of view (POV) in writing involves selecting the perspective from which the story is told. This decision significantly impacts how your narrative unfolds and how your readers engage with it. Here are steps to help you determine and create an effective POV for your writing:

1. Determine the Story’s Needs

• Consider what you want your readers to know and when you want them to know it. Different POVs can either limit or expand the reader’s access to information, which can affect suspense, mystery, and emotional depth.

2. Choose the Type of POV

• First Person : Use if you want to provide a deep, personal connection between the reader and the narrator. It’s intimate and can be biased based on the narrator’s personal views and experiences.
• Second Person : Choose this for a unique, immersive experience. It’s less common and can feel more interactive.
• Third Person Limited : Opt for this to maintain some narrative distance while still focusing closely on the feelings and thoughts of one particular character.
• Third Person Omniscient : Use if you want to offer a broader understanding of all characters and events. It allows for multiple viewpoints and storylines.
• Third Person Objective : Consider this if you aim for a detached, factual report style, without access to any character’s inner thoughts.

3. Develop the Narrator’s Voice

• The narrator’s voice should be distinct and consistent. Whether your narrator is a character in the story or an omniscient entity, their voice sets the tone and pace of the story.

4. Evaluate Consistency

• Stay consistent with your chosen POV to avoid confusing your readers. Switching POVs can be effective if done purposefully and clearly, but accidental shifts can pull readers out of the story.

5. Experiment with Different POVs

• Try writing a scene from different points of view to see which best serves the story’s purpose and enhances the emotional impact.

6. Use POV to Deepen Characterization

• Use your POV choice to reveal character traits and development through their thoughts, reactions, and perceptions.

7. Revise Based on Feedback

• After drafting, get feedback on how effectively your POV conveys the story. Use critiques to refine the narrative perspective.

Importance of Point of View

Point of view (POV) is a foundational element in storytelling , significantly shaping both the narrative structure and the reader’s experience. Its importance cannot be overstated, as it impacts various aspects of a narrative:

1. Narrative Insight

• POV determines the depth of insight into characters’ thoughts, feelings, and motivations. For instance, a first-person POV provides intimate access to the narrator’s internal experiences, while a third-person objective POV keeps the reader distanced, observing only external actions.

2. Reader Engagement

• The chosen POV influences how readers engage with the story. A first-person narrator can create a strong emotional connection, making readers feel like part of the narrative. In contrast, a third-person omniscient POV can offer a broader understanding of the world and multiple characters, potentially increasing the story’s scope and complexity.

3. Control Over Information

• The way information is presented to the reader is governed by POV. This control can build suspense or surprise. For example, a third-person limited POV can keep the reader in the dark about certain plot elements that the focal character isn’t aware of, enhancing mystery and suspense.

4. Reliability and Bias

• POV inherently involves perspective, which can introduce bias. A first-person narrator might provide a skewed version of events, affecting the reader’s perception and leading to a more complex, layered understanding of the narrative.

5. Tone and Atmosphere

• The POV sets the tone and helps in creating the atmosphere of the story. A gloomy, introspective first-person narrator can set a melancholic tone, while an omniscient narrator might offer a more neutral, panoramic view of the world, influencing the story’s atmosphere.

6. Theme and Depth

• Different POVs can highlight various themes and add depth to the story. An omniscient POV might explore themes of fate and destiny by showing the interconnected lives of characters, whereas a first-person POV might delve into personal identity and individual experience.

Point of View vs. Perspective

Point of view in literature.

In literature, point of view (POV) refers to the perspective from which a story is narrated. It is a crucial narrative device that dictates the relationship between the reader and the narrative, shaping how the story is perceived and interpreted. Different types of POV, including first-person, second-person, and third-person, offer varying degrees of insight into characters’ thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Choosing the right POV can deeply affect the emotional tone, tension, and intimacy of the story. A well-chosen POV can make the narrative more engaging, providing a unique angle through which the plot unfolds and characters develop.

Examples of Point of View in Literature

• “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee – First person, narrated by Scout Finch.
• “1984” by George Orwell – Third person limited, focusing on Winston Smith.
• “Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay McInerney – Second person, addressing the reader as “you.”
• “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald – First person peripheral, narrated by Nick Carraway.
• “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen – Third person omniscient, with insights into multiple characters.
• “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger – First person central, narrated by Holden Caulfield.
• “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak – First person, uniquely narrated by Death.
• “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn – Alternating first person, from Nick and Amy Dunne’s perspectives.
• “A Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin – Third person limited, with each chapter from different characters’ viewpoints.
• “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë – First person, narrated by Jane Eyre herself.

Point of View in Writing

In writing, point of view (POV) is fundamental in determining how the narrative is presented to the reader. It influences the tone, depth, and overall engagement of the story. POV can vary widely—from the introspective depths of first-person to the expansive scope of third-person omniscient. Each POV offers distinct advantages: first-person can increase emotional intensity and connection, second-person can create a unique, immersive experience, and third-person can provide broader narrative flexibility and insight into multiple characters. The choice of POV affects not only the narrative’s accessibility and relatability but also how authentically the story resonates with its audience.

Examples of Point of View in Writing

• “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville – First person, as told by the character Ishmael.
• “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern – Third person omniscient, providing views into many characters.
• “If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino – Second person, directly addressing the reader.
• “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling – Third person limited, primarily through Harry Potter’s perspective.
• “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk – First person, narrated by an unnamed protagonist.
• “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner – Multiple perspectives using both first and third person.
• “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway – First person, narrated by Jake Barnes.
• “Middlemarch” by George Eliot – Third person omniscient, with insights into all major characters.
• “Room” by Emma Donoghue – First person, through the eyes of a five-year-old boy.
• “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Díaz – First person and third person, with a unique narrative voice.

Examples of Point of View in Books

Point of view (POV) is an essential element in literature, defining how a story is narrated and influencing the reader’s engagement and understanding. Here are ten examples of books that effectively utilize different points of view:

• “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger – First person POV, narrated by Holden Caulfield, giving a deeply personal and subjective view of the story.
• “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak – First person POV, uniquely narrated by Death, providing a broad and philosophical perspective on the events of World War II Germany.
• “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn – Alternating first person POV between Nick and Amy Dunne, this technique reveals the complexities of the plot and characters through their differing perspectives.
• “A Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin – Third person limited POV, with each chapter providing the perspective of different characters, offering a wide-ranging view of the events in Westeros.
• “Middlemarch” by George Eliot – Third person omniscient POV, allowing the narrator to provide insights into the thoughts and motivations of various characters, enriching the narrative complexity.
• “The Martian” by Andy Weir – Primarily first person POV through logs written by the protagonist, Mark Watney, mixed with third-person sections showing the efforts on Earth to rescue him.
• “Beloved” by Toni Morrison – A mix of third person omniscient and stream of consciousness POV, which delves deeply into the psychological and emotional states of various characters.
• “Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay McInerney – Second person POV, a rare style that speaks directly to the reader, creating an immersive experience.
• “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee – First person peripheral POV narrated by Scout Finch, a child who observes the dramatic events of the story unfolding around her.
• “Dracula” by Bram Stoker – A series of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles (epistolary form), providing multiple first-person perspectives that piece together the mysterious events involving Dracula.

Examples of Point of View in Sentences

• “From my point of view, pineapple belongs on pizza.”
• “She saw the accident happen from her point of view across the street.”
• “In his essay, the author presents a unique point of view on climate change.”
• “From the cat’s point of view, the vacuum cleaner is a terrifying monster.”
• “The detective considered the case from every possible point of view.”
• “His political point of view clashed with that of his family.”
• “The documentary offers multiple points of view on the historical event.”
• “From an economic point of view, investing in renewable energy makes sense.”
• “The novel is narrated from the protagonist’s point of view.”
• “From a cultural point of view, the tradition may seem strange to outsiders.”

Examples of Point of View in Poetry

Point of view in poetry can be expressed through the speaker’s perspective, voice, and attitude towards the subject matter. Here are some examples:

• This line reflects the speaker’s personal experience of feeling solitary yet finding solace in nature.
• This line directly addresses the reader, inviting them to consider the paradoxical nature of the relationship described.
• Though written in the third person, the poem provides insight into the thoughts and feelings of the subject, portraying her beauty and grace.
• The poem presents an all-knowing perspective, delving into the visionary realm of Kubla Khan’s creation.
• This poem incorporates various perspectives and voices, reflecting the fragmented and introspective nature of the protagonist’s consciousness.
• Through the Duke’s narration, the poem reveals his possessive and controlling nature, offering a biased and distorted perspective of the Duchess.
• This poem presents a seemingly simple observation of a wheelbarrow and chickens without delving into the subjective thoughts or feelings of the observer.
• Through fragmented imagery and shifting perspectives, the poem captures the chaotic and disjointed thoughts of the modern individual.
• Carroll adopts the voice of a nonsensical narrator, creating a whimsical and imaginative world filled with invented words and fantastical creatures.
• McKay adopts the voice of solidarity and defiance, speaking from the perspective of those facing oppression and violence, urging resilience and courage.

Examples of Point of View in Movies

Movies often utilize different points of view to tell stories, evoke emotions, and engage audiences. Here are ten examples across various film genres:

• The film is presented as found footage shot by the characters themselves, providing a subjective and immersive experience for the viewer.
• The story primarily follows the experiences and perspective of Andy Dufresne, offering insights into his thoughts and actions within the confines of Shawshank State Penitentiary.
• The film follows the life of Forrest Gump, but also provides insights into the lives and perspectives of various supporting characters, offering a comprehensive view of historical events.
• The film weaves together multiple interconnected stories, each presented from the perspective of different characters, creating a complex narrative structure.
• The film follows the perspective of the unnamed narrator, whose perceptions and reality become increasingly distorted as he becomes entangled in the world of underground fighting and anarchist philosophy.
• The film adopts a detached and observational perspective, allowing viewers to witness the rise of an oil tycoon without delving deeply into the inner thoughts or emotions of the characters.
• Through intense visual and auditory techniques, the film immerses viewers in the subjective experiences of characters struggling with addiction, portraying their distorted perceptions and emotional turmoil.
• The protagonist, Henry Hill, provides voiceover narration throughout the film, offering insights into his thoughts, motivations, and experiences as a mobster.
• The film employs a non-linear narrative structure, alternating between scenes from the past and present, as the protagonist’s fragmented memory drives the storytelling.
• The film invites viewers to empathize with the experiences of Holocaust survivors through the perspective of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saves over a thousand Jews during World War II.

Examples of Point of View for Kids

When explaining point of view to kids, it’s important to use simple language and relatable examples. Here are ten examples suitable for children:

• In this sentence, “I” is telling the story from their own perspective, sharing their personal experience.
• This sentence describes what someone else, “he,” observed, rather than the speaker themselves.
• This sentence expresses the speaker’s personal opinion or feeling about chocolate ice cream.
• This sentence states a fact without expressing any personal opinions or feelings.
• This sentence describes a scenario or experience that is imagined or made up.
• This sentence describes an event from the perspective of animals, in this case, a cat and a mouse.
• This sentence shares what the speaker’s friend thought about the movie they watched together.
• This sentence conveys what the speaker’s mom believes is important for their health and well-being.
• This sentence describes how a character in a story feels or thinks about a situation.
• This sentence talks about how things were in the past, providing a historical perspective.

How to identify the narrative Point of View?

To identify narrative point of view , consider who is telling the story and their relationship to the events. Pay attention to pronouns (I, you, he/she/they), insights into characters’ thoughts, and overall perspective.

What is a good example of 2nd person POV?

A good example of 2nd person POV is “Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay McInerney. It immerses readers by addressing them directly as “you,” creating a deeply personal experience.

How do we know the Point of View of a person?

We discern a person’s point of view through their expressed opinions, perspectives, and reactions to events or topics, often conveyed through their language, behavior, and interactions with others.

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Point of View: What Is It? (With 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th POV Examples)

Hannah Yang

One of the most powerful tools in a writer’s toolkit is point of view.

So, what is point of view in literature, and why is it important?

The short answer is that point of view, also called POV, refers to the angle from which a story is told. It includes the specific character who’s telling the story, as well as the way the author filters the story through that character to the reader.

This article will discuss the different points of view you can use in writing, including their strengths, weaknesses, and examples from literature.

What Is Point of View in Writing and Literature?

The importance of point of view, summary of the different points of view, first person point of view, second person point of view, third person point of view, fourth person point of view, what about alternating point of view, conclusion on point of view.

Point of view refers to the perspective through which a story is told.

To understand point of view, try this quick exercise. Imagine you’re telling a story about a well-traveled stranger who enters a small, rural town.

What are all the different perspectives you could tell this story from?

You might tell it from the perspective of the stranger who has never seen this town before and views all of its buildings and streets through fresh eyes.

You might tell it from the collective perspective of the townspeople, who are curious about who this stranger is and why he’s come to this part of the world.

You might even tell it from the perspective of an all-seeing entity, who can see into the minds of both the stranger and the townspeople, all at the same time.

Each of these options centers a different point of view—a different angle for the reader to approach the same story.

Point of view is one of the most important aspects of your story that you must decide before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). It can have an enormous impact on the tone, style, and even plot of the story.

Each point of view has its own strengths and limitations. In order to choose the right POV, you have to know what you want your story to accomplish.

For example, if you choose first person POV, you’ll be able to immerse the reader in a single character’s voice, humor, and worldview. On the other hand, you also have to show the world with that character’s biases and flawed observations.

The right POV can also completely change the way the story feels. POV is a matter of choice, but one that affects every part of your story or novel.

F. Scott Fitzgerald had to rewrite The Great Gatsby because he initially wrote it in Gatsby’s voice. He decided it would be much more powerful coming from Nick’s more naïve point of view. Imagine that masterpiece with a different point of view—it wouldn’t have the same objective, reliable feeling that it has now.

There are four main points of view that we’ll be discussing in this article: first person, second person, third person (with two subtypes: limited and omniscient), and fourth person.

• First person (“ I pet the cat because I think it looks cute.”)
• Second person (“ You pet the cat because you think it looks cute.”)
• Third person limited (“ She pets the cat because she thinks it looks cute.”) and third person omniscient (“ She pets the cat because she thinks it looks cute. Little does she know, this cat is actually an alien in disguise.”)
• Fourth person (“ We pet the cat because we think it looks cute.”)

Read on to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each of these points of view.

With first person point of view, everything is told intimately from the viewpoint of a character, usually your protagonist. The author uses the first person pronouns I and me to show readers what this character sees and thinks.

First person is the best way to show the story from one person’s point of view because you have an individual person telling you her story directly in her own words. It’s also the easiest way to tell a story that uses a distinct, quirky voice.

The limitations of first person point of view, however, restrict you to only describing what this character sees, thinks, and feels, and sometimes that narrator can be unreliable.

First Person POV Examples

One great example of first person POV is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. The narrator is a flawed character, but we see the world entirely through her eyes, complete with her own faults and sorrows. Here’s a short excerpt:

“I began to think vodka was my drink at last. It didn’t taste like anything, but it went straight down into my stomach like a sword swallowers’ sword and made me feel powerful and godlike.”

Compare that with the intimacy you get when reading Scout’s view of things in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird . She speaks with a childlike innocence, giving the reader that same feeling, even if we understand the racism of her town better than she does herself.

“We lived on the main residential street in town—Atticus, Jem and I, plus Calpurnia our cook. Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment.”

Second person point of view, which uses the pronoun you , is one of the least used POVs in literature because it places the reader in the hot seat and is hard to manage for a full-length novel. It’s used in experimental literature to try out new styles of writing.

In the wrong hands, it just feels gimmicky. But when done well, second person point of view can accomplish a range of wonderful effects.

Second Person POV Examples

“Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang is a fantastic example of second person POV. It takes the form of a story a mother tells her daughter to explain the circumstances of the daughter’s life. Because the mother is speaking directly to the daughter, the story is imbued with an extra sense of intimacy.

“Right now your dad and I have been married for about two years, living on Ellis Avenue; when we move out you’ll still be too young to remember the house, but we’ll show you pictures of it, tell you stories about it.”

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is a Hugo-winning fantasy novel that uses many different POVs, including second person. The second person point of view serves to provide a feeling of disorientation, like the protagonist needs to talk to herself to remind herself what’s going on. Here’s a short excerpt from the very beginning of the story:

“You are she. She is you. You are Essun. Remember? The woman whose son is dead.”

Third person point of view uses pronouns like he , she , and it . This POV allows the reader to follow a character, or multiple characters, from a more distanced perspective than first or second person.

Third Person Limited vs Third Person Omniscient

There are two subtypes of third person point of view: limited and omniscient.

In third person limited, the story follows only one character’s viewpoint throughout the entire piece. This means your reader sees only what the third person narrator sees and learns things at the same time the third person narrator does.

You can show what your main character thinks, feels, and sees, which helps close the emotional distance between your reader and the main character.

This is an excellent POV to use when your story focuses on a single character. In many ways, third person limited is quite similar to first person, even though it involves different pronouns.

The drawback with third person limited POV is that you can only follow one character. Showing other characters’ thoughts and feelings is a no-no.

The other type of third person POV is third person omniscient. In this POV, the story is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, who can see inside the heads of all the characters in the story.

This is a great POV to use when you have multiple characters, each with their own plot line to follow, and you want your reader to see everything as it unfolds. It’s also useful for imparting universal messages and philosophies, since the narrator can draw conclusions that no character would be able to on its own.

The downside to third person omniscient is that it can be emotionally distant from the story. Because you’re constantly jumping around to different characters and their story arcs, it’s harder for your reader to get as emotionally involved with your characters.

Third Person POV Examples

Examples of the third person limited POV are the Harry Potter novels. The reader sees everything that’s going on, but is limited to Harry’s point of view. We’re surprised when Harry is surprised, and we find out the resolution at the ending when Harry does. Here’s a short excerpt from the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

“Harry sat up and examined the jagged piece on which he had cut himself, seeing nothing but his own bright green eye reflected back at him.”

An excellent example of third person omniscient POV is Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables . The reader sees everything that is happening in the story and gets a vivid lesson in politics and society in France’s history.

“He was cunning, rapacious, indolent and shrewd, and by no means indifferent to maidservants, which was why his wife no longer kept any.”

Fourth person is a newer POV that only recently started to be recognized as a distinct POV. It involves a collective perspective, using the plural pronouns we and us .

This POV allows you to tell a story from the perspective of a group, rather than an individual. Since there’s no singular narrative, this option is great for critiquing larger institutions and social norms. Fourth person is even rarer than second person, but when it’s done well, it can be very powerful.

Fourth Person POV Examples

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is told from the perspective of an entire town.

“We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.”

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides is told from the perspective of a group of teenage boys.

“They were short, round-buttocked in denim, with roundish cheeks that recalled that same dorsal softness. Whenever we got a glimpse, their faces looked indecently revealed, as though we were used to seeing women in veils.”

You might choose to write a novel or story with multiple different points of view.

Some books have two main characters and switch back and forth between their perspectives—this is very common in the romance genre, for instance. Others rotate between three or more characters.

Alternating POV is a great option if your story features multiple main characters, all of whom play an equally important role in the story. The biggest drawback is that you risk confusing your reader when you switch back and forth.

Make sure your reader knows when you’re switching POVs. One common solution is to include a chapter break each time the perspective changes. Some books change the font for each POV, or even the color of the typeface.

It’s also important to make sure each character has a distinct voice. For example, maybe one character writes with short, brusque sentences, while another writes with long, flowery sentences. Keeping the different POVs distinct is crucial for success.

There you have it—a complete guide to point of view and how to choose the right POV for your story.

Before you start experimenting with point of view, get comfortable with the basics first. Read works by authors who use these different POVs with great success to understand how each POV changes the narrative arc of the story.

Happy writing!

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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Table of Contents

Ai, ethics & human agency, collaboration, information literacy, writing process, point of view.

What Is Point of View?

In writing, point of view refers to whether the writing takes on a singular or plural perspective in either 1st person, 2nd person, or 3rd person.

• First person is the perspective of the writer; 1st person uses words like “I,” “my,” “me,” or “we.”
• 2nd-person is the perspective of the reader being directly addressed by the writer; 2nd person uses words like “you,” “your,” or “us.” ; and
• 3rd-person is the perspective of a different party who is neither writer nor reader. 3rd person uses words like “she,” “his,” or “they.”

Point of view can typically be identified by which pronouns are used. See the chart below for a quick summary.

Related concepts: Pronouns , Perspective , First-Person Point of View , Second-Person Point of View , Third-Person Point of View

Why Does Point of View Matter?

Point of view can impact how a reader experiences a piece of writing in a wide range of ways. A writer’s choice of point of view can impact the level of formality of a piece of writing, and it can also impact how a reader feels about both the writer and the topic. Choosing to use the first person pronouns “we” and “us,” for instance, might make a reader feel in league with the writer, but in another rhetorical situation it can make readers see the writer as unserious or subjective. In fiction, a writer’s choice of point of view means deciding through whose eyes readers see a story, which in turn impacts just about every other choice a writer will make, from which information readers will get, to how they will perceive other characters and events.

How Do You Choose a Particular Point of View?

Point of view is

• a stylistic choice–i.e., choice based on the rhetor’s desired Rhetorical Stance.
• Genres tend to have very specific guidelines for point of view.
• In academic writing, e.g., writers are generally expected to use 3rd-person most of the time, with the occasional exception for 1st person if it is necessary. Using 2nd person is discouraged.

Different points of view can be applied to different writing purposes. There are far too many reasons to choose a point of view to list them all here. This list provides three common uses for the various points of view:

Common uses of 1st person

• Memoirs. Memoirs are all about someone’s personal experiences, so memoir authors use I frequently to describe what has happened to them and how they felt about it.
• Certain academic disciplines . Some academic disciplines, like women’s studies and rhetoric and composition, value the inclusion of personal experience as research material, so scholars will use I and we in their work.

Common uses of 2nd person

• Directions and Self-help books. Self-help books aim to improve their readers in some way, so the authors use you to speak directly to those readers and prompt them to reflect on themselves or take action.
• Advertisements. Advertisements target specific audiences in order to make sales, and the use of you (e.g. “Do you need cash fast?”) can prompt a viewer to identify with the ad’s target audience.

Common uses of 3rd person

• Quotes. When relaying quotations from other speakers or writers, authors will identify the source of the quotation in 3rd person, as in “He wrote that…”
• News stories. Journalism generally strives to impart objective information. By using only 3rd person, journalism avoids the overly personal tone of I and you.

Here are the common ways third person is used in an academic paper:

Note: While the above pronouns represent the third person, instead of using it , that , these , those or this , specific words or phrases will better help readers follow the writer’s logic.

How To Edit for Point of View

To identify ineffective uses of point of view, 1) identify the various points of view in your writing; and 2) decide if the points of view achieve their purpose and will not inadvertently alienate the reader.

1. Identify the various points of view in a piece of writing.

Ex: The American public is underinformed about important news from other countries. When you only watch local cable news or get your news from American websites, you miss out on reading about events like the Arab Spring and the tsunami in Japan.

In this example, the first sentence has a subject in 3rd-person point of view, the American public. The second sentence’s use of you gives it a 2nd-person point of view.

2. Decide if the points of view achieve their purpose and will not inadvertently alienate the reader.

In the first sentence, 3rd-person point of view achieves the purpose of identifying who the writer thinks is underinformed: the American public. In the second sentence, though, it is unclear what purpose the 2nd-person you is intended to achieve. Why is the writer speaking directly to me, the reader? Moreover, the writer risks alienating me by seeming to assume that I am definitely uninformed. How (potentially) offensive!

How can you correct an unnecessary shift in point of view?

• In a passage where an unnecessary shift has been noted, go through and highlight each of the point of view words.
• Change the point of view of the inconsistent pronouns to align them with the primary point of view that has already been established.
• Reread the passage aloud and listen for consistency in point of view.

Let’s look at an example:

• Even though he believed weight loss was possible, you do not know how hard it can be until you try to lose a few pounds.
• Even though he believed weight loss was possible, he did not know how hard it would be until he tried to lose a few pounds.

How do you change first or second person to third person?

Here is a table that shows several common instances of first or second person in essays and some examples of how to revise to the third person.

Look at the following lines and determine how you might revise them so that they remove the pronoun “you” or define the pronoun “we”:

• You can understand what it’s like to have a stack of papers to grade and only two days to do it.
• We now know that cigarettes can cause various types of cancer.
• I would like you to understand that not all students are lazy.
• We believe that gay marriage is not immoral or harmful to the American family; as such, we argue that it should be legalized.
• Doughnuts are really harmful to our health, so we should stop ingesting them.
• If you would only give reading a try, you might actually enjoy it.
• Subliminal messages enter our psyches on a daily basis.
• As a feminist, I believe that women should receive pay that is equal to that of their male coworkers.

Recommended Readings

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• The First Person
• Using First Person in an Academic Essay: When Is It Okay?

Second Person

•   Understanding Second Person Point-of-View: Wizard Activity

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What is First Person Point of View? Definition and Examples

I , me , we , and us , are all words used to articulate ourselves in the first person point of view – but what is first person point of view? We’re going to explore how the first person point of view, or POV, is used in prose, poetry, cinema, and video games as both a writing and framing technique. But before we dive into our examples, let’s review what makes the first person POV, the first person POV.

1st Person Point of View Explained

What is 1st person point of view.

There are a lot of different ways to articulate yourself in the first person, some singular, some plural. It’s important to maintain grammatical consistency in first person writing, so that we as the readers know which characters are being referenced. We’ll get to some first person POV examples in a bit, but first let’s define point of view!

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW DEFINITION

What is first person point of view.

A first person point of view is a character perspective that’s used to relay the thoughts and feelings of a character or entity within a story. First person is defined by the use of I, me, we, us, etc. In video games and movies, the term “first person point of view” is used in reference to the perspective of the camera. For instance, the “first person shooter” is a video game genre in which the player controls a character (shooter) from their vantage point. 

First Person Point of View Characteristics

• Offers insight to alternate views
• Focus on internal thoughts and feelings of a character
• Creates intimacy between the piece of work and reader/viewer/player

What’s First Person Point of View in Grammar?

1st person pov examples in grammar.

Now that we’ve reviewed the first person point of view definition, let’s move on to some first person point of view examples in grammar. Here are some first person point of view examples in the singular:

• My (possessive)
• Mine (possessive)

And in the plural:

• Our (possessive)
• Ours (possessive)

Every language has its own intricacies. Fortunately, first, second and third person point of view in English is much easier to communicate than it is in other languages. That’s because English doesn’t tie the predicate to the tense and “gender” of verbs like other languages.

For example, in English, if we wish to describe a plan to purchase something, we’ll say, “I will buy” or “I’ll buy,” with the I always preceding the tense and verb. In Italian, the point of view is conjugated into the tense and verb, so the same statement “I will buy” is translated into a single word: comprero. 

What Does First Person Point of View Mean in Writing?

First person point of view in writing.

How do we explain what we did today? How we felt? Where we went? We express ourselves constantly in the first person. Everytime we say, I did this , I feel that , or I went here , we’re using 1st person point of view. By me writing the actionable we , rather than the hypothetical you , I’m choosing to use the first person rather than the second person.

Our default, reactionary perspective is first person – so it makes sense that first person comes most natural to many writers. Think about a story you like to tell. If you were to put it to pen and paper, how would it look? Well, there would probably be a lot of I , me, we, us , and our . This next video explores in further detail how writers use the first person POV.

What is 1st Person Point of View?  •  All About Writing in First Person

As storytellers, we’re naturally inclined to tell our stories in first person. As such, narrative essays, short stories, lectures, and blog posts, are all most commonly relayed in the 1st person POV. Some writers make a conscious decision to write in first person while others subconsciously do it because it feels natural. 

For creative writing, there’s no “right or wrong” choice of perspective, just be mindful that each contains its own strengths and weaknesses. If you’re a fiction writer looking to subvert the expectations of your reader, consider using an unreliable narrator .

And always be mindful of the difference between first person limited point of view and first person omniscient point of view.

1st person limited point of view is when a story is told from the first person perspective by a narrator who has limited knowledge.

1st person omniscient point of view is when a story is told from the first person perspective by a narrator who has omniscient (all-knowing) knowledge.

First Person Point of View Movies Explained

First person point of view in movies.

There are a myriad of different types of camera shots that cinematographers and directors use to uniquely frame their movies – the point of view shot is certainly one of the most audacious. The point of view shot, more commonly referred to as the POV shot, places the camera in a position so that the frame shows what a character or inanimate object sees.

Let’s take a look at a video essay that shows how some of the best POV shots of all time were constructed:

What is First Person Point of View?  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Some POV shots last just a few frames while others last the entire length of the movie. There aren’t many films that were shot entirely, or even mostly in the first person POV, but there are a few; most notably, The Blair Witch Project , Cloverfield , and Hardcore Henry .

How do screenwriters communicate this perspective in movies? Well, one way is through dialogue. Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich cleverly places its protagonist inside the body of the title character.

First Person Point of View Movies  •   Being John Malkovich Except

Here, Kaufman uses dialogue to allow his character to express how it feels to “see the world through John Malkovich’s eyes.” Essentially, it’s a supernatural instance of turning the 3rd person POV into the 1st person POV.

1st Person POV in Video Games

First person point of view in games.

The 1st person perspective is also used in video games as a technique to put the player behind the eyes of a character. The best selling video game of all-time, Minecraft , defaults to this perspective, as do the Call of Duty and Elder Scrolls games. 

Some experimental games, which are widely regarded as “walking simulators,” use the first person alongside the use of a third person narrator to bend perspective, and subvert our perception of what interactive stories can be.

Two such games are The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide , both designed by writer/director Davey Wreden. This next video examines how interactive storytelling is changing the game for how POV works in gaming. 

What is First Person Point of View?  •  Philosophy of The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide

The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide aren’t the only games to challenge our view of first person. Some other games include: The Unfinished Swan , The Return of the Obra Dinn , Gone Home , Firewatch , and Jazzpunk .

Due to the burgeoning adoption of virtual reality and augmented reality machines, it seems almost certain that our perception of what POV is capable of will continue to change over the next few years.

Dive deeper into point of view

In this article, we focused only one type of POV – but what about other points of view? Up next, we break down all the basic ideas behind point of view, with examples from literature, movies, and games. By the end, you’ll know how to recognize first, second, and third person point of view.

Up Next: POV explained →

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Scholarly Voice: First-Person Point of View

First-person point of view.

Since 2007, Walden academic leadership has endorsed the APA manual guidance on appropriate use of the first-person singular pronoun "I," allowing the use of this pronoun in all Walden academic writing except doctoral capstone abstracts, which should not contain first person pronouns.

In addition to the pointers below, APA 7, Section 4.16 provides information on the appropriate use of first person in scholarly writing.

Inappropriate Uses:   I feel that eating white bread causes cancer. The author feels that eating white bread causes cancer. I found several sources (Marks, 2011; Isaac, 2006; Stuart, in press) that showed a link between white bread consumption and cancer.   Appropriate Use:   I surveyed 2,900 adults who consumed white bread regularly. In this chapter, I present a literature review on research about how seasonal light changes affect depression.

Confusing Sentence:   The researcher found that the authors had been accurate in their study of helium, which the researcher had hypothesized from the beginning of their project.   Revision:   I found that Johnson et al. (2011) had been accurate in their study of helium, which I had hypothesized since I began my project.

Passive voice:   The surveys were distributed and the results were compiled after they were collected.   Revision:   I distributed the surveys, and then I collected and compiled the results.

Appropriate use of first person we and our :   Two other nurses and I worked together to create a qualitative survey to measure patient satisfaction. Upon completion, we presented the results to our supervisor.

Make assumptions about your readers by putting them in a group to which they may not belong by using first person plural pronouns. Inappropriate use of first person "we" and "our":

• We can stop obesity in our society by changing our lifestyles.
• We need to help our patients recover faster.

In the first sentence above, the readers would not necessarily know who "we" are, and using a phrase such as "our society " can immediately exclude readers from outside your social group. In the second sentence, the author assumes that the reader is a nurse or medical professional, which may not be the case, and the sentence expresses the opinion of the author.

To write with more precision and clarity, hallmarks of scholarly writing, revise these sentences without the use of "we" and "our."

• Moderate activity can reduce the risk of obesity (Hu et al., 2003).
• Staff members in the health care industry can help improve the recovery rate for patients (Matthews, 2013).

Pronouns Video

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What Is First-Person Point Of View? What You Should Know With Examples

What does it mean to write from the first-person point of view?

And what are the top benefits and pitfalls of a first-person narrative ? 

Think of the stories you’ve enjoyed reading.

How many of them used first-person perspective instead of third person (limited or omniscient)? 

If you’re debating whether to use first or third person (or even second) with your work in progress, we hope this post will help you decide. 

Let’s start with the obvious question: what is first-person ? 

What Is First-Person Point Of View? 

Examples of first-person point of view , benefits of writing in 1st person point of view , read the best-published examples of first-person pov. , decide on the tense you’ll use., create a detailed profile for your first-person character. , consider the benefits of an unreliable narrator. , make first-person pov evident from the beginning. , don’t italicize the first-person character’s thoughts. , share your narrator’s opinions. , go easy on the “i” filters. , vary your sentence structure. , stay true to your narrator’s voice. , stick with one first-person narrator (at a time)..

Point of view, in writing, has to do with the perspective from which you tell your story. First-person perspective is the default with nonfiction works like memoirs and other autobiographical pieces. 

You’ll know first-person point of view by the use of first-person pronouns, “I” and “we.” And when we talk about first-person in a story, we mean one of the two different types: 

• First-Person Central — where the narrator is the protagonist in the story and has an insider perspective (think Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye)
• First-Person Peripheral — where the narrator is a peripheral character and has more of an outsider perspective (think Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby )

Here are some examples of sentences written in both central and peripheral POV. 

First-Person Central

• I clearly remember the day he walked into my life, and my world changed from that moment on.
• We were confounded by her refusal even to consider our offer.
• I wish I could go back and experience that day again, as I didn’t appreciate then how exceptional it was.
• The day we discovered that little stream in the woods marked the beginning of a magical year.

First-Person Peripheral

• Eleanor told me she would never be the love of his life but always remain his dearest friend. 
• I wish I had known Michael when we were both young, before the weight of the world brought us together.
• My friendship with Sarah was never about common interests or anything like that but rather our twin souls.  
• Looking back, I see how it was inevitable that Tyler would have a meteoric rise to success and wealth.

If you’ve read any of the first-person point of view examples listed below, you know better than anyone how the use of first-person perspective drew you in and made the story more important to you. 

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood  
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

As a writer and storyteller, think about how your own experiences have formed your perspective and voice. 

Now that we’re clear on what first-person is, let’s explore the benefits of using it. Whether central or peripheral, your first-person narrator brings certain advantages over a third-person storyteller: 

• Because the narrator is in the story, their perspective draws the reader into it 
• First-person POV makes it easier for the reader to get to know the main character
• First-person POV is easier for newer fiction authors 

That last point is worth making. Authors who feel immersed in the story find it easier to draw their readers more deeply into it, too. And even with nonfiction, the first-person narrator’s personal experience lends credibility to the content they’re sharing. 

How to Write in First-Person Point of View 

Having a story to share and a preference for first-person perspective doesn’t guarantee you’ll find it easy to write or even get started. 

The following steps can help with that. 

The best place to start as a writer is to read the kinds of books you want to write. 

If you want to earn a living as a writer of sci-fi romances, for example, find and read stacks of highly-rated sci-fi romances, as well as sci-fi and romance novels of various types. 

If you’re not sure which ones use first person, download a sample and read it before buying the book.

Create a reading list and tackle it one title at a time. 

Will this story occur in the present, or is your first-person narrative telling a story from their past, relating it from memory (as if it were only yesterday)? 

The past tense works for both the central and peripheral types of first-person POV since either one could be telling the story from memory, as long as they survive. 

Present tense can make your story feel more urgent, though, because the narrator is living the moments as they share them. 

They don’t know how the story ends because, to them, it’s still unfolding. 

Interview your first-person character and build a profile based on their answers and what you picture when you think of them. Make them real enough to speak and to have opinions of their own. Put them to the test and see how they handle it. 

Give your first-person character a backstory, even if they’re not the protagonist. And decide how much of it you’ll share throughout the story. How much does the reader need to know to feel connected to (or at least interested in) the narrator’s perspective? 

One of the pitfalls of first-person POV is all-knowing characters whose omniscience robs the reader of the chance to figure things out along with the narrator. 

As with the present tense, an unreliable narrator raises the stakes and makes a satisfying outcome less of a given. There’s a chance it will all go wrong, so the reader has to keep reading to find out whether or not it will.  

Make it clear as soon as possible whose point of view you’re using and what role they play in the story.  This is one thing your reader shouldn’t have to guess. 

Think of openings like “Call me Ishmael” from Moby Dick — or the first line from David Copperfield : “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show…. ” 

Both authors make it clear from the beginning who’s speaking. 

You’re already telling the entire story from the first-person narrator’s perspective. Everything that isn’t another character’s dialogue comes from this character’s head. 

In most cases, italics are more distracting than helpful: “Icicles as long as my arm hang from the gutters over the garage. When will this winter end?”

Italics can be helpful, though, when the narrator remembers someone else’s words, which come to mind at a moment when their full meaning hits home.

The italics set the spoken words apart from present-moment thoughts and dialogue.

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Those opinions can be stronger than those of other characters, or they can be more flexible. 

As with real people, a character with strong opinions—and zero qualms about sharing them—but who can still laugh at themselves is more endearing than one with more flexible views who can’t bear to be criticized. 

That said, your narrator doesn’t have to be the most likable character in your story. 

Just because your narrator is the one telling the story doesn’t mean you have to make it extra obvious whose senses are involved in the description of the story’s setting and other characters. 

• “I saw the fog on the surface of the lake and could barely make out the hills on the opposite shoreline.” 
• Better: “The fog hovered over the surface of the lake and hid all but the shape of the hills on the opposite shoreline.” 

Reading a series of sentences starting with “I” gets old in a hurry. Mix it up by interspersing these I-sentences with less I-centric ones, as in the following example: 

“I felt the presence of someone behind me before I heard the sound of their boots on the snow-covered sidewalk. The snow fell in flakes the size of dandelion heads, and when one landed between my jacket and the back of my neck, I felt a hand sweep it away before it melted and dripped down my back. He stopped beside me and gently pulled up my hood…. “

The more familiar you are with your narrator’s unique voice, the easier it is to stay true to it throughout the story.

If the main story doesn’t do enough to help you develop the narrator’s voice, spend some time voice journaling as the narrator about anything that matters to them. 

• an opinionated rant about a movie they just watched
• a childhood memory that haunts them 
• thoughts about something related to the story

Be your narrator’s ghostwriter, and write the way they would speak. 

At the very least, each chapter should have only one character with a first-person point of view. The only way to be inside everyone’s head all at once is with third-person omniscient, which doesn’t use first-person pronouns (except in dialogue). 

Too many first-person speakers confuse the reader. They should know who is speaking as “I.” Readers tend not to finish books that confuse them. 

One voice at a time is enough for anyone to process. 

Now that you have a better handle on first-person point of view, which stories come to mind as great examples? And how will you use first-person perspective in a story of your own? 

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Point of View — First, Second, & Third Person

Point of view definition

In English, the point of view is the narrator's position or perspective through which the story is being communicated. An author's point of view tells the reader who the person is experiencing the event or the topic of the writing.

All types of writing — fiction, song lyrics, nonfiction — are written from a point of view.

First, Second, And Third Person

First, second, and third person are the three main types of point of view.

First person is the I / we perspective

Second person is the you perspective

Third person is the she / he / they / it perspective

The author chooses a point of view to relate the story as if you were experiencing it, to force you into the story, or to allow the author to show different points of view.

Point of view examples

First Person POV (You are experiencing it) – " My heart leaped into my throat as I turned and saw a frightening shadow."

Second Person POV (Force you into the story) – " You turn and see a frightening shadow."

Third Person POV (Show different points of view) – " The children turned and saw the frightening shadow. They were unaware a cat had walked close to the low-hung lantern."

How to identify point of view

Identifying  a point of view in a writer's work can sometimes be challenging. The best way to find the point of view is to skip the dialogue, go to the narration, and look at the pronouns used in the narrative:

I, me, my, mine, myself, we, our, ours, ourselves — First person

You, your, yours, yourself — Second person

She, her, hers, herself, he, him, his, himself, they, them, themselves, their, theirs — Third person

You skip the dialogue because a character in any voice can speak and will almost always speak in first person voice.

First person point of view

Usually, we speak in the first person when we talk about ourselves, our opinions, or our experiences.

Anytime a writer wants to share another person's life, you will see the first-person perspective. With a first-person view, every person reading the passage sees into the character's life.

The first-person point of view is identified by singular pronouns such as;  me, my, I, mine, and myself  or plural first person pronouns like  we, us, our, and ourselves .

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song, “In My Life” in first person:

There are places I'll remember All my life, though some have changed Some forever, not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places had their moments With lovers and friends, I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life, I've loved them all

New Yorker magazine writer and children's book author E.B. White often wrote in the first person, especially in his nonfiction essays. This excerpt is from "Goodbye to Forty-Eighth Street":

One day a couple of weeks ago,  I  sat for a while staring moodily at a plaque that had entered my life largely as a result of some company's zest for promotion.

Choose first person when you want the reader to go along for the ride with you. You direct the action, sure, but the reader  feels  it. Consider these famous first-person plural words:

We the People of the United States in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Novels from around 1900 to the present usually show this active, engaged point of view. Tasks ideal for the first person (singular or plural) include:

Autobiographies

Journals or diaries

Reading records

Song lyrics

Letters (formal or friendly)

Places to  avoid  the first person:

Academic work

Instructions

Types of first person

First person narration can take different forms:

Reliable – the writer's character speaks the truth

Unreliable – the writer's character is hiding something; they are an unreliable narrator

First-person central – the narrator is the main character and central to the plot

First-person peripheral – the narrator is a witness, but not the main character

To read a gripping first-person narrative, revisit Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" trilogy.

Second person point of view

Second person point of view is known as the “you” perspective. It is the perspective of the person or persons that the narrator is addressing. The second person perspective is identifiable by the author's use of second-person pronouns:  you, yourself, your, yours, or yourselves .

Many second-person pronouns are both singular and plural, depending on the context.

The second person point of view attempts to turn the reader into the character. It is seldom used in novels but does give an immediate jolt.

Second person point of view examples

The use of second-person perspective in novels or stories is rare, but it does exist. Consider this example from fiction, "Earth and Ashes" by Atiq Rahimi and Erdag Goknar:

With your back to the autumn sun, you are squatting against the iron railings of the bridge that links the two banks of the dry riverbed north of Pul-i-Khumri.

Second person helps to deeply immerse new readers in many children's books. The entirety of "How to Babysit a Grandpa" is written as a second-person book of instructions:

As soon as your grandpa says, “I give up,” jump out and shout, “Here I am!”

The second person point of view is perfectly natural for recipes and directions. Here is a way to make lemonade, written in the second person:

You need six lemons, six cups of cold water, and one cup of sugar.

You'll need a large pitcher for mixing everything and a juicer.

Before you juice the lemons, you can make your work easier by rolling the lemons on the counter, hard.

Then you just juice them normally.

You combine the fresh lemon juice, water, and sugar in the pitcher.

Stir; you may want to adjust sweetness or water to taste.

With instructions and directions, second person can be an “understood” point of view:

“Turn to page 178 and solve problems 6 through 10.”

The understood but unwritten subject of that sentence is “You”, the pronoun is just left out.

Never use the second person POV in academic writing.

Third person point of view

The third-person point of view belongs to the people or person the narrator is referring to. Third-person pronouns are  she, he, her, him, hers, his, herself, himself, it, its, itself, they, their, theirs,  them and  themselves .

For the writer who must tell several interwoven stories, provide psychological distance between the subject and the reader, or who needs to stay neutral, nothing beats the third-person viewpoint.

All academic writing, most advertising, many novels, and most quotations or aphorisms are written in the third person.

Third person limited

The third-person limited point of view is when the narrator only has some access to the experiences and thoughts of the characters. Many times, the third person limited perspective limits the narrators access to the thoughts and experiences of just one character.

Third person omniscient

The third-person omniscient point of view is when the narrator has access to all the experiences and thoughts of all the characters in the story. An omniscient narrator knows the main character's thoughts and those of every other character in the novel or short story.

Third person point of view examples

Here is a passage from J.K. Rowling's  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , showing the power of third person:

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself...

In fiction, third person allows a writer to put the reader into the heads of all the characters, explain important plot points, and present information in a seemingly neutral way.

Speaking In Third Person

Speaking in the third person is not typical, but people do it. It can be an excellent  comedic effect or to grab someone's attention.

Here is an example of Larry speaking in the third person:

Sheila : Hey Jake, let's watch this movie! Larry loves this movie.

Jake : Oh yes, Larry is a huge fan of this one. Let's watch it!

Larry : What!? Larry does not like this movie.

Fourth person point of view

The  fourth person point of view  is a term used for indefinite or generic referents. A common example in the English language is the word one as in “one would think that's how it works.” This example sentence is referring to a generic someone.

You may also see the fourth person point of view called the third person generic.

Choosing a point of view

We all like to write in a natural way. As a writer, you have a duty to your reader to think carefully about your point of view. Many writers rewrite their work if the point of view seems awkward.

That paragraph went from first person to second person to third person, all in just three sentences!

The first-person point of view or a first-person narrator can fool a reader into trusting the narrator when the narrator is not a reliable reporter (great for mysteries, recounted tales, and fictional confessionals).

Many great novels such as "The Great Gatsby" are written from a first-person perspective. Another classic in first person POV is Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." It is clear who is narrating with the line "Call me Ishmael."

The second person is suitable for simple, direct storytelling (for children, recipes, assembly instructions, and the like).

A third person narrator creates the most distance between events and the reader. It is almost always seen as a reliable, neutral viewpoint. With the third person, the author can select the point of view of a single character or be omniscient (all-knowing, all present) and move in and out of the minds of all the characters.

Essay – examples & model answers | B2 First (FCE)

FCE Essay Examples:  Topic (Environment) 

Example exam task:, example answer (grade: 3), example answer:.

I think that my country has problems with pollution to the environment like all other countries. This problem is normal for Russia. We have big problems with transport because there are too much cars in our country. And because of that we have problems with atmospeer, air in my city and in all Russia is really dirty and sometimes I can’t make a sigh because it smells around me and of course around that cars on the road. I’ve heard about tradition of one country. They don’t go anywhere by car one day a month or a year, they just use bycicle or their feet. I think it could be very good if we had a tradition like that.

So, what about the rivers and the seas? Yeah, there are some really good and clean rivers and seas where you can go, but there are not many of them. Once I saw the river OB in my city, it was about two years ago but I stil remember that in some places it was not blue, it was green or purple I didn’t really understand because it had different colours.

I don’t know what should we do. Maybe we should just open our eyes and look what we did. But Russian people don’t care about the world around them many people care only about themselves an that’s all.

So, the best idea is look around and try to do something good for our planet and for us and our children.

FCE, CAE, CPE

Practice, write & improve, examiners comments & grade:, example answer (grade: 3-4).

To begin with pollution and damage to the environment is the most serious and difficult problem for countries of all over the world. Scientists of different countries predict a global ecocatastrophe if people won’t change their attitude to our planet.

First of all a huge damage to the environment brings a transport. People can’t imagine their living without cars, buses, trains, ships and planes. But it’s an open secret that one of disadvantage of these accustomed things is harmful exhaust. Needless to say that use of environment friendly engines helps us to save atmosphere from pollution.

In addition to this our rivers and seas are in not less danger situation. It’s a fact of common knowledge that numerous factories and plants pour off their waste to ponds. Obviously that cleaning manufacturing water helps to avoid extinction of ocean residents.

Apart from this I’m inclined to believe that every person can and must contribute to solving this important problem. Doing a little steps for protection our environment every day we will be able to save our Earth. And it’s a task of each of us.

Model Answer (Grade: 5)

DEVELOPMENT VS ENVIRONMENT

If we surf the web looking for pollution and environmental catastrophes, we will find out that every country in the world suffers them. This is a natural consequence of the struggle between development and environment.

If a country decided to live isolated from the rest of the world, living on what it can naturally grow and produce, it surely wouldn’t be highly polluted. But we all want exotic food and technological items from all over the world, so we have to pay the price.

Investing on electrical transport would benefit the environment a lot. Even more if this electricity came from a natural source of energy like wind, rivers and solar boards. It’s difficult to achieve this because petrol companies will fight against these actions.

We also have to take care of our rivers and seas. We all have heard about factories throwing highly toxic substances to rivers, without minimizing their poisoning effects. A really strict law should be applied to fine these factories and make them change their policy.

But what about ourselves? We also can do a lot! If, when possible, we bought larger packs of food, we would be producing less rubbish. And this is only an example!

FCE Essay Examples: Topic (Fashion) 

In today’s world, the fashion industry has a strong importance in people’s lives. The fashion industry say to the society what to wear and creates new types of clothes all the time.

Some people claim that the fashion industry has a bad effect on people’s lives, they say that the fashion industry creates clothes that the society has to wear. Furthermore, the clothes’ price is extremely high and people, who can’t afford it, should not be in the society.

In the other hand, the fashion industry guide the people to be in a good appearance, because, nowadays, the appearance of the person is more important than the person itself.

In my opinion, the fashion industry doesn’t has a bad influence on people’s lives. It’s something which was created to help people what to wear.

Example Answer (Grade: 4)

Fashion industry is very a discussed subject nowadays: they create and design new clothes everyday in order to satisfy some people needs.

There are many people who claim that the fashion industry is important and good for society. According to them, this industry design beautiful clothes and thanks to that every person can wear shirts, trousers or any acessory which is on today’s fashion.

On the other hand, the fashion industry in some people opinion, controls the market of clothes and because of that they can’t wear what they want to. In addition, the industry can increase the price of clothes, forcing people who don’t want to be “oldfashioned” to buy and pay a large amount of money to keep “beautiful”.

In my opinion, we can’t let the fashion industry decide what we must or musn’t wear. We shouldn’t judge people for its appearance,because that is not important. We must wear whatever we like, want and feel confortable with.

The society we live today is characterised by technology in constant development, fast speed processes, information travelling and getting to people at a blink of an eye and a complex web of social networking. In this context, the fashion industry is becoming increasingly important and having a more and more paramount role in our lives.

On one hand, the fashion industry is undeniably a source of profit and income. It hires millions of people all over the world and generates millions of dollars every year. Furthermore, such profitable business is also believed to be able to spread and make known the culture of a people, encouraging and enhancing a better understanding of each other.

Nevertheless, for those who are neither impressed nor motivated by numbers and figures, the fashion industry is seen as one which segregates people, isolating those who not fit their laws and commands. It is stated that people place too much importance on appearance and the material, world, sadly true, and the fashion industry just spurs on such situation. Moreover, not only are the costs of fashion item unrealistically high, it is thought to be a money better spent on more pressing issues, such as poverty and hunger.

I do believe that the fashion industry, as it is today, has a harmful effect, because it values a minority of people in detriment to the majority. However, it has such a wide reach that, it put into a good use, it can save lives.

FCE Essay Examples: Topic (Languages) 

“There are more reasons to learn a foreign language than to pass a test”

Everything around us revolves around language(s), it is the most important thing in our lives. Society would just not function without it. They are It is our future and I would personaly love to learn as many as I possibly can.

Not everything in life is done because it is necessary. Learning a new language can be a lot of fun. Many people only do it as a hoby, or their knowledge is something that brings them pride and pleasure.

Secondly, we have people who do it simply to challenge themselves. Truly I believe that having a great outcome that stems from your hard work and dedication to learn something new is a wonderful way to challenge prove your ability to yourself and others. Then there is travelling. It is very important to be able to understand and have a conversation with someone abroad, unless you would like to get lost or worse.

To conclude, I think that learning a new language is an amazing thing no matter why you do it. It is always better to do things out of enjoyment, but even if you do it for a test, that knowledge will always be useful.

Learning a a foreign languages is very important nowadays. English, in particular, is essential because it allows is spoken all over the world. That’s the reason why we start studying it from the age of six years old. Going abroad and being able to speak to native people is very satisfying and that’s why I want to improve my knowledge about foreign languages.

I decided to take this exam to know how high my level of English is, but also because I need this certification to go abroad next summer. I really want to come back to Cornwall, an amazing region in the South-West of England. I’ve been there twice with my family, but now I want to go alone. Only being there to England I can really improve my English comprehension and speaking skills.

Fortunately I can will have some English lessons which taught in English at university and I can’t wait for it because it will be an interesting challenge for me. Studying foreign languages is essential to live and to travel. It isn’t simple and I surely have to challenge myself everyday, but the result is so satisfying that we I can’t do without it.

FCE Essay Example: Topic (History) 

A very common topic that is being discussed nowadays is wether schools should teach subjects that some may consider useless later in life. A clear example is history, since it is quite difficult to learn and does not help us in day-to-day activities.

However, many people do not realize the importance of it or that it affects our lives today. For example, our political system would not be this way if it weren’t for the Ancient Greeks, numerous politicians and wars who helped shape democracy and our constitution. Yet it is still thought that it’s useless.

In addition, it is very important that we never forget about our past since we must know where we were standing years ago. Moreover, there are some things, such as World War II, that we have to remember to prevent them from happening again. We should also know where we we were standing a century ago: our origins, our identity. The more you learn about your ethnicity, the better.

All in all, I think that it is extremely important to learn about one’s own country’s history. Anyone who gets the chance to do this should not waste it, since they are very fortunate to have this opportunity

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