Points of View - Lynn Tincher

Points of View - by Lynn Tincher
www.lynntincher.com

Determining your point of view in writing is a crucial element in the way your story is told. There are three basic points of view: First Person, Second Person and Third Person.

The first person point of view means the story is told from the "I" perspective. This can bring your readers on a personal level with the narrator. Readers are experiencing things through the eyes of the main character.

The second person point of view means that the story is told from the "you" perspective. This is OK in small doses in your writing unless you've mastered storytelling in this manner.

The third person point of view consists of several perspectives. The third person limited means that the story is told through the main character's eyes in past tense. Experiences are told through the main character's eyes without any shifts to other characters. The third person subjective multiple viewpoint means that the story can be told in multiple viewpoints from multiple characters. The Third Person Mixed Omniscient point of view means the author takes a high level view of the characters and the story. The story is not told through any character's eyes but through a narrator.

There is no rule saying that stories have to be written in any one point of view or that they cannot be written from mixed perspectives. Make sure that you keep your target audience in mind as well as your goals when selecting a point of view to write from.

Copyright 2009 Lynn Tincher