CREATIVE PROCESS — VIEWPOINT
Just a Point of View?
YOU, ME, OR THEM …
So, you, me, or I? His, hers, or theirs? Thee, thy or thine?
Forsooth! Along with character, dialogue, and plot, viewpoint is a key component of fiction.
Let’s elaborate.
Viewpoint represents the eyes, ears, voice, and perspective of the storyteller.
So, is our main player a reliable narrator? Or are they just happy-go-lucky kind of folk? Are they pretty grounded or are they in some way unstable? Does our narrator have any underlying bias?
This can be revealed through the thoughts and actions of our point of view character … and the responses of those around them.
Concerned about which point of view will work best for your story? There’s an exercise you can try at the end of this article to help you decide!
TECHNIQUE
Using a story narrator (‘once upon a time’) keeps your reader at a distance. The narrator tells the story, but the narrator is observing rather than being involved.
THIRD PERSON
- A third-person narrator uses the pronouns, he, she, him, her, or they.
- A third-person narrator uses the author’s voice to put us inside the head of one character.
- A third-person omniscient (all-knowing, God’s eye) narrator knows the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of all characters.
- A third-person omniscient narrator can move between all characters and scenarios.
☆ Examples of Third Person narration include:
The Girl with All the Gifts — M R Carey
Persuasion — Jane Austen
Good Omens — Neil Gaiman / Terry Pratchett
Interview With the Vampire — Anne Rice
FIRST PERSON
- With First Person Narration we’re up close and personal with the main player, using the pronouns I and Me.
- First Person Narration is told in the style and voice of the main player (not the author).
- A First-Person Narrator can only know and react to what goes on immediately around them.
- First Person Narration does not allow the reader access to the thoughts of other characters or what happens when those characters ‘leave the room’.
- We only learn the name of our character when someone else addresses them, or, if our character is internalising, with thoughts such as ‘Come on, Alex, pull yourself together.’
☆ Examples of First Person narration include:
The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath
The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
A Farewell to Arms — Ernest Hemingway
SECOND PERSON
This viewpoint is a bit of a rarity but is gaining ground! It’s basically, you, you, and your! ‘You walk up the stairs. As you reach the top, a strange light blinds you. You raise your hands to cover your face …’ and so on. It creates quite an immersive experience but can be a little intense. We’re used to it in song lyrics but not so much in fiction. However, this hasn’t stopped authors from experimenting.
☆ Examples include:
Open Water — Caleb Azumah Nelson
Challenger Deep — Neal Shusterman
Interior Chinatown — Charles Yu
MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS
We can use multiple viewpoints to great effect — it can be fascinating to see the same situation from various sides. However, if you’re going to use several viewpoints, for your reader’s sake, stick to one viewpoint per scene!
Some authors will experiment by using one viewpoint per chapter.
This can take the form of a different character’s viewpoint over different chapters …. so for instance, we may use Alex’s viewpoint in one chapter and Susan’s viewpoint in another.
We can have differing use of viewpoints. One chapter may use third-person, another second, or another using first-person.
Using multiple viewpoints allows the reader to get unique perspectives on multiple characters. On the downside, mixing with viewpoints can become convoluted! If you choose to do so, bear in mind your reader’s experience and make sure it’s for a very good reason.
☆ Examples include:
Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice & Fire) — George R R Martin
One of Us Is Lying — Karen M McManus
AND SO …
As writers, we can keep the reader at arm’s length or engage the reader’s emotions through the manipulation of various viewpoints.
- A first-person narrator (I, me) is the main player. We see events only through their eyes.
- A second-person narrator (you, your) is the one that’s least used but it is possible to tell a story using this stance.
- Third Person Narration (he, she, they) isn’t a character in the story, but the voice telling the story.
- An omniscient narrator has knowledge of all characters and their intentions, ‘in and outside of the room’.
Authors such as John Fowles have taken things a step further and literally inserted themselves into their own stories. At the conclusion of The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Fowles appears with a stopwatch to turn events back fifteen minutes!
Some genres are known to lend themselves to certain viewpoints. Young Adult fiction tends to come in First Person, the ‘I and me’ viewpoint. Thrillers, crime, and romance are usually written in Third Person. Sci-Fi, Dystopian, and fantasy fiction may experiment with narrative devices .
When it comes to our own fiction, we can usually follow our instincts in choosing the viewpoint that best serves our story.
EXERCISE
If instincts aren’t enough, we can experiment!
📚 Write an opening paragraph to a story using one of the viewpoints from above.
📚 Rewrite it choosing a different viewpoint. If you’ve plenty of time on your hands, you can try another one!
📚 Allow your work (and you!) to rest for a few hours (if not a few days) and then come back to review.
📚 List some pros and cons.
📚 Which version works best and why?
📚 How well are character and story served in each version?
📚 Which version makes you want to read more and why?
RESULTS?
You’ve conducted your trials and have your outcome. Which viewpoint worked best for thee?
Happy writing! ★｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
© 2023 Susi Moore. All Rights Reserved.
For more on the elements of fiction …
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