Podcast: What is point of view in a story?

What is point of view in a story

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Heighten tension with consistent point of view

Heighten tension with consistent point of view copy

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an era where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.


"When one is writing a novel in the first person, one must be that person." - Daphne du Maurier

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Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.


9 Tips for Choosing and Using the Right Point of View

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Most popular point of view types in stories
Select your viewpoint character with care
Streamline writing by cutting perception fallacy
Avoid shifting point of view in your story
Create intimacy with narrator via first-person 
When to use first-person minor in stories
Types of third-person point of views 
Use third–person limited for greater clarity
Rotate third-person limited to avoid issues
• BONUS: "Writing stories is like making love." - June Gillam

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



First-person point of view

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Elements of Fiction

How to Write a Bestselling Novel:
In
7 Minutes a Day to Your Bestseller, writers receive expert advice on topics like motivating yourself to write, starting your story with exciting opening lines, creating intriguing characters, mastering the craft of writing to elevate your style, and pitching your story to potential publishers.


Use third-person objective for neutral narration

A popular Miniature-figures-2922959_1920third-person point of view in fiction is third-person objective. This occurs when a narrator outside of the story tells what occurs without giving the characters’ internal thoughts, opinions or feelings.

Consider the following passage, written in third-person objective:

The valley below them stretched deep and black. On the ridge above was only scrub and rock with a stout, teetering stone wall at the edge. The sun rising behind the ridge had just begun to warm the wall and lift the shadows from the valley. The Californian and the girl with him sat on the wall where it remained upright, where rain and wind had yet to erode the granite at the ridge’s edge. In a half-hour, light would fully wash the dark from the valley, allowing the small river running through it to be seen.

“Want a cigarette?” the girl asked. She opened her macrame satchel that sat between them.

The Californian fished a lighter from his pocket. “Sure.”


Notice how the passage utilizes an uninvolved narrator who is unnecessary to the progression of the plot. The narrator is not a character in the story and merely tells what happened. The narrator’s viewpoint is that of a camera on a wall relaying pictures of the scene.

Because of this, the narrator only states the observable actions and dialogue but not what is going on inside the characters’ minds. We have no idea what the characters are thinking as they watch the shadow rise over the valley or what they feel about one another. Their internal thoughts and emotions are only inferred or spoken aloud.

The advantage of third-person objective is that the dehumanized narrator delivers an unbiased, neutral telling of the story. This “just the facts, ma’am” approach allows readers to make their own decisions about the ethics of the characters’ behavior without the taint of the narrator’s emotions, The disadvantage is that an emotional distance exists between the reader and the story’s characters. This can prevent readers from identifying with and liking characters.

An excellent example of third-person objective in literature is Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants.”

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



4 Tips on Using Third-Person Point of View

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Use third–person limited for greater clarity
Rotate third-person limited to avoid issues
Types of third-person point of views 
Select your viewpoint character with care

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



11 Tips to Choosing the Right Point of View

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What is point of view in a story? 
Heighten tension with consistent point of view 
Most popular point of view types in stories 
Create intimacy with narrator via first-person 
When to use first-person minor in stories
Use third–person limited for greater clarity
Rotate third-person limited to avoid issues
Types of third-person point of views 
Select your viewpoint character with care 
Avoid shifting point of view in your story 
Streamline writing by cutting perception fallacy

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



When to use first-person minor in stories

Among the Hand-1701969_1920 lesser used yet most powerful of point of views is first-person minor. This point of view occurs when the narrator is in the story but is not the protagonist. It can be identified by the use of I/me. It sometimes is referred to as first-person peripheral.

Several famous novels and stories have been told in first-person minor. Perhaps among the most famous of them are Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

First-person minor ought to be used whenever the author wants to:
• Provide a clear perspective about what has occurred because the protagonist is incapable of doing so. This usually is the case when the protagonist doesn’t grow or develop over the course of the story, though the narrator does or the reader will.
• Hide what’s going on inside the character’s head. This usually is done to keep some secret about him or to create an aura of coolness.
• Utilize a protagonist that is difficult for readers to relate to. This would be the case with an extremely alien character in a science fiction story.
• Kill the protagonist at the end of the story. Because of this, the main character can’t narrate what occurred as he’s dead, unless the story is written in present tense.

Of course, there are many instances when the author wouldn’t want to use first-person minor:
• When the protagonist grows and develops, getting inside his heads allows the reader to join him on that journey.
• If an intimate experience with the protagonist is required of the reader, then a minor viewpoint diminishes it. This is particularly true when the main character bucks society’s cherished values; intimacy can help the reader better understand why he takes that position and the resulting decisions he makes.
• Should the story be theme-oriented, then experiencing the world through the protagonist could help drive home that message. This sometimes is done in science fiction and fantasy tales.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.