PoV Part I: Guest Blogger Terri Main

I've recently seen Reedley College instructor and author Terri Main write great PoV tips, and invited her to share them here. Enjoy!--f

Three people go to the symphony on a Saturday night. The first is a music critic who sits at the precise place in the balcony where the acoustics is perfect. The second is the mother of the piano soloist sitting on the front row. The third is the conductor of the orchestra. Each of these experiences the same performance, but if they wrote about it, the stories would vary widely. Each had a different perspective. In writing we call this "Point of View."

The ideas and terminology surrounding the discussion of point of view confuse many beginning writers. They hear terms like "deep third person," "head hopping," "omniscient point of view," and wonder what all these terms mean.

Unfortunately, even good solid writers don't always use the right terminology or at least the accepted literary criticism terminology. And many subdivide (appropriately) certain types of point of view, but give them names in their own teaching which do not exist in the taxonomy of literary scholarship, but get picked up and propagated through the internet as if it was an accepted term. For instance, "deep third person" is simply Third Person Subjective. However, in practice the teaching on this is using TPS in such a way as to emphasize thoughts and feelings a bit more than actions. But that's not point of view. That's writing technique.

Think about point of view as where the reader stands relative to the main characters. Like those at the symphony, each point of view tells a different story. Here are seven common types of points of view.

First Person - Main Character: The reader is inside the main character as he or she narrates the story.

First Person - Oblique. The reader is inside a minor character who narrates the story.

Third Person - Limited – Objective. The reader walks with the main character while an anonymous narrator narrates the story. The reader is not privy to this character's thoughts. This is like a TV camera following the main character around. The reader only learns of the emotions, opinions, attitudes or thoughts through dialog, facial expressions or actions. For instance, you would not say, "George saw snakes on the ground and recoiled inside. George hated snakes." You would say, "George saw the snakes. Beads of sweat popped out on his brow. He took a step back and muttered, 'I hate snakes.'"

Third Person - Limited - Subjective (AKA Third Person Subjective and Deep Third Person) The reader stands beside the main character while an anonymous narrator tells the story. The reader is privy to the main characters thoughts, feelings, opinions and attitudes. However, the reader does not have this insight into any other character.

Third Person - General - Omniscient. The reader stands on Mt. Olympus looking down at the action, but able to descend into any individual to know their thoughts, feelings and attitudes. Very difficult to handle well. When handled poorly, this is called "head hopping."

Third Person - General - Objective. The reader stands on Mt. Olympus looking down at the action, but stays there. She or he knows nothing about anyone's thoughts, memories, attitudes, emotions or history unless expressed through dialog or action. Both third person general points of view have fallen out of favor with editors in our time. They are also both very hard for an inexperienced writer to handle well.

Multiple Points of View. Usually found in novels, the point of view changes with the scene or chapter. However, in most cases only the character changes and not the point of view itself. In other words, Chapter 1 may be Third Person Subjective with John as the point of view character. Chapter 2 might be TPS with Mary as the point of view character. Only rarely do you find Chapter 1 with First Person main character focused on John and then Chapter 2 being omniscient and Chapter 3 being Third Person Subjective with Mary as the point of view characters. In using multiple points of view, be sure you have a clear shift of scene before shifting your point of view.

Now, I added the detail of limited and general which not all scholars would add. I added them here for clarity. However, this is not a list for you to learn the terms, but to learn the ideas. As said before different people will use different terms for the same thing. The terminology is less important than the concepts and their application. Tomorrow, we'll talk about application.


By Terri Main
Author of Creative Calisthenics: Workout for the Writer's Imagination. Hints and tips at CreativeCalisthenics.com ( http://www.creativecalisthenics.com )
Science Fiction with a Difference: WayfarersJournal.com
Study the Bible at Bible Study Central http://www.biblestudycentral.net/