Arsenic Syringes

[tutorial]
Points of View
by: Arsenic Syringes



Points of view can be an extremely fundamental part of a story, no matter what kind. It can serve to get the reader inside your characters’ heads, describe a scene, or wage a battle never to be forgotten. I’ve seen writers who can carry a POV so well that I actually felt their character’s pain. Trying different points of view can often be the key to achieving the highest of writing standards. Many people don’t put very much emphasis on this, and I’m sad to say that it should be revered much more. I have written this tutorial to get all of the writers in this forum more involved in developing the art of points of view. It all comes from my personal knowledge and experience (what little I have) and I hope to pass it on to you. Err, not that I’m some hotshot writer or anything. -_-




[Main Points of View]





[Third Person]





Perhaps the most widely used perspective, third person view allow you to travel along with the character, as if you are watching a movie. This POV allow many things to occur, such as switching from character to characters. It allows a broad range of outlook, setting your reader into a world and letting them decide most of the details on their own. That’s what’s prime about a lot of books in this POV - readers like detail, but also like to imagine things on their own. Then, they can imagine what a character looks like, and crack up as they later find the image to be horribly off.

A third person point of view can be written as follows:

Draped in his long trenchcoat, the man looked ever so formidable, shadowed by the darkness and enveloped in black. However, Jack stood his ground, never wishing to shame his reputation of valor. He laughed, saying, “It took you a tad long to respond to the invitation, hm?”

However, no form of writing comes without drawback. Sometimes, when you choose third person, you create so many characters that you loose track of who does what. This is a classic killer of novels, one that almost cannot be tamed. You really need to practice to avoid this from happening. Also, you can develop the dreaded passive voice. Of course, sensory words are always a plus, but it is always possible to overuse them. Believe me, I’ve done it myself. But despite the setbacks, this is an excellent form of writing to use, especially for beginners. I highly recommend third person for any first time writers, or if you would like your story to be more detailed than it would be in another voice.





[First Person]



This is a voice that I find widely used in school writing. I find that people like to use this one when they don’t want to write with too much heavy detail. Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean that detail is lost in first person - it is simply shrouded, buried under other things.

First person comes from the main character’s viewpoint. You get to see the character’s very essence; their thoughts, inner conflicts, deep secrets, and vivid pains. It is as if the character has written an autobiography. First person is generally done in past tense, but is one of the only POVs that can also work in present tense. If you want your story to touch he hearts of the readers, send a chill up their spine, or send a tear down their face, then this is probably the right point of view for you to choose.

A first person point of view can be written as follows:

Draped in his long trench coat, the man looked ever so formidable, shadowed by the darkness and enveloped in black. However, I, Jack, stood my ground, never wishing to shame my reputation of valor. I laughed, saying, “It took you a tad long to respond to the invitation, hm?”

As you see, in first person view you can get a real feel for your character. They tend to be more developed than those done in any other view, and you can tell that the author has fun with them. However, in this view, not much of the future can be revealed, therefore totally deleting foreshadowing. You and your reader can only know what your character knows, and it is very easy to say that the main character will not die. And, you can’t switch between characters. But a lot can be done to distort the story in this POV - a writer named Agatha Christie did a book where the main character, in first person, tuned out to be the killer! And, to top it all off, it’s very had to fall into passive voice in this view, as, unless there’s nothing to really write about, the conflicts of the story will most likely be going through your character’s head, and onto your paper. …Although, if you do manage to have nothing for your character to think about, you should do a massive time move (usually hinted by the triple asterisk or a new chapter) and present the next conflict. It is this compiling of conflict-on-top-of-conflict that creates discord for your character, therefore triggering a reaction, and voila: you’ve got yourself some great character and story building!




[Other Points of View]





[Second Person]


Ahh, this brings back some memories. Second view is the ever-so infamous view that those “Choose Your Own Adventure” are written in. This view usually turns off readers at the start, so unless you’re seeking a writing career in Choose Your Own Adventure books, I highly advise that you don’t use this view. I’ve never seen a published book that was any good using second person. But if you happen to be a phenomenal writer, and think you’re ready for a challenge, by all means, try it! Who knows - you may own the first person to ever have a second person book on the New Your Times Best Seller list. ^^

A second person point of view can be written as follows:

Draped in his long trench coat, the man looked ever so formidable, shadowed by darkness and enveloped in black. However, you stand your ground, never wishing to shame your reputation of valor. You laugh, saying, “It took you a tad long to respond to the invitation, hm?”

As you can see, second person is often accompanied by a present tense, and a “Turn to page 53” at the bottom. This does not allow any kind of character switching…hell, a lot of times the main character doesn’t even have a name. Usually, if you give a book written in second person to an editor without it being a Choose Your Own Adventure, it will get spat right back in your face.



[Omniescent]


Omniscient POV is like Othello - it takes a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master. Omniscient usually is not done alone, as not a lot of people even know how to do it. In an omniscient view, your character knows everything, sees everything, and can do nearly everything. Sprinkles of omniscient are usually added when writing in third person - this is evident when you switch from character to character, or someone’s thoughts are conveyed on the page. Usually, quotations marks are not entirely necessary. This manifests in the book “The House On Mango Street,” in which is clearly first person, but does not use any quotation marks and little punctuation. It is an extremely hard skill to master, and I advise that you research on this point of view before deciding to do a whole story in it.

An omniscient point of view can be written as follows:

Well, here he comes, he thought to himself as he saw a silhouetted figure cross over the dark horizon. Draped in his long trench coat, the man looked ever so formidable, shadowed by darkness and enveloped in black.

The man saw Jake before he saw him, yet he said nothing. It's best just to let him think what he wants about me for now, the man concluded.

However, Jake stood his ground, never wishing to shame his reputation of valor. He laughed, saying, It took you a tad long to respond to the invitation, hm?

A I said before, just dabble with omniscient before you decide to do some hard writing in it.



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[Conclusion]



I really hope that this article can help you in your writing adventure. Finding a voice can be a vital part in literature, and without it, books would just be a jumble of assorted words. If you have any questins, comments, or concerns, feel free to drop me a PM. I am always open and ready for discussions of any kind, and I can assure you that your PM will not be ignored.

Vixen

Another major drawback to the first person is that you can't really kill of your narrator. Yes, you can trap them in a situation where they will die, but that cuts out the fun of a funeral. If anyone knows how to kill of the first poerson narrator without leaving a clifhanger ending, let me know...

and thanks for the basic tutorial, these are always fun to read...

Wyndham

I would just suggest one clarification. Omniscient isn't really a person. Technically there is first, second, and third person. Then third person POV can be limited or omniscient.

In fact, quite a lot of what we read is in the third person limited POV as opposed to the omniscient observer. In the third person limited you would be telling the story from outside of the main character's mind, however, everything is still seen from the limited point of view of the main character or a few others. So, for example, as the writer you can say what Joe, the main character is thinking about Judy, but not what Judy is thinking about Joe. You'd have to express Judy's thoughts in more subtle ways, say through her dialogue.

The benefit of this over the first person is that it allows you to tell more about the main character, especially thoughts and physical characteristics. It also gives you more flexibility with language and descriptions. For example, if you are writing about Joe the truck driver you wouldn't necessarily be limited to his vocabulary as you would if he were actually telling the story from the third person.

The benefit over the omniscient observer is that it puts more structure into your story. It makes you decide whose story it is. I also think that it is something a new writer should try to master before moving to omniscient. While it seems easier to write as an omniscient observer, in reality, only the most experienced and accomplished writers do it well. New writers often throw in far too many points of view and rely on them to tell us things that a good writer should be able to bring out in more subtle ways.

Also tense comes into it. For example, first person, present tense would be, "I go to the store to buy milk." First person past tense would be "I went to the store to buy milk." Of course you can use present or past tense with any person.

That should confuse the issue sufficiently!

Tori

I have a queston about tense actually. In the paragraph below I use past tense and then I think I switch incorrectly to present tense. gah!

After the service the McKnight residence on Malcolm Street did not become any less relieved of the constant tension that plagued its residents. Susan complained of headaches brought on by Kat’s sudden need to question her. Fortune took to walking the grounds and looking at the gardens his wife has spent years pruning and planting.

Can a writer switch from past to present tense in the middle of a paragraph? Is this a major, major error (as I think it is)?

By the way, thank you for your article...I need all the help I can get

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xayaxos

The only way I can think of killing the main character is a switch to 3rd person beforehand ... think of the way the movie Forest Gump went from first person flashback as he was telling his story while sitting at the bus stop to third-person current events when he finished the story and found out he didn't need to catch a bus. Or the way Brad Pitt's character tells the story in a kind of psuedo-omniscient-first-person-POV in Interview with a Vampire and then switching to third-person at the end.

Of course, that approach requires a narrator to be telling the story to somebody in "current time". Both of the above movies also use the technique of cutting back to "present" time to re-establish that the narrator exists in another frame of reference, even though most of the movie is related as first-person.

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xayaxos

As far as I can tell, the only problem is with the word "has" ... it should be "had". The rest is fine, suggesting habitual rather than single action.

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Wyndham

Oops! I just caught a mistake in my last looong post. That should read "you wouldn't be limited to his vocabulary as you would if he were telling the story from the first (not third) person.