11 December, 2011

Whose Point of View?

Third person Point of View (POV) has advantages over first person - it is less claustrophobic and more flexible.  And we also have additional choices:

  • Do we show the story through the eyes of several characters or just one?  
  • Or should we even use a character's perspective at all - so-called omniscient third person, where there is an all-seeing neutral narrator?
  • How much narrative distance do we use? In other words, how deeply to penetrate the viewpoint character's mind. 
There are pros and cons to the above choices.  

In omniscient third person, the narrator can appear to float over the story landscape, moving from place to place at will.  The reader can be shown any character's thoughts, dreams or memories.  The omniscient narrator can be like a separate prescence in the story - he may occasionally offer comments on what is taking place. 

Omniscient third person was commonly used in the nineteenth century - think Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, but is much less common today. It has the disadvantage of creating a gulf between the reader and the characters, and this results in less emotional involvment.  It can still work well for humourous novels or long sagas.

If, on the other hand, we decide to write the story from the POV of one or more characters, and we choose close third person POV, the result is very similar to first person.  We experience scenes as if we see them through the viewpoint characters eyes.  Their choice of words and phrases give the reader information about their personality, mood and attitudes.  

At the opposite end of the narrative distance spectrum is when the character is viewed from the outside with neutral narration.  It is less emotional and more formal, but can be useful for unlikeable viewpoint characters who readers won't want to closely identify with.

In reality, narrative distance is a continuum, and many novels are written from so-called middle distance.  This is the most flexible position as the writer can move in closer (into the character's head) or back off into a neutral distant position.  Middle distance is often useful for multiple POV novels.  

 A key decision is the viewpoint character for the climax as this will have a major impact on the story.

Choose your POV carefully




 







1 comment:

  1. Choice of POV makes a huge difference to a story, I agree.

    ReplyDelete