Narrative Point of View

First Person POV The story is told in ‘I’ or ‘we’. It is an intimate POV that makes the reader feel like they are the character’s best friend and are able to experience the characters private, thoughts and feelings. It is particularly attractive to young readers who get to live in the character’s mind. It has the lure of gossip. The story is told completely from the narrator’s point of view and anything he is not able to see, touch, smell, taste or hear can only be introduced courtesy of conversations with other characters. This can restrict the author’s ability to move the story. Also if the character has a particular gender it may restrict the kind of readers who will enjoy it because they may not be able to identify with them.

Second Person POV The story is told in ‘you’ form. The reader feels as if the narrator is speaking directly to them or that the story is happening to them. Very few fiction writers use this POV because of its jarring effect.

Third Person POV It uses ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’. There are many options available for choosing the view point character because you can choose to follow only one character or you can switch the view point character any time. Most fiction is written in third person and therefore it feels natural to the reader. It is much easier to get into action when using third person POV.

Omniscient POV The difference between the omniscient POV and the other POVs is that in this case the story isn’t told through the eyes of someone but rather from up above. Like the third person POV he/she is used. It gives the writer a chance to explore the setting without being restricted by how the characters see it.  Fairytales have long been written in this style. The narrator may take time to delve into the feelings of the characters but like a person who is just observing them thus allowing objectivity.