What is Point of View in a Story?

Every story has an angle or perspective from which it is told. This perspective is called point of view.

Notice how the following passage is from an outsider’s perspective, as if the narrator were looking down upon the action from a viewpoint that is able to see all:

Even before the sun rose, Evod and Nevar prepared themselves for the race. Silently, they inventoried supplies, examined their craft’s hull and unpacked Nevar’s ceremonial suit. Evod inspected each items with a drill instructor’s eye, discovering problems that really weren’t.

Here’s the same passage, this time told from Nevar’s perspective. We “hear” what he is thinking and only through his eyes know what Evod is doing:

Nevar turned over the food pack in his hands in the pre-dawn light. Silently he examined the craft’s hull and then unpacked his ceremonial suit. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Evod staring at the control panel, fretting again about a problem that really wasn’t.

Selecting the best point of view is important because each perspective dramatically changes the reader’s understanding of what is occurring. Often novice writers select a point of view because they like its “sound” or because it allows them to write a passage in a way that another point of view wouldn’t allow. What should be most important, however, is for the author to determine what he wants the reader to get from the story then choose a point of view best serving that goal. After all, which point of view an author uses determines what aspects of a story will be left out and deeply affects how the reader relates to the main character.

Writing advice books typically recommend that you tell your story from the viewpoint of the character who has the most at stake, and as a general rule, it is a good guideline to follow. But point of view selection is a more sophisticated process than simply writing the story’s perspective from that of the protagonist. Sometimes the main character’s viewpoint is not suitable for revealing the story’s theme.

Even if you’re consistent with your point of view, should you select the wrong perspective from which to tell the story, you run the risk of writing a story that reeks of:
• Mannerisms – The author’s persona shouldn’t become more important than the story’s events itself. Often flamboyant diction occurs.
• Frigidity – Excessive objectivity can trivialize the story’s events.
• Sentimentality – This occurs when trying to evoke an emotional response that the story’s events cannot evoke by themselves.

For beginning writers, point of view perhaps is the most difficult element to master. Scenes often are envisioned in different points of view and so are knitted together. These individual scenes may be the best options for what the author wishes to achieve, but when connected to the rest of the story, they cause the story to lose unity of effect.

When writing, follow these point of view guidelines:
• Use one point of view per story. Jumping around is confusing.
• Usually the point of view in a scene is that of the story’s main character.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out my writing guidebooks about point of view: