| Creative Writing Helps --Point Of View-- By Carolyn Miller |
| When a person wishes to write a story, one of the first things he must do is choose how he wants the narrative voice to sound. In a story, the author is not the one who tells it, but the voice that has been created. The writer can decide which choice will best make his story come alive and stamp an impression on the reader. These choices, called point of view, are really not hard to understand or recognize. They are person, number, and tense. The point of view, person, is divided into three choices: First Person, Second Person, and Third Person. The First Person is when the narrative voice refers to itself, as I. An example would be: "Will we move away from here?" I ask, the thought of leaving disturbing me. (Taken from "I am Regina") The Second Person is more of a rare one that the others. This one refers to the reader as you, thereby putting the reader in the story. An example of this is: "You are walking down the street on a wet and cold night, when you suddenly hear a low growl behind you." The Third Person, most commonly used, is when the narrative voice refers to the other characters. For instance, "Ye got no call to be afeared," he said roughly. "I ain't aimin' to hurt ye none." (Taken from "Across Five Aprils") The next point of view, tense, is also divided into three parts: past, present, and future. The following are examples for each of these starting with past. She saw the expression on his face, but ignored it. Present: "Perhaps you would be surprised to hear, Dr. Carter, that Mr. Taylor went deaf very suddenly last week?" Anne sat back, having thrown her bomb. (Taken from "Anne of Windy Poplars") And last of all, "I will never blot out his name from the book of life…" The last point of view is Number. Number is either singular or plural. There is one of each for First Person and Third Person. Singular First Person would be the narrator referring to himself, and is not part of a group, as in: "I watched the thunderstorm." Plural First Person is when the narrative voice constantly refers to itself as part of the group. We watched the thunderstorm. Third Person Singular is when the narrative voice is observing one individual character. An example is He glared at his captor with intense hate. Or She watched her kitten play with the mouse. Third Person plural refers to a group of two or more people, as in, They watched the barn go up in flames. Or strange things always seemed to happen to them. Perhaps now the choices of point of view are more clear and recognizable; this is my deepest hope. The three elements are what an author has to create a narrative voice for his story. Using just these three, authors have been able to create thousands of interesting stories. And thousands more are still out there to be created! |
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