Presented by Jeanne “Genie” Mifflin Writer’s Clue for POV

First Person

Second Person

• Omniscient• Objective• Limited• Shifting Perspective

Third Person

Who Done It?

The Focus is on the Central Character

It’s Easy to Establish Conflict

Quickly

Events Happen Directly to the

Main Character

The Narrator and Reader are both Experiencing the

Story

It’s Easy to Create a Tone/Voice for the Story because it’s

Just One Character

Clever

First Person

The Reader Can Only Experience the Story from Your Character’s

Point of View

It can be Difficult to Create Enough Distance

Between Your Own Character and the One

You’ve Created

You May be so Familiar with Certain Scenes and Situations that You Fail to Describe them for

your Reader

We may want the Character (Our Own

Self?) to Look Good in the Story

Shady

The Main Character says “You” as if they

are Talking to Someone Else (Even through He is Talking to Himself)

Clever Shady

Second Person

You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.

—Opening lines of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City (1984)

The Main Character says “You” as if they

are Talking to Someone Else (Even through He is Talking to Himself)

Writer Refers to the Characters by Name

Writer can use the Pronouns “He” or “She”

Characters and Situations are Presented as a Narrator Who can also Move Inside

each Character’s Head

Clever

Third Person

Four Types

The Story Voice Knows Everything and Can be Everywhere

Omniscient

Video Camera – The Story Voice Observes Events

and Describes DetailsObjective

Story can Enter the Mind of Only One Character at a Time

and uses the pronouns “He” and “She”Limited

Story Uses Limited Perspective but Shifts from Character to

Character in each new chapter.Shifting

Perspective

The Story Voice Knows Everything

and Can be Everywhere

Clever Shady

Focus Constantly Changing from a Godlike

Overview to Up Close and Personal so can be

Difficult to Follow

Third Person Omniscient

“Good evening, Alyona Ivanovna,” he began, trying to speak

easily, but his voice would not obey him, it broke and shook.

“I have come…I have brought something…but we’d better

come in…to the light.” And leaving her, he passed straight

into the room uninvited. The old woman ran after him. Her

tongue was unloosed. “Good Heavens! What is it? Who is

it? What do you want?”

Video Camera – The Story Voice

Observes Events and Describes

Details

Clever Shady

The Writer Simply Observes and

Narrates Events – He Doesn’t Enter the Minds of the

Characters

Third Person Objective

"They look like white elephants," she said.

"I've never seen one," the man drank his beer.

"No, you wouldn't have."

"I might have," the man said. "Just because you say I wouldn't have doesn't

prove anything."

The girl looked at the bead curtain. "They've painted something on it," she

said. "What does it say?"

"Anis del Toro. It's a drink."

"Could we try it?"

Story can Enter the Mind of

Only One Character at a Time

and uses the Pronouns “He” and “She”

Clever

Third Person Limited

This Point of View is the Most Commonly Used

The air of the room chilled his shoulders. He stretched himself cautiously along under the sheets and lay down beside his wife. One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age. He thought of how she who lay beside him had locked in her heart for so many years that image of her lover’s eyes when he had told her that he did not wish to live.

Information for this presentation was loosely gleaned from the following source:Heffron, Jack. The Writer’s Idea Book, Blue Ash: Writer’s Digest Books, 2011. Print.

I hope you enjoyed this presentation by:

Jeanne Mifflin, Author, www.JeanneMifflin.com, (678) 836-8222

Achieving Brilliance at Home (How to Teach Your Child Almost Anything)

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble online, and Books-a-Million online.

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Ask about reprinting, "Should I Homeschool my Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder?"  This light-hearted self-assessment quickly reveals whether you should attempt to homeschool your child with autism (or not).