Point of View

Story Development: Point of View	Return to Assignments Page

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Point of View

A work of fiction is told or recorded by someone. This narrator has a particular identity. Usually, the narrator is not the artist, but rather an assumed personality, a created eye and mind.

Points of view are normally divided into first and third person.

Who Speaks?

First Person

The narrator of a First Person Point of View can be either an observer of a work about Phineas ( "I first met Phineas on August 24") or a participant ("My name is Phineas and I was born in Chicago"). The advantage of a first person point of view is that a complete psychological study of a character can be presented, as the viewer or reader sees the character move through the actions of the work. The disadvantages of the first person point of view is that the perspective is limited.

First person narratives can also be told as journals.



Third Person Points of View are normally divided into the omniscient, limited, and objective. In the Omniscient Point of View, the narrator of the work can record the thoughts of all the characters ("Phineas was tired, but he did not realize that Marie thought he was ignoring her").
In the Limited Point of View, the narrating voice chooses only to record one or two central character’s thoughts. This is one of the most common points of view in modern fiction, as it allows a presentation or comparison of selected characters and an in-depth study of their states of mind.	In the Objective Point of View, the narrating voice of the work does not enter into any of the character’s thoughts. This is most similar to the cinematic perspective, where the camera records some kind of independent viewpoint and the viewers are left to determine character personalities through actions, speech, and appearance.
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