Begin Writing Fiction by Shruti Chandra Gupta - HTML preview

Point of view

Which point of view (POV) should I write in? That is a question most beginners ask themselves just before starting out with fiction writing. Although third person limited is mostly popular among writers, some authors use first person narrative as well. Let’s see what these point of views mean and how they affect your writing.

First Person Narrative

In the first person narrative, a character (usually the protagonist) uses his point of view to tell the story. I ran home to tell Pete about the bullies. The use of “I” instead of “He” tells us that it is the first person narrative.

Strengths –

First person narrative has immediacy. That is because it is like a conversation between the author and the reader. The distance between the author and the view point (VP) character is not there. The result is that the reader gets more involved in the story.

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

The extract has been borrowed from Moby Dick by Herman Melville

That is how Moby Dick begins. Here, the author directly addresses the reader and even tells them that they can call him Ishmael. He retrains the reader’s interest by showing his impatience to point out the exact number of years. That gives him a characteristic so that the reader can shape his personality in his mind.

First person narrative gives the story an authenticity, which no other POV gives. The reader readily believes in whatever the VP character is tells him.

 

If Heath says: “The captain said it was Chris. I couldn’t believe it. I looked at Tom. Only he could have braved the night to get the boat back.”

Now, that is what Heath thinks. The reader doesn’t know who got the boat back. Maybe the captain was wrong, maybe Heath is wrong. But when you read the passage for the first time, you believe in what Heath is telling you. Subconsciously you think: He knows Tom. He has been with him for years. He is living that life, he can’t be wrong. The reader will believe in what Heath is saying without a question.

Another interesting observation is that the reader sees the captain only through the eyes of Heath. There is no other truth than what Heath is telling you. The world in the book is his view of the world. If he wears red glasses, the world will be red. The reader can’t see a green world when it has been painted red. Naturally, the reader doesn’t have a choice but to believe in what the VP character is telling him. You decide whether that is strength or a weakness.

First person narrative also affords intimacy with the author, which is non-existent in a third person narrative.

 

Limitations –

When writing in first person, the story and the VP character have to move together. You can’t take the story where your VP character hasn’t gone and you can’t write about people your VP character hasn’t met.

All the other characters will be described through your VP character. The reader will see him the way he sees them. It becomes difficult for the writer to describe all the characters through the VP character’s point of view. In a long narrative without much action, it tends to become a little boring. You will notice that mostly the first person narrative is used with action-packed plots.

An unreliable VP character is one whom the reader doesn’t trust. In Lolita, the VP character is a criminal, who is obsessed with Lolita. Although the reader doesn’t trust him, his actions and the pace of the plot keeps the reader glued to the book.

Second Person Narrative

Second person narrative is rarely used in fiction. It addresses the reader and the character in the second person, i.e. “you”. It is better for beginners not to use it, as it is extremely difficult to manage. Not many books are written in the second person narrative. Some of them are: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino.

Strengths –

 

It affords intimacy with the reader, as the author is addressing the reader as “you”. It is the most interactive of all narratives.

 

Limitations –

 

The reader gets distracted from the author or the plot by the frequent use of “you”.

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. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head.

The extract has been borrowed from Big Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. See how it distances the reader from the author. For beginners, it is highly recommended not to use it.

 

Third Person (Objective)

 

When you simply narrate the actions of the characters along with dialogues without showing what is going on in their heads, it is called third person objective.

Julie threw her purse on the table and sank into the couch. She then switched on the T.V. and started munching popcorns. Soon, she was asleep. At four, a knock at the door woke her up.

We are not told whether she is tired or not. We don’t know what she is thinking about or what she is feeling. The narrative is totally objective.

 

Strengths –

It is a good way to build tension and mystery. The reader doesn’t know the character’s thoughts so he can’t predict what will happen next. The reader is totally in the dark. It can be effectively used with third person limited to build suspense.

Action is of paramount importance in third person objective. It is through action that the reader gets to know the characters.

 

Limitations –

It is rarely used in literary fiction, as it gives no scope of using thoughts and emotions of the characters. Books, which depend upon the development of the characters by showing their psychological growth, cannot use this POV.

The reader does not feel intimate with the characters. After all, what is fiction without emotions? It is like an ocean without water.

 

Third Person (Omniscient)

This viewpoint affords the most freedom. Here, the author can enter into the thoughts of any of the characters. He is like God, knowing all that is going on inside the heads of the characters. Anna Karennina by Leo Tolstoy, Bernice Bobs her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Parker Adderson, Philosopher by Ambrose Bierce are some of the stories written in third person omniscient. Very few writers write in this style nowadays.

Strengths –

It presents an in-depth picture of the society, characters and situation. This POV was used to show the gullibility of the characters for comic effect by disclosing in advance what would happen. Plautus used this technique in The Pot of Gold.

The reader knows that Sigmund is going to trap Raymond by telling him a false tale to steal all his savings. He has been planning it for days. Raymond is totally in the dark. He doesn’t know that Sigmund is going to trick him. Here, what interests the reader is how Raymond will behave. Will Raymond fall into the trap? What if he doesn’t? Will he come to know that Sigmund is a cheat?

Limitations –

The characters lie beneath the plot, so that the reader doesn’t get intimate with them although he knows what is going on in their heads. That is mainly because he also knows what other characters are thinking. He does not see the world in the book as the protagonist sees it. He does not share the point of view of any of the characters.

Third Person (Limited Omniscient)

Most writers use this POV because of the greater freedom it provides. The story is narrated by the use of third person i.e. “He” “She” “They”. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller are some of the novels written in third person limited.

Here, the writer can get into the heads of two or three main characters. He can show the psychology and the behavior of the characters by furnishing details about their likes and dislikes, beliefs, lifestyle, background, preferences, taste etc. That is very convenient for showing the growth of the characters during the book.

The writer is invisible to the reader. The characters are in the limelight. Mostly, the protagonist’s (central character) POV dominates the narration, but the reader also knows the feelings and thoughts of a few other characters who are closely related to the protagonist. The reader is most happy with this arrangement. He can get intimate not only with the protagonist, but also a few others who are intimate with the protagonist.

Strengths –

It affords greater freedom for the writer. He can show the psychology of the main characters. It is easier to show tension and conflict even when the characters are not interacting with each other.

It can be turned into an objective viewpoint by showing how the character is feeling without his knowing it. He is in love, but he doesn’t realize it. She wants to go back home, but doesn’t realize it till she sees her friend with her baby.

It is the easiest narrative to manage. The writer can becomes subjective and objective as the plot demands. This narrative is highly recommended for beginners.

 

Limitations –

Due to the invisibility of the author, the reader has to depend upon the characters for the viewpoint. If the VP character is unreliable or weak or is acted upon all through the novel, the story fails.

As compared to first person narrative, the readers are not as intimate with the VP character.