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Priscilla Fagan

Part III The Elements of Fiction – Point of View

Point of view is the most complex element of fiction. Janet Burroway

One of the earliest fundamentals we are introduced to in fiction writing is point of view. I’ve said often, if you don’t know POV, learn it. You can’t be a successful writer without understanding viewpoint and its importance.
 
Gary Provost, Viewpoint is the place from which the reader views your story. If you imagine your story as a movie, then viewpoint is where you place the camera. Usually the camera is inside a character’s head, looking out through his eyes. He is the viewpoint character and the camera records what he sees, smells, hears, and tastes. But the viewpoint is an emotional camera, not a mechanical one, and when you choose a viewpoint you are also choosing what the viewpoint character feels, thinks, and believes.
 
Point of view comes in many forms. But, you really have three to choose from: first, second, or third person; me, you, or him/her. I’ll make it even easier; unless you’re Walter Cronkite, save the second person for your recipes. Choosing which form and sticking with it throughout the story is one of the author's obligations to the readers.
 
Head-hopping, going from one character’s thoughts to another’s without a transition,  will only lead to confusion.
 
Joel Rosenberg, Your point of view choice is also important in that the point of view affects how much the readers can believe in the story being told. A proper choice can lead to the willing suspension of disbelief. Getting our readers to pretend what they are reading is real is precisely what we, as writers, strive to attain, the ability not to remind the reader that our story is a string of lies.
 
I’ve touched on only the most common and basic aspects of choosing point of view. Yes, it can be confusing, especially when you throw in ‘omniscient’, ‘subjective’, ‘objective’, etc., etc. But, I can’t stress it enough, POV is one of the, if not the most, important elements to learn and learn well when writing fiction.
 
Priscilla, the eternal optimist