Don’t confuse POV with things that have nothing to do with POV: writing in past or present tense, using flashbacks or foreshadowing, good character development or realistic dialogue. None of those is POV and POV is not concerned with those separate writing issues. #WritingTips pic.twitter.com/ArFAPPVGao
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
Don’t confuse literary Point of View with people expressing different opinions in real life: in writing, different characters’ views of the same events is Perspective, not POV. Point of View is HOW something is written, and there are very few POVs in writing. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
Points of View
• Unlimited, in grammatical 3rd person: he, she, it, they
• First Person, in grammatical 1st person: I, we
• Inner Limited, in 3rd person: he, she, it, they
• Second Person, in 2nd person: you
• Outer Limited, in 3rd person: he, she, it, they #WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
Unlimited POV is the only one without any limits to the information an author can give readers about the characters, including all their thoughts, feelings, motivations, history, etc. All other POVs are limited in some way. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
If you want NO LIMITS to the information you can provide readers, you should use Unlimited POV. All other POVs have limits: if you choose to write in any other POV besides Unlimited, you are also voluntarily choosing to follow the limitations of those other POVs.#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
Please don’t tell me that you don’t want to follow the writing tips for other POVs. Just write in Unlimited POV. These aren’t “rules” but guidelines for writers who want to challenge themselves artistically. If you don’t want to do that, use Unlimited POV. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
First Person Point of View is written in grammatical 1st person (I, we) and is the only POV with a narrator. This is a LIMITED POV. You can only present your narrator’s thoughts, feelings, motivations, history, etc. You (and your readers) are IN your narrator’s head.#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
If you choose First Person POV, then you are choosing to LIMIT your view of the story’s events to the perspective of your chosen narrator. Unless your narrator can read others’ minds, you cannot show their thoughts or feelings unless they are spoken aloud or written.#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
If you wish to show multiple PERSPECTIVES of same events in your story, then you need to change POVs or clearly change perspective. You can have multiple Fist Person POV sections, but it must be clear to readers who the “I” in each section (chapter, part, etc) is. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
First Person POV is considered the most intimate POV since readers get to know absolutely everything about the narrator’s feelings, thoughts, and motivations: they view all the events from the narrator’s perspective. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
First Person POV seems like it would be the easiest POV because writers think they just have to write down everything their narrator thinks, but this POV is the one most new writers accidentally lapse in when they tell something their narrator could not know. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
When writers lapse from their chosen POV, they have revealed information to readers that is not available to the other characters in the limited POV they’ve chosen to write in. In First Person POV, such information is not available to the narrator telling the story. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
He regarded me with his usual expression, and it angered me = First Person POV
He regarded me with disdain, and it angered me = LAPSE from First Person POV
The narrator cannot know what someone else is feeling & “disdain” is narrator’s interpretation. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
This doesn’t mean you cannot ever show your narrator’s interpreting or misinterpreting others’ feeling or reactions but you must make it clear that it is the narrator’s interpretation or readers will think you have lapsed from your chosen POV.#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
He regarded me with his usual expression, and it angered me = First Person POV
He SEEMED TO regard me with disdain, and it angered me = First Person POV = NOT a lapse from POV since it’s clear narrator is interpreting expression so still limited to chosen POV#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
After I spoke, he SEEMED angry (he ACTED angry, he LOOKED angry) = First Person POV because narrator interpretation is clear
After I spoke, he WAS angry = LAPSE in First Person POV because the narrator cannot know another’s feelings unless the other TELLS narrator#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
First Person POV can use plural grammatical 1st person (we) to indicate group-think, when narrator identifies with a group with same feelings.
I hated them = narrator
We hated them = narrator sees himself as part of a larger group who thinks & feels the same way#WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
A narrator can be either reliable or unreliable. If the readers deem a narrator reliable, it means that, for the most part, readers can trust what the narrator is telling them to be a reasonable interpretation of the events in the story. #WritingTps
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
If a narrator is UNRELIABLE, his interpretation and presentation of the events cannot be considered the most accurate version of the story events. It is up to the author to present evidence that the narrator is reliable or unreliable. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
Unreliable narrators are not necessarily lying: they may be unaware that there are different interpretations of the events they are describing. They may be in denial about something that another is doing, and this could make their narration unreliable. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
Dostoevsky’s NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND narrator says, “I’m lying,” seeming to indicate that he is an unreliable narrator. Later, he says, “I lied when I said I was lying,” which would seem to indicate he is telling the truth, though he is still not a reliable narrator. #WrtingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
It is up to the author to make it clear to the readers whether a narrator is reliable or unreliable, i.e., if the narrator’s story can be considered an accurate portrayal of events, but unreliable narrators are considered more psychologically realistic. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
First Person Point of View
• uses grammatical 1st person I, we
• only POV with a narrator
• limited to what the narrator thinks, feels, sees, hears, remembers, interprets
• readers in narrator’s head
• a narrator can be reliable or unreliable
* most intimate POV#WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 7, 2018
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Related Posts
Unlimited
Unlimited Point of View
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Inner Limited Point of View
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Second Person Point of View
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Who’s Afraid of Point of View?
Writing Tips
(all my #writingtips on one page)
