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/LbTF7ghCiS
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 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 28, 2018
Don't confuse POV with how emotionally connected (or distant) your readers feel to your characters. If you have character development, your readers will get attached to your characters no matter what POV you've written the book in, as evidenced by many classics. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 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 28, 2018
Unlimited POV, in grammatical 3rd person (he, she, it, they). Sometimes called "God" or omniscient POV. No limits to the information the author provides to readers, including ALL characters' thoughts, motivations, feelings, pasts, & moral judgment. Can be ambiguous. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
First Person POV, in grammatical 1st person (I, we). The only POV with a narrator. Everything in the story is LIMITED to what the narrator thinks, feels, etc and what s/he can observe about other characters' actions/behavior. Narrators can be reliable or unreliable. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Inner Limited POV, in grammatical 3rd person (he, she, it, they). LIMITED to the INNER life (thoughts, feelings, motivations) of ONE character (or 1 character at a time, different sections). Similar to First Person POV limitations but creates more emotional distance. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Second Person POV, in grammatical 2nd person (you), directly addresses a "you" but NOT in dialogue. The default audience for "you" is the reading audience, and it is always up to the author to make it clear who is being directly addressed if it is NOT the readers. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Outer Limited Point of View, written in the grammatical 3rd person (he, she, it, they), is LIMITED to the OUTER life of ALL the characters in the story. Sometimes called the "camera" or "fly on the wall" POV. The most challenging POV for any author to master. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Outer Limited POV only reveals the external, observable behaviors of all the characters in the work. No thoughts, feelings, motivations, or memories are revealed to readers unless they are expressed in dialogue to other characters at the same time. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Because Outer Limited POV is limited to the outer life of all characters, an author who uses this POV is attempting to be totally and completely "objective" about what s/he sees in story. Because word choice can reveal author's subjectivity, it is a challenging POV. #Writingtips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
He saw the moon rise = Unlimited or Inner Limited POV
He lifted his face toward the night sky = Outer LimitedSince the author is merely "recording" events, s/he cannot say what any character sees, hears, thinks, etc, because that cannot be determined w/ certainty. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Think of watching a movie with the sound turned off, or of watching a crowd without being able to hear anything anyone says. If you were to write down everything you see, you would be using Outer Limited POV, limiting everything to the outer life of all characters. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Even if you only write down everything your characters actually do or say, you can still unconsciously reveal the presence of an author, and in Outer Limited POV, the author attempts to be "invisible," a fly on the wall simply observing, not judging in any way. #Writingtips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
All words have denotations (dictionary definitions) & connotations (emotional meanings attached to those words). Connotations can be neutral, positive, or negative. Most words have neutral connotations. Authors using Outer Limited POV must be aware of connotations. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
He attends class at scheduled time = neutral connotations
He is always punctual = positive connotations
He is never late = negative connotations though, technically, content is presumed to be "positive"Outer Limited POV attempts to refrain from any connotations #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Examples of semantics, from positive to negative connotations, with increasingly negative ones:
His work is good.
His work is pretty good.
His work is perfectly adequate.
His work is acceptable.
His work isn't bad.
His work isn't too bad.
His work is pedestrian. #WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
You cannot pretend that a word does not have its own particular connotations since everyone who reads it will know what the connotations are emotionally even if they are not able to articulate those connotations. Be aware of semantics (denotations & connotations). #Writingtips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
An author who uses Outer Limited POV attempts to be objective = neutral connotations
An author who uses Outer Limited POV attempts to be unemotional = negative connotations
This is an example of semantics#WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
All authors should be aware of semantics, no matter what POV they choose to write in, but it is absolutely essential for an author to understand the positive, negative, and neutral connotations of words if s/he chooses to write in Outer Limited POV all is external. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Outer LImited POV creates the most emotional distance between readers and the characters because no inner life is ever revealed: no thoughts, feelings, motivations, passions, etc. All must be observable to all characters if observable to readers. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Outer Limited POV is the POV where most authors who use this POV unconsciously lapse because it is so challenging to tell an engaging story without ever revealing anything that any observer could not know by also observing.#WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Hemingway uses Outer Limited POV in many of his works, though he occasionally lapses from this POV when he tells what a character sees or hears: No one can observe what someone else sees or hears. Still, Hemingway is pretty successful at Outer Limited POV. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Alain Robbe-Grillet likes Outer Limited POV, but his works are sometimes considered "experimental," if only because they are challenging to read and most readers feel emotionally distant from his characters. JEALOUSY is one of Robbe-Grillet's best works in this POV. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
When using Outer LImited POV, the author cannot tell readers what his characters are feeling: s/he must rely instead on their actions or on symbolism to reveal their feelings, though these things can then be open to interpretation by readers. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
In JEALOUSY, a man seems to suspect his wife is having an affair with a neighbor, so the man is constantly looking out windows at the two of them, and the author describes where their hands are, for example, by inches to each other, to display the man's observation. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Robbe-Grillet also occasionally makes his Outer LImited POV ambiguous by presenting multiple versions of the same events, as in THE LABYRINTH, where a soldier walks down a street multiple times and looks at a painting of a soldier (himself?) walking down a street. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Outer Limited Point of View:
• uses grammatical 3rd person (he, she, it, they)
• Limited to Outer life of ALL characters: no thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc.
• author as objective observer
• most challenging POV to master
• creates most emotional distance#WritingTips— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
An author CHOOSES which Point of View s/he wishes to write in. Only Unlimited POV has NO limitations to the information an author provides to readers. All other POVs are limited in some way. By choosing a POV other than Unlimited, an author agrees to its limitations. #WritngTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Unlimited Point of View is the most common in fiction, if only because anyone can write in Unlimited POV. When authors choose any other POV, they are attempting to challenge themselves artistically by limiting some of the information they can provide to readers. #WritingTips
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Want no limits whatsoever to the information you present to your readers, including your own moral judgments on all your characters? Then you want Unlimited Point of View. https://t.co/3kO8asCVLJ
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Want a narrator to tell the story? Then you want First Person Point of View & will be limiting all the information in the story to narrator's internal life (thoughts, feelings, etc) & to what narrator can observe of other characters' actions. #WritingTipshttps://t.co/pPSstrtPXZ
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Want to limit the story to the inner life of one character (or one character at a time, in different sections)? Want more emotional distance between readers and character than First Person POV provides? You want Inner Limited POV.#WritingTipshttps://t.co/Hl9IKxmdGU
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
Want to address the readers (or someone else who is external to the story) directly, or want the narrator to address someone (in or out of the story) directly and NOT in dialogue? Then you want Second Person POV, even if it's only temporarily.#WritingTipshttps://t.co/2Ye2xWcsdd
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
As always, remember that an author voluntarily & consciously chooses the Point of View s/he wishes to write in. If you don't want any limitations to information you present to readers, use Unlimited POV. Don't @ me & say "I want to write Unlimited POV with a 3rd person narrator"
— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) September 28, 2018
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Related Posts
Unlimited Point of View
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First Person 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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Outer Limited Point of View
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Who’s Afraid of Point of View?
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(all my #writingtips on one page)
