Points of View Overview
Type
First Person
Main Character
Description
Uses first person
pronouns, is a character
in the story, audience
knows what this
character tells us, the
entire story is focused
from this character’s
perspective, the entire
story is in this
character’s voice
Advantages
Intimacy between MC
and audience, audience
knows all that the MC is
thinking and feeling; the
audience is more likely
to develop a
relationship with the
MC; the audience is
more likely to become
emotionally involved in
the MC's success
Limitations
the audience gets only
the MC's perspective,
thoughts, and feelings;
the audience must
make inferences about
other characters; how
can the MC get the
writer to where the
writer wants to go; start
here: the writer is
limited to the
voice/style of the MC
First Person
Same as above, plus,
this character is NOT
the main character
Similar to above,
replace MC with a
minor character
instead, plus the
audience gets to receive
another perspective on
the MC,
Similar to above,
replace MC with a
minor character
instead, plus audience
might be less
sympathetic to MC’s
plight
Similar to above, except
this character is not
directly involved in the
MC’s conflict
Similar to above, plus
character can act/judge
more objectively
Similar to above, plus
audience might be
accidentally led astray
since observer usually
doesn’t know the
important characters
well, can be a difficult
plot to keep going as in
how to get the observer
to the important action,
can stretch the
audience’s sense of
verisimilitude
Minor Character
First Person
Observer
Second Person
Uses second person
pronoun a lot, Basically,
this POV includes the
reader in the story, the
reader takes on the
persona of one of the
characters
Experimental, can
enable the audience to
feel more a part of the
action, can enable the
audience to more
intimately feel things he
or she may not have felt
before, “you feel that
you are being
mistreated…”
Experimental, rarely
done, this “persona”
might not fit the actual
reader, might feel too
much of an emotional
“stretch”, audience
might recoil at being
identified as this
persona, audience
might not want to feel
or think the things
being attributed to
“you”, excessive you of
“you” can be annoying
Third Person
Omniscient,
“all-seeing”
Uses third person
pronouns, narrator
follows all the
characters as they
interact in the story,
narrator is not a
character in the story,
narrator must still have
a “voice”, generally,
narrator should avoid
making judgments,
narrator can focus in
one different characters
in different scenes or
within scenes
Narrator can know all
characters’ thoughts
and feelings, narrator
can travel to any
character or group at
any time past, present,
or future
Voice can accidentally
take on the author’s
voice , can feel
unrealistic for an
audience, can be
difficult to keep it going
for the writer, can be
difficult to juggle
multiple thoughts and
feelings in the same
scene, can be very long,
can provide excessive
detail, audience can feel
too distant from
character since
information is being
filtered through
narrator
Third Person
Limited
Similar to above, but
narrator follows only
ONE character, narrator
knows only that
character’s thoughts
and feelings directly,
narrator can switch to a
different character but
only when a new scene
begins
Similar to first person
on page one
Similar to first person
on page one, audience
can feel too distant
from character since
information is being
filtered through
narrator
Third Person
Dramatic
Similar to first person
observer, however, the
narrator is required to
NOT have a
“voice”/personality,
narrator does not judge
or know the thoughts
and feelings of any
characters-except
through dialogue and
behavior, dialogue
heavy, similar to a play
Avoids narrator
“intrusion”—when the
narrator’s opinions get
in the way of the story,
can provide a more
deliberate focus on
WHAT happens rather
than characters’
internal lives
audience can feel too
distant b/c no thoughts
and feelings are
presented, story can
feel “dry”, narrative
voice can be difficult to
write