I'm taking this from my one book I have, Truth of the Matter by Dinty W. Moore. Hopefully this helps if anyone has questions about point of view. [like me, hehe]
In first-person point of view, the story is narrated by an "I" voice, as in the sentence "I walked to the store, and my little brother followed." In fiction, this first-person "I" is not the author, but instead an imagined character on the page. In nonfiction, it is fair to assume that the "I" represents the author.
Second person is trickier. This point of view uses "you" rather than a first-person pronoun or character name to indicate the person at the center of the story. The example shown above for first person - "I went to the store, and my brother followed" - might appear in second person as "You walk to the story, but your brother is right behind, tugging at your shirt, begging for a piece of candy." Second person is used rarely, and should always be applied carefully. Its a way to put you in the "her/his" place, creating a direct connection and immediacy for the reader.
Third-person point of view uses a character name rather than "you" or "I," and is encountered most often in literary journalism. For instance, if you were writing a profile of someone in your neighborhood, your story might being: "Noah Davis crossed the street, heading to Womack's Corner Store, his little brother Nathan tagging close behind." Third-person point of view often requires meticulous research, since you are presenting the perspective of someone other than yourself.
Even in third perons, by the way, the voice of the author is present, though sometimes the sense of the author is quite subtle. the literary journalist Tracy Kidder often does not refer to himself at all in his writing. Still, we sense his shaping presence in the work because he has chosen which details to emphasize and which scenes to bring fully to life.
two other terms to remember are omniscient and limited.
Omnsicient literally means "all-knowing." In fiction the omniscient point of view is one in which the author (and thus the reader) is privy at any moment to the inner thoughts of each character (not just the main character or protagonist). Most fiction, however, is written from a limited point of view, meaning we are restricted to the thoughts, observations, and ruminations of one character. The author (and reader) cannot suddenly jump "into the head" of a minor character to clear up some confusion or to add a plot point. Though limited point of view is - as the name cleary suggests - limiting, it allows the reader to experience the world of the fictional narrative through a specific and unique perspective, and this is one of the pleasures of good fiction.
Now, however, let's return to the idea of intimate point of view.
As important as first-person/third-person, limited/omniscient distinctions can be , it would be a shame if your understanding stopped with basic technical matters. Instead, the real power of point of view has to do with intimacy.
Intimate point of view allows readers to experience the world (or whatever portion of the world is being considered in a given piece of writing) through the eyes and ears of a thoughtful author. This ar of directed perspective removes readers ( temporarily at least) from the constraints of their own lives so that they might see a wider, or different, view of things.
A good dictionary will offer up many definitions for the word intimate, but in this instance the meaning "to enter deeply or closely into a matter" is mot relevant. Any piece of writing that offers only a surface view of the subject is going to come up short. Whether writing about the self or a subject outside of the self, the author has first to see and consider every aspect beyond first impressions and easy generalization, and then share those close observations with the reader.
Have you heard the expression "you had to be there"? Well, intimate point of view, done carefully, allows you to be there, residing in the author's world, seeing through the author's eyes, smelling what the author smelled on a Sunday morning, feeling the unique moment through the one-of-a-kind perspective of another person.
Subject: [INFO] Point Of View Explanation! ![[INFO] Point Of View Explanation! Icon_minitime](https://2img.net/i/fa/icon_minitime.gif){kind=icon}
8/29/2008, 8:01 pm
