Point of view

TODAY we yet again dig into another skill set in our creative writing tool box. Let us point it out that every skill set is important no matter how tiny or subtle it may seem when we think about it, as it contributes to the bigger picture of our story construction and how it will stand on its feet when the story is one day finally completed.

But this one is not so subtle, or tiny. It is actually one of the big five, and every story contains it, even if sometimes the writer does not actively think about it during the writing process.

Where would a story be without point of view?

For the still uninitiated, point of view is the angle you take when you are describing the events that you are unravelling, and this is highly important to master, as if one is inconsistent in its rendering, it fractures the flow of the story line and makes it unbelievable, which is the worst enemy of the budding writer cum artist.

Imagine this. You are describing an event — “I am walking down the street, and it’s raining cats and dogs.”

“You are walking down the street, and it’s raining cats and dogs.

“She was walking down the street, and it was raining cats and dogs.”

This is what we are talking about in point of view, the view the story is written in, and how the reader is also going to view it.

There are three main types of point of view that writers generally use, the first person point of view, second and third, and “I am” is the first, “you are” is the second, and “she is” is the third.

Usually, most writers prefer using the first and third, and it is rare to find a fiction novel written in the second, although it can be done.

Each and every writer have their own preference on which point of view, just as readers too have their own preference on which one they like to read in the books of their choice.

When I started writing I preferred using the third person point of view. I found it easier, as it allowed me to get into the minds of several characters at once, or even juxtapose locations — like move from the location of the protagonist to the antagonist, and back, basically creating an omniscient pattern in the story line.

But with time, I suddenly shifted to writing in the first person point of view, which I find highly interesting too, and for personal reasons, even more interesting that the third person one.

In the first person point of view, you are telling the story and seeing it through the eyes of your chosen main character.

Everything that is seen in the story, the action, landscapes, even the physical, emotional and psychological interpretation of other characters is judged from this main character.

What the first person point of view offers is a restricted view of the unravelling story — it is only from this character’s eyes that the story is viewed, and in that, you do not describe what they don’t see or feel, and writers can use this to an advantage.

In using the first person point of view, you are more like a person talking to themself, but in a voice that belongs to that character, who, and what they are.

On the other hand, in the third person point of view, you are akin to an eagle soaring in the sky, you see everything in the story, and you have to describe it, although you might be required here and there to hide some things so that you don’t preempt surprises.

Depending on your abilities, one might find the first person point of view easier to execute, and another the third person one, it is all up to the writer to decide which one they prefer to employ.

But how do you decide which one to use when you start your story? This one is a bit complicated. One might start off with either of the point of views, and then experiment the same story on the other, but doing it this way takes a lot of time and energy.

One might also decide to straightaway start and finish the story with a single type of point of view — but what if you tell the story in the first point of view while it would have been better told in the third person one?

These are questions that will always come to us, but as we always say, once a story has been written and published, there is no going back, so the writer has to be very careful on which point of view you want to use before you commit yourself. But again, once you start writing, just keep on writing right to the end, and make it good while you are at it, and the rest will decide for itself.

Stay safe, stay writing!