Transcript Point of View

Who is telling the story?
Different Points of View
First Person
•Story told through
the voice of one of the
characters
•Easy to add “voice”
•Reader knows what
that character is
thinking & experiencing
•Good for emotional,
scary, thoughtful stories
Third Person
•Story told through a
narrator’s voice
•Must add characters’
“voice” through
dialogue
•Reader knows what
everyone is thinking &
experiencing
•Good for plot-driven
stories with many
characters & action
POV
Pronouns
First Person Point of View: I, me, my, we, mine,
our
Third Person Point of View (Narrator): he, she, his,
her, they, their
Michael didn’t need to look at the scorebook to know that he was
the only one on the Clippers Justin hadn’t struck out yet. Michael was
batting third today. Justin had come up and in on him his first time up,
knocking Michael back off the plate and then glaring at him again
afterward. But Michael had gotten back into the left-hander’s side of the
batter’s box, dug back in, and promptly taken a low, outside pitch over the
third baseman’s head and into the left-handed corner of the cool ballpark,
the ball rolling all the way to a Home Depot sign out there.
As Michael came flying around second, he saw the left fielder
having trouble picking up the ball and just kept motoring into third, cap
flying off his head.
Stand-up triple.
“Are you always this lucky?” Justin said when he got the ball
back.
Michael ignored him.
On the first pitch to Anthony, who was up next, Justin tried to
throw the ball about two hundred miles per hour, and bounced the ball in
front of the catcher, who had absolutely no chance to even block the ball.
-Excerpt from Heat by Mike Lupica
This is a story about baseball.
Since there is a lot of action that
needs to be described to the
reader in this story, the action can
be described more effectively by a
narrator than by one of the
characters. This is third person
point of view.
In the afternoon they spent a couple of hours
together unsuccessfully searching for the ghosts. The
Ghost Mother made sure Jack searched especially well
in places the children never went. The rest of the day
passed uneventfully, with Jack increasingly concerned
about not finding the ghost children, but also having
no choice except to rest in his room, still recovering
from the asthma scares of the past few days.
In the evening, after they’d eaten—a quick meal,
the Ghost Mother wanted to cook something more
elaborate, but why risk increasing Jack’s suspicions?—
she said she would be pleased if he spent a little more
time with her by the hearth.
-Excerpt from Breathe by Cliff McNish
This story has many characters, and much
of the action takes place when the main
characters are not present. If it was told in
first person point of view, the reader would
miss out on learning important information
needed to understand the story. That is
why it is written in third person point of
view.
Man, can you believe that chick? Typical.
As long as I’m cool and everything’s rosy, she’s fine.
But the second the chips are down—is she sympathetic?
Understanding? How about even civil? Isn’t a girlfriend
supposed to be loyal and stand by you through thick and thin
and all that?
Gimme a break. I don’t need this noise.
I’m just glad she let her true self show so I don’t waste
one more second on her.
I never really thought Ruby was so hot anyway. If you
want to know the truth, I don’t know why I stayed with her for
all these months. Habit? Laziness?
I’m glad it’s over.
-Excerpt from The Cheat by Amy Goldman
This excerpt is absolutely full of voice!
You can hear the character’s voice and
personality come through the words. The
reader knows exactly what he is thinking
in his head, without needing dialogue
with another character in order to
understand his feelings (interior
monologue). It is a wonderful example of
how powerful first person point of view
can be.
Thursday
Tonight Mom came up to my room, and she had a flyer in her hand. As
soon as I saw it, I knew EXACTLY what it was. It was an announcement
that the school is having tryouts for a winter play. Man, I should have
thrown that thing out when I saw it on the kitchen table.
I BEGGED her not to make me sign up. Those school plays are always
musicals, and the last thing I need is to have to sing in front of the
whole school.
But all my begging seemed to do was make Mom more sure I should
do it. Mom said the only way I was going to be “well-rounded” was by
trying different things.
Dad came into my room to see what was going on. I told him. I knew
that Dad would take my side. Dad and Mom argued for a few minutes,
but Dad was no match for Mom. So that means tomorrow I’ve got to
audition for the school play.
-Excerpt from Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Here is another example of how the reader
can know the character’s feelings when we
use first person point of view. However,
with first person point of view we are
limited to that one character’s inner
thoughts—we don’t know what his mother
or father are thinking about the situation.
We only know the parents’ thoughts
through their actions and the words they
speak, as observed by the main character.
So what point of view should YOU choose?
So what point of view should YOU choose?
Are feelings, fright, or emotion an
important part of your story?
Does your story have one main
character that you want the reader to
sympathize with?
Do you like to use a strong VOICE in
your writing?
Does your character have interior
monologues?
So what point of view should YOU choose?
Are feelings, fright, or emotion an
important part of your story?
Does your story have one main
character that you want the reader to
sympathize with?
Do you like to use a strong VOICE in
your writing?
Does your character have interior
monologues?
If YES, choose first person point of view.
So what point of view should YOU choose?
Does your story have a lot of action?
Does some of the action happen when
the main character isn’t present?
Are there several main characters?
Is it important for the reader to know
what all the characters are thinking?
Is there a lot of background information
that the reader needs to know?
So what point of view should YOU choose?
Does your story have a lot of action?
Does some the action happen when the
main character isn’t present?
Are there several main characters?
Is it important for the reader to know
what all the characters are thinking?
Is there a lot of background information
that the reader needs to know?
If YES, choose third person point of view.