Guest Post: Point of View Storytelling by Diane Mae Robinson

By Diane M. Robinson aka spirthill99

Welcome Diane Robinson

Author of The Pen Pieyu Adventures

Point of View in Storytelling

petra edit 

Point of View (P.O.V.) in a story depends on how the main character is presented.

In first person, the book is told directly by the main character:
I am a dragon. I entertain people. That is my destiny.

In second person, the story is presented as if the reader is the main character:
You get dresses, you eat breakfast, you go wrestle a dragon—it’s all in a day’s work.

In third person, the main character is referred to by name:
Petra wondered at this for a moment. “Really? Is it possible that a dragon could be turned into a frog? “

First Person Narrative
First person point of view instantly connects the reader with the main character, but often results in too much “telling” and not enough “showing.”
In the First person point of view, it is difficult to write about the physical description of the main character. In older writings writer’s reverted to the “looked in the mirror” description, which is shunned in modern writing.
First person point of view does allow the humor and thoughts of the main character to come through and the reader connects more readily with the main character.

Second Person Narrative

Second Person point of view is the least used form of writing books. Second person P.O.V. is difficult to maintain throughout a whole book and can produce awkward prose. This point of view is best used in blog posts.

Third Person Narrative

 Third Person P.O.V. is the most common form of narration.

—Third person restricted has nearly as much closeness with the main character as first person but it is easier to avoid too much telling. The challenge to third person restricted is to keep the views only of the main character and not getting into and telling the thoughts of other characters.

One challenge with third person restricted is limiting the story to scenes where the main character is present. This often requires creative plotting; to write the scenes around the main character. But doing so usually works out better than switching viewpoint characters. Switching viewpoint characters can and is done, but the difficulty of sustaining alternative views is that the reader can get lost within the different character’s identities.

—Third Person omniscient is the rarest form of writing because it tends to obscure the main character. This type of P.O.V. knows all, and the writer reads into the thoughts of both minor and major characters. The reader does gain obscure knowledge of  the other characters, but the more times a writer switches the P.O.V., the less the reader will care about the main character.

A few other points on P.O.V.
http://users.humboldt.edu/tduckart/PoV.htm

book 1mm
  Diane_Robinson_CoverII
Book 1 in the series, Sir Princess Petra is available now.  (click for review)
Book 2 in the series, Sir Princess Petra’s Talent will be released September 2013
Visit Diane’s author’s website: http://www.dragonsbook.com

18 thoughts on “Guest Post: Point of View Storytelling by Diane Mae Robinson”

  1. Pingback: When Authors Play, part 2 by Diane Robinson | Kid Lit Reviews

  2. Thanks everybody for liking the post. I hope Sue believes me now when I tell her I can write (she’s so persnickety about writing stuff).

    Oh and, Sue, if you are listening, semi-colons rarely protagonist, only when they don’t get star or at least Mars Bars.

    Hey!! Put my blue monster picture back.

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    • Your monster has multiple personality disorder, or MPD for short. This is why it keeps changing its look. Sorry about that. He will not go into therapy, so there is little that can be done. Maybe a protagonistic semi-colon would help because I have no idea what you mean by that. But that is okay. It can be stressful to find your post on another’s site.

      Thank you for giving me free-reign on your posts. You will find yourself here a lot, I have a feeling. Oh, that is a bad sentence. 😦

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      • semi-colon that protagonist—that’s your saying, under your reply to Julie,below. I thought that was something from the secrets in your reviewer’s manual.

        Okay, my monster has a personalty disorder. Purple guy is cute.

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  6. Excellent post. Very informative and yet broken in a simplistic way. Thanks so much for the guest post Diane and for having her Sue. I love the illustration too!

    Paul R. Heweltt

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  8. Thank you , Diane, for a great post on POV. I must admit, I can get those confused. I appreciate the post and hope you will post again. Is it true that book 2 in your series releases in September? Woo-hoo! 😆

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    • Your welcome, Sue. Yes, book two is coming soon. The ARC copies should arrive within a couple of weeks, and the official release date is Sept., 24, 2013.

      Very soon, Sue, you will have your chance to: chew, spit, laugh, heckle, cringe, laugh, heckle, make stars, take away stars, more heckles, and whatever else is in your reviewer manual that you reviewer types do to books.

      P.S. I’ll still love you no matter what you say about my book.

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      • I cannot wait to chew and spit out book two. Especially if it gives me a nasty taste. Never want to take a second bite (and chew), of a rotten book.

        I am positive I will laugh. Most assured of laughing, giggling, and maybe a groan or two.

        Stars, you say. What about these stars? Why do you mention stars? I will not be giving you any stars. Since I know you it would be unethical to give you a star. I think that is covered in the manual you also spoke of (but I have never read–or seen). 😆 . . 😆

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