POV: point of view
MC: main character
first-person: I, me, my
second-person: you, yours
third-person: he, she, her, they
limited: you only know what the narrator—a character—knows
omniscient: you know info even the MC might not know
First-person POV is a great way to get inside your narrator's head. Everything the narrator sees, thinks, and does reveals something about them.
As a reader, you breathe, sigh, react, and cry with them. You see things as the MC sees them.
You can limit and reveal info to show character (development). What does your narrator notice? What do they leave out?
But you may lose other characters’ thoughts/reactions/scenes if the narrator isn’t perceptive or privy to them.
I've been told emotions are harder to write in first-person because they’re so immediate and vivid.
IMO, emotions are always conveyed, no matter the POV—even indifference. What differs is where your magnifying glass goes, what your lens perceives.
Second-person POV is easily the least used, because/so people tend to feel less comfortable reading or writing it.
This POV puts readers into the MC’s shoes vividly (or makes the reader the MC), so if you choose this, the story MUST be one that you want someone to experience in this way.
Third-person POV creates distance and perspective. It allows the reader to be an observer who sees more detail and context than the MC does.
Readers might still know the MC's thoughts, but their access is limited. We might witness rather than undergo the MC's experience.
Comments
POV: point of view
MC: main character
first-person: I, me, my
second-person: you, yours
third-person: he, she, her, they
limited: you only know what the narrator—a character—knows
omniscient: you know info even the MC might not know
As a reader, you breathe, sigh, react, and cry with them. You see things as the MC sees them.
But you may lose other characters’ thoughts/reactions/scenes if the narrator isn’t perceptive or privy to them.
IMO, emotions are always conveyed, no matter the POV—even indifference. What differs is where your magnifying glass goes, what your lens perceives.
This POV puts readers into the MC’s shoes vividly (or makes the reader the MC), so if you choose this, the story MUST be one that you want someone to experience in this way.
Readers might still know the MC's thoughts, but their access is limited. We might witness rather than undergo the MC's experience.