FictionWeek Writer's Group Discussion:
Examples of Point of View in Modern Fiction
Part 1: First Person


When a reader of fiction begins reading a new story, they want to know who's story is it? Often, the answer to that question is the protagonist . The protagonist is the main character in the story and readers have come to expect the story to be about that main character.

What determines which character in a story is the main character? Some stories have several important characters; so how does the reader know which character is the protagonist? The most common way to establish the protagonist is to tell the story from the point of view of that character. The reader quickly realizes that the point-of-view character is going to be the main character (the protagonist) in the story. Therefore, one of the first technical decisions you have to make when beginning a fictional story is to determine the point of view. Sound easy? Unfortunately, that's not all there is to it. While it might be fairly easy to decide which character is going to be the main character in your story, there are a number of different point-of-view methods that can be used to tell that character's story. The sections that follow discuss the writer's decisions and options regarding point of view.

Choice of narrator

Although point of view will usually be your first technical decision, it is not an easy one. Point of view and the choice of a narrator can be one of the most complex decisions a fiction writer has to make. You, the fiction writer, gets to (has to) decide not only who the story is about, but also who is telling the story (often, it's not the protagonist). The storyteller is known as the narrator. Beginning writers are often surprised to learn there are many types of narrators with which to tell a story. You, the writer of the story can tell the story, just as if you were writing a letter to a friend or relative. You use the pronoun "I" throughout the story. You might begin by telling the reader how you got involved in the story and then proceed by telling the reader what happened first and then what happened next, and so on. But the narrator of the story does not have to be the author of the story. The narrator can be a "voice" within the story that describes what happens in the story. You can make up a fictional narrator, just as you make up fictional characters. You can tell the story from the point of view of an old man looking back at one incident in his life, or you can tell it from the point of view of a woman who is deciding whether or not to start a new career. In both cases, you would be telling the story using a made-up person. That made-up person tells the reader what happens in the story, as if the events were happening in real time while the story is being told. On the other hand, your story could be told by a narrator that has no role in the story at all, a story-telling voice that sees all and knows all.

In fiction writing, the storytelling "voice" can be thought of as "narrating" the story. The choice of a storytelling voice often also establishes the point of view from which the story will be told.

In fiction writing, "the narrator" is a concept. The reader has to accept the concept that the narrator's "voice" is telling them a story. It is an effective, if artificial, way of communicating the story to the reader. That is the nature of fiction. It is a very different form of writing, as compared with all other types of writing. In other forms of writing, the reader assumes the writer is the author of the text--the point of view is assumed to be that of the writer. In fiction, the narrator is often a "made up" teller of the story, in the same way the characters in the story are "made up." To write fiction, the author must create the teller of the story as well as the other characters in the story. To read and appreciate the story, the reader has to accept that premise.

NOTE:

Some writers use fiction to tell their own story. In that case, it is not fiction, it is memoir. Sometimes, writers want to tell their own story, but they want to tell it as if it was fiction. Using the techniques of fiction to tell a true story is known as creative non-fiction. The fiction-writing methods described in this book also apply to creative non-fiction. Creative non-fiction stories should read like fiction. In fact, unless the events in the story are well known, only the writer will know whether it is fiction or not.


Three Points of View

Fictional stories are most commonly told from one of two different points of view, first person or third person. The difference involves the type of story narrator you plan to use to tell the story. A first-person story is told from the point of view of a character in the story. A third-person story is told from the point of view of a story telling "voice" that is outside the story.

Although much less common, stories can also be told using the second-person pronoun "you."

This week, we discussed the first, and most complex, of these three types, first person.

First Person

Some modern fiction stories and novels are told using a storyteller that is a participant in the story. The storytelling voice will refer to himself or herself using the first-person personal pronouns I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, or ours.

Here is an example of a first-person narrator using the most common first-person pronouns to tell a story:

    I was feeling sad as I got onto the bus and waved goodbye to my friends.

In this example, the first-person narrator tells the reader that "I" was feeling sad and that "I" got onto the bus and waved goodbye. This single sentence demonstrates an important aspect of first-person stories, that the narrator has to report to the reader what is happening in the story and also how the "I" in the story felt about it.

The Two Roles of First Person

In the example above, the storytelling "I" has two responsibilities: (1) to narrate the story, and (2) to be a character in the story. One or the other of the two roles may be emphasized in the story, but both are always present in a first-person story.

In the first role, the first-person narrator must keep the reader informed of what is happening in the story. In the example above, the storyteller is playing the role of narrator when he says, "I got onto the bus and waved goodbye." When the "I" is simply describing the events of the story, he or she is purely in the role of story narrator.

Keep in mind that the use of the first-person point of view means the storytelling "I" is also a character in the story. In the example above, the "I" of the story tells the reader that he was feeling sad. The writer is reporting information about he, the character in the story felt. In first person, that information is presented as if it came from within the mind of the storyteller. This revealing of how "I" feels is a useful aspect of the first person story: it is a way to encourage the reader to vicariously identify with the "I" of the story. A protagonist in a first-person story will usually (but not necessarily) describe his or her thoughts as the story progresses. By revealing such thoughts, the first person narrator can share hidden motivations and desires with the reader. This makes the reader feel close to the storyteller.

Let's look at the two roles of first person more closely. In the first role, functioning as the narrator of the story, the first-person storyteller tells the reader what is happening in the story. In the following example, in that role, the narrator tells the reader what he and the other characters in the story are doing:

    My friends continued to wave as I drove away.

In this example, the first-person narrator is purely in the role of storyteller, simply to tell the reader what is going on in the story.

However, in a first-person story, it is important to let the reader know how the character feels about what is happening in the story (why else would you use first-person point of view?). We refer to that as being in the character role. Below is an example of the character role:

    As my friends waved at me, the faint scent of wood smoke on my clothes made me realize how much I would miss those nights around the campfire.

In this example, the first-person character shares information with the reader about how he felt about the events of the story. This is what makes a first-person story come alive. When writing in first person, it is very important to constantly inform the reader about how the character is reacting to the events of the story. It is a key ingredient in first-person storytelling.


NOTE:

Most writers begin writing in first person simply because that is the way they have been writing all their lives. Most people would never think of writing anything but first person: after all, they are the one telling the story. But remember, a "made-up" narrator is what fiction is all about, regardless of the type of narrator you decide to use. Experienced writers know that choosing exactly the right narrator for a story is not only the first decision that must be made, but it is often the most important one. Therefore, you should not write in first person just because it's what you are used to. You should make a conscious decision about which type of narrator would be best for the type of story you want to write.

Writing a fictional story in first person can be a lot trickier than you might think. It may seem natural to write as if it was you telling the story (using "I" and "me'), but it can actually be harder than "making up" a second or third person narrator. One difficulty is that the first person narrator cannot be used to reveal what other characters are thinking, and it can't be used to describe events outside of the storyteller's knowledge. Third-person narrators (discussed in the next section) provide much more flexibility in this regard.

The Role of the First-person Narrator

Although the writer must accept some limitations when using first person, there are some advantages. First, the use of first person implies a real person telling a personal story. Even if the story is entirely fictional, first person "feels" like a true story. Even poorly written first person sounds real, and some readers are willing to give a writer some latitude if they feel a story is heartfelt and personal.

Secondly, a good writer can use first-person to develop a story-telling "voice" that is interesting in and of itself. In fact, "voice writing," stories told by a quirky voice has almost become its own genre.

Thirdly, very personal stories, such as memoir-style stories and confessions, are usually better accepted by readers if they are told in first-person. While third person gives the writer a broader array of techniques that can be used to tell the story, there is always a sense of contrivance when using a made-up third-person narrator.

Finally, first person provides the writer with yet another way to characterize. Because a first-person narrator is supposed to imply a real person, everything the narrator thinks about, focuses on, or reacts to conveys something about the character of the storyteller. This is something the writer should keep in mind when using first person.

NOTE:

Unlike character description by an authoritarian third-person narrator, a first-person narrator's opinions about the self are, to the reader, always suspect and unreliable. The unreliable narrator concept refers to the fact that a character's self-analysis or perception of story events may not be reliable. Such characters may not really understand their own weaknesses, may be in denial, or they may have mental issues that distort their perceptions. Experienced fiction writers can use the unreliable-narrator technique to subtly convey such concepts in a way that enhance the reader's interest in the story.

The Looking-Back Narrator

It's important to remember that first person "implies" a storyteller looking back. That not only means you should tell the story in past tense, but also that you can (if you want) make use of the older, and perhaps wiser, narrator in the story. By using such phrases as "at the time it seemed like a good idea" or "looking back, I can't believe I did it" you can keep that sense of the older narrator in the story. The use of a looking-back narrator can be very useful. For one thing, the looking-back narrator can "frame" the action of the story by using such phrases as "you may wonder how it all happened" or an even more direct first-person storytelling approach such as "I'll begin by telling you how I got involved with them in the first place." Using the looking-back narrator, you often (but not always) close the frame by finishing up with a summarizing final statement about how it all came out in the end or what was learned as a result. Such techniques can make the telling of a first-person story feel more realistic by making the storyteller behind the story seem more like a real person. In addition, sometimes an older narrator can be used to clarify things an in-the-moment narrator can't. This is especially true when looking back at childhood. You can use the looking-back narrator to explain why a child character did or did not do something using such phrases as "at the time, I didn't understand adults would lie like that." The use of a looking-back narrator is not required in every first-person story, but you should keep in mind that it is always implied.


NOTE:

When we talk about what the reader expects, we are making reference to an implied contract between writer and reader. From past reading, a reader of fiction is bound to have some expectations about the writer's purpose, about why the writer included something in the story. In this case, although readers may not have conscious thoughts about it, they understand that the fact that the story is being told in first person means it is something that happened in the past. There are many other aspects to this implied contract between writer and reader, but it basically refers to the fact that, at some level, the reader is aware that everything in a fictional story was put there by the writer for its effect on the reader.

We recommend keeping the pure narrator role to a minimum, just enough to let the reader know the action that is taking place in the story. We recommend using the narrator role mainly to move characters about (I saw Jane coming down the street), to move time forward (it was late in the day before I got to his house), and to set the scene (I could see he lived in a very nice house, but I wondered why he had painted it red). Overuse of the first-person narrator to "tell" the reader things can slow the story and distance the reader from the character (it creates the sense of a narrator standing between the character and the reader). To readers, it can also feel like authorial intrusion, like the writer is coming between them and the story.

There are many versions of authorial intrusion, some of them obvious, some not. Didacticism-overburdening your story with information intended to educate the reader-is of course to be avoided, as is "preaching" to the reader. That is not to say fiction should not be used to educate, but it should be done by portraying the learning experiences of your characters, not through the use of the narrator. You should also avoid the insertion of extensive facts that are irrelevant to the story. We joking refer to this as "inserting an armadillo" into the story: just because your character happens to see an armadillo, it doesn't mean you have to insert the page of information about armadillos you found on the internet. In fiction, the less the hand of the author is felt, the better.

One exercise we often recommend to our students is to go through their writing and highlight their use of the narrator. That will often reveal overuse of the narrator. However, as we said earlier, differentiating the role of the narrator from the role of the character in a first-person story can be tricky. Whenever possible, we recommend combining the roles; that is, using the narrator role to provide the reader with information, but doing it through the perceptions of the character.

FIRST-PERSON EXERCISES

Although first person provides a way to "personalize" a story, you should not decide to tell even very personal stories in first person until you have explored all the options. The exercises throughout this chapter give you a chance to try your hand at telling personal stories using a variety of different point-of-view methods. Use them to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of each point of view.

1. Using first-person, write a few paragraphs about some event that happened to you as if you were writing to a specific friend (someone you know well) to tell him or her about it. That is, use the first-person style using yourself as the narrator.

2. Using first-person, write a few paragraphs about some event that happened to you, but instead of writing it like a letter, try to use what you think of as modern fiction-writing techniques.

3. Rewrite exercise 1, but this time assume the reader of your letter does not know you. As you write, think about the following questions. Have you provided the reader with enough information about the main character (you)? Have you written anything about character motivation (why you did what you did)? When describing the events of the story, did you do it through the main character's point of view?

4. Revise exercise 2 and add another character to the story. As you write, think about the following questions. Have you fully developed the character to make sure the reader likes, dislikes, approves of, or disapproves of the character? In other words, have you written it in such a way to make sure the reader "gets" the character in the way you intended. Did you use dialogue? Have you fully developed the scene of the story? Can the reader see the environment?

5. Advanced exercise. Write a few paragraphs in first person about another person in a way that actually characterizes the storyteller. For example, a paragraph that starts with the sentence, "She is one of those people who thinks the government owes her so-called welfare so she doesn't have to go out and get a job like the rest of us."


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