In the simplest terms, point of view can be defined as the perspective through which a story is being told. A story’s POV identifies three things:

1. Who is telling the story

2. The relationship between the narrator and main character

3. The distance between the characters and readers

Those things are all critical to how a story comes across to the reader, and shifting the POV—even if it’s just from one 3rd-person close narrator to a different one—can have a huge impact on how the reader interprets the story (and how much they enjoy reading it).

A singificant portion of contemporary short fiction is written in either 1st person or 3rd person close. And with good reason. First person is the most immersive of the POVs. Readers are instantly inclined to both trust and relate to a first-person narrator, and that can be useful for a writer. 3rd-person close, meanwhile, is kind of the Goldilocks of POVs, with the flexibility of a third-person voice and the anchoring and grounding of a single viewpoint character the reader can latch onto.

These aren’t the only options in the writer’s toolbox, though, and even these common perspectives are more complicated than they seem at first glance.

How does POV impact a story?

• It determines whose bias and perspective will color the story (and how much). Different people see the world in different ways, and the same is true of your characters. In a 1st person narrative, the viewpoint character provides this perspective. In 3rd person narratives, there can be layers of perspective, with both a narrator and character influencing how the story is told, or multiple characters giving their perspective on the situation. POVs like 3rd objective and 2nd immersive aim to strip away these outside perspectives to engage the reader more fully.
• It affects the intensity of emotions. The distance between the characters and the reader directly impacts how intensely the character’s emotions resonate and how deeply the reader identifies with them. There’s the least distance with 2nd immersive and 1st person, while 3rd objective represents the other extreme. More distance is a good thing for some stories, while others are at their best when the reader gets up close and personal.
• It establishes the tone. The narrative voice has a major impact on the tone and mood of the story as it comes across to the reader. Think of the mental pictures you get from the descriptions “looming building” and “lofty building”—both are tall but in a drastically different way.
• It impacts the pacing and reveal of information. An omniscient narrator can show any conversations, events, or characters inner thoughts and feelings, allowing the writer to present a broad scope or view. Other POVs are more limited in their scope, and can be more effective in stories where you want to keep certain things hidden, like a story built around a mystery or misunderstanding.

9 POV options for short fiction

1st Person – Participant

The story told in the “I” voice by a narrator actively involved in the plot, usually as the main character.

Best for: Stories driven by a mix of plot and emotion with a single narrative thread

Advantages:

• Fast suspension of disbelief and quick reader immersion
• Reader is instantly sympathetic to the viewpoint character
• Allows deep characterization of the viewpoint character
• Potential for unreliable narrators
• Easy to control the reveal of information, withhold information, and set up twists and dramatic irony

Limitations:

• Reader can only see the actions, thoughts, and emotions of the viewpoint character
• Can be cumbersome to fill the reader in on things the viewpoint character doesn’t see or experience directly

  

1st Person – Peripheral

The story told in the “I” voice by a narrator who is a witness to or minor participant in the story’s events.

Best for: Framing devices; stories driven by plot or character relationships

Advantages:

• Fast suspension of disbelief and quick reader immersion
• Allows for commentary on the events and characters from within the story world (as opposed to from the writer)
• Potential for unreliable narrators
• Easy to control the reveal of information, withhold information, and set up twists and dramatic irony 

Limitations:

• Thoughts and emotions of the main players in the story are obscured to the reader
• Can be cumbersome to fill the reader in on things the viewpoint character doesn’t see or experience directly

 

1st Person Plural

The story is told in the “we” voice by a community, hive mind, or other group of narrators who share a unified worldview.

Best for: stories exploring themes of identity, belonging, tribalism, and individualism vs. community

Advantages:

• Creates the feeling that the reader has been brought into a collective or community
• Potential for unreliable narrators

Limitations:

• Reader doesn’t have a single character to relate to and ground them
• Limited capacity to show thoughts and emotions of individuals within the collective
• Can create convoluted or confusing sentence structures and narrative

 

2nd Person Immersive

The story told in the “you” voice, where the reader occupies the role of the “you.”

Best for: Choose-Your-Own narratives; stories driven by emotion

Advantages:

• Reader is instantly immersed in the story and identifies with the “you” narrator
• Potential for conveying powerful and intense emotions
• Visceral and immediate

Limitations:

• Closeness of the voice can be overwhelming for the reader
• Viewpoint character must be kept fairly vague and unversal to keep the reader fully immersed
• Limited ability to convey thoughts and emotions of characters within the story

 

2nd Person Epistolary

The story is told in the “you” voice addressed to another character.

Best for: Stories told as letters; stories driven by the emotions within a single relationship

Advantages:

• Reader feels instantly immersed in the main relationship
• Visceral and immediate
• Works well for conveying the emotional impact of interpersonal interactions and changes or evolutions in that relationship

Limitations:

• Can easily come off as maudlin, melodramatic, or overly sentimental
• Can’t show the thoughts and emotions of the character being addressed

 

3rd Person Close – Participant

The story is told in the “they” voice, through the lens of a specific character who is actively involved in the events of the story.

Best for: stories driven by plot, imagery, or emotion; stories with complex, multi-thread plots

Advantages:

• Allows for characterisation of viewpoint character through their thoughts, feelings, and how they perceive the world
• Gives the reader an anchor to ground them in the story without asking them to relate to or identify with said character as strongly as a 1st person POV
• More flexibility to show events that happen out of view of the main character
• Freedom to play with voice and imagery without as much risk of reading as inconsistent
• ·Easy to control the reveal of information, withhold information, and set up twists and dramatic irony

Limitations:

• Can’t show the thoughts and emotions of other characters in the story
• Extended passages where the viewpoint character isn’t present can still feel clunky, jarring, or inconsistent

 

3rd Person Close – Peripheral

The story is told in the “they” voice through the lens of a specific character who is telling a story they witnessed, heard, or were a minor participant in.

Best for: frame devices; stories driven by plot, character relationships, or imagery; stories with complex, multi-thread plots

Advantages:

• Gives the reader an anchor to ground them in the story without asking them to relate to or identify with said character as strongly as a 1st person POV
• Allows for both in-world commentary on events through the viewpoint character and authorial commentary through the narrative voice
• Freedom to play with voice and imagery without as much risk of reading as inconsistent
• Wide flexibility to show events involving multiple characters or settings without needing to justify how that knowledge was learned in the text

 Limitations:

• Can’t show the thoughts or emotions of the main players in the story
• Harder to create emotional resonance, immediacy, and suspension of disbelief

 

3rd Person Omniscient

The story is told in the “they” voice by a god-like narrator that can see the inner thoughts and emotions of all characters.

Best for: stories driven by character relationships, emotions, or imagery; stories with complex, multi-thread plots

Advantages:

• Full freedom to show what any character thinks and feels
• Wide flexibility to show events involving multiple characters or settings without needing to justify how that knowledge was learned in the text
• Useful for conveying multiple sides or perspectives of nuanced, complex conflicts
• Allows for both in-world commentary on events through the viewpoint character and authorial commentary through the narrative voice
• Freedom to play with voice and imagery without as much risk of reading as inconsistent

Limitations:

• Lack of a defined anchor can make it hard for the reader to feel grounded
• Requires restraint to avoid overwriting and careful selection of viewpoint characters to maintain the story’s focus, pace, and energy
• Intensity of each character’s emotions is diminished compared to a closer POV

 

3rd person Objective

The story is told in the “they” voice by a detatched narrator who observes all characters from the outside.

Best for: stories driven by character relationships; stories on topics with high inherent emotional intensity

Advantages:

• Invites the reader to interpret the narrative without influence, bias, or commentary from the narrator or characters
• Wide flexibility to show events involving multiple characters or settings without needing to justify how that knowledge was learned in the text
• Transparency of the voice brings extra clarity to complex plots or non-standard forms

Limitations:

• No inner insight into any character’s thoughts or emotions
• Limited ability to use imagery and descriptive language to establish a mood or tone

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