Class

Fiction Basics: Point of View

Point of view (POV) is often a question of camera angle (Wide shots or close-ups?) and access (Can we present the thoughts of one or more characters in addition to what they say and do?). POV is not simply a question of the 1st person (I said) or 3rd person (they said): you’ll need to consider issues of reliability, objectivity, distance, and audience. We’ll review the different types of POVs and their variations, and exercises will let you experiment with different forms to learn which one is the best POV for the story you want to write.