Hi YouTube!
Author Stefanie Newell and this is The Life Of A Writer channel today's video Point Of
View In A Story - The Basics.
So if you want to connect with readers and sell more books.
Make sure to subscribe and get new content to your inbox every Tuesday, but in this video
we're gonna be discussing the basics of point of view.
Now, this is one of those subject matters that you can really delve a lot deeper into.
But I wanted to start with the basics so that those of you who have an idea for a novel,
and maybe you've even started your novel, you're sure on the point of view that you
want to have for your particular story.
So in this video we're going to discuss the basics of the differences between first and
third person and then we'll also talk about ways that you can go about choosing a point
of view for your story.
So let's get into it...
What is point of view?
So in fictional writing point of view is the narrator's position in relation to the story
being told.
So let's start with first person point of view, and I want to start there because first
person tends to be the viewpoint that is the most comfortable for first time writers and
that's because that's the way we talk in everyday life.
So when we're speaking we're using pronouns like I, or me, or we or us and that's exactly
what you're going to do when writing in first person point of view.
Now when you're writing in first person point of view, you're coming from the perspective
of the "one" character.
So everything is coming through that characters eyes.
So obviously that has its pros as well as its cons.
Some of the pros are that you have a really intimate relationship between the reader and
the writer because you're really deep into the mindset of that particular character.
Some of the cons are that sometimes it's difficult to get the perspective or the feelings and
the thoughts of other characters within the story, because everything is coming from the
viewpoint of that "one" character.
And then also it can be very difficult to describe that main character because they're
telling the story themselves.
So with third person point of view, the narrator is going to describe exactly what the characters
do and what happens to them.
So for example, with third person omniscient, the narrator is going to know exactly what
is happening within the world and what is happening with each one of the characters,
whereas with third person limited the narrator only knows what's happening with the one character
as the story unfolds.
So what's the point of view for your story?
Please share in the comments section below.
So the main thing you want to consider when thinking about point of view for your story
is what is the expectation of the genre that you write in?
Now the reason why that's so important is because you don't want to steer too far away
from what the majority of people are doing and have proven to be successful.
And especially for new writers maybe as you get more skin in the game and you have learned
and mastered these different points of views, you may decide to step out, but when you're
starting with your very first book, you want to make it easy for yourself as well as for
your reader.
So you definitely want to stick with what the majority of people are doing.
So the first thing you want to do is you want to head over to Amazon and purchase a copy
copies of books within your genre or you want to use my tip which I absolutely love and
that's to use the Look Inside feature.
And I love the Look Inside feature because it allows you to see the first 15% of a book
and that gives you just enough information to kind of see the pronouns that are being
used, how the characters are being described, how the world is being described and that's
going to be so helpful for you so that you can figure out how you want to go about
choosing point of view for your story.
So once you've done that you want to just look and see what are the majority of the
authors using?
Now if there happens to be a split, then I suggest that you just go with the point of
view that feels most comfortable for you.
But if you see that everyone else is going in a certain direction, you definitely want
to take that direction as well.
So if you want to connect with readers and sell more books.
Make sure to subscribe and get new content to your inbox every Tuesday.
Otherwise, make sure you check out my entire playlist - How To Write A Good Fiction Book
where I walk you through the entire process of writing a fiction book from plot to characters.
As always, all of my social media links will be in the description box below if you're
looking to hire me as your writing coach you will find that information there as well and
I look forward to talking with you in my next video.