Ceative Writing Journal Assignments

Points of View

third person -- uses "he or she"

omniscient: the narrator knows all and tells all, including the thoughts and feelings of the characters and actions taking place simultaneously in different locations
limited: the narrator follows one character around, only tells what he/she knows and experiences
alternating limited: the narrator follows one character at a time, but alternates between two (or more) perspectives

fly on the wall: allows you to talk about anyone, but you are restricted to descriptions of the exterior. You can't tell what any character thinks or feels
stream of consciousness: the narrator is able to get inside character's head
We discussed how omniscient and limited may be seen as two extremes of third person narration in terms of person and how fly on the wall and stream of consciousness may be seen as two extremes of consciousness (interior thoughts or exterior description).

first person -- uses "I"

central character: the narrator is a character in the story and is involved in the main action of the story. S/he can only tell what s/he knows (at the time the story is told).
witness: the narrator is a character in the story, but is not central to the story. He/she observes the action, but may be drawn into the action to a greater or lesser degree
epistolary novel: two narrators write back and forth to one another. The story comes out through letters, diary entries, etc. (This can be a combination of first and second person and is similar to alternating limited third person.)

reflective: older character thinking about the past (almost omniscient)
removed: character tells the story after it happens
immediate: character tells the story as it happens
We discussed how central and wintess can be seen as two extremes of how close or removed the narrator is from the action in terms of perspective, and how reflective, removed, and immediate can be seen as a range of how close or removed the narrator is from the action in terms of time. The more time that has passed since the events, the more a narrator's (faulty) memory might come into play, but also the more information the narrator may have learned from other people. So a reflective first person narrator can be nearly omniscient if s/he has learned what other thought or experienced.

second person -- uses "you or we"

personal: refers to a specific other person
impersonal (general case): refers to people in general
Second person narrative is rare in fiction, though it can be done. More often the second person is used in a lyric poem.

Other issies in point of view

In any of these techniques when the narrator is not omniscient, you can tell what other characters know and think through dialogue. The narrator simply can't tell what other characters are thinking or sometimes even tell information of which the main character is unaware.

In any of these techniques, the narrator may comment or analyze the actions or motives of the (other) characters to a greater or lesser degree. A third person narrator, though unnamed and not referred to directly, can develop as a kind of character if his/her commentary or analysis becomes prominent. The narrator can also be reliable or unreliable. He or she may not tell or may not be aware of the truth (or may tell his/her version of the truth that is contradicted or challenged by other characters or information in the story)

Related to the immediacy or remoteness of the narrator, is the tense of the narration. Any point of view can conceivably be told in either present or past tense, though present tense narration limits the amount of information the narrator can know and the amount of reflection or analysis.

The personality of the narrator will be reflected in the kind of language used or the voice of the writing. With narrators that are also characters, the voice should match the character (at the moment the story is being told, though not necessarily at the moment of the action in the case of a removed or reflective narrator). If the narrator is not a distinct character, the narrative voice should still remain consistent as a general rule.

Persona is when a poet takes on a character rather than speaking in his or her own voice. The most intense form of this would be the dramatic monologue, though to a certain extent any poem makes use of a persona which is not quite the poet (even if the poem is autobiographical), so we talk about the 'speaker of the poem' rather than the poet when discussing poetry.

Perspective is the more general term used to discuss point of view. It refers to the angle of vision on your subject and can include the type of narrator but can also indicate the distance from your subject in terms of space (close-up or wide-angle vision), familiarity (an experienced or naive view), and the bias of the speaker or narrator.