---
name: point-of-view
description: "Guides point of view, narrative voice, tense, person, and indirect narration in fiction and nonfiction. Use this skill whenever the user asks about POV, first person, third person, omniscient narrator, limited third, detached narrator, observer-narrator, narrative voice, tense choice (present vs past), person of the verb, changing viewpoint, POV shifts, unreliable narrator, indirect narration, polyphony, or 'whose head am I in'. Also use when a writer's POV is inconsistent, when diagnosing tense problems, or when helping choose the right narrative perspective for a story."
---

# Point of View and Voice

Point of view is who tells the story and what their relation to it is. Voice is the sound of the telling. They are so intimately connected as to be the same thing. POV is also the single most common source of unconscious errors in fiction — writers shift viewpoint without knowing they've done it, and readers feel the wobble without being able to name it.

## The Five Principal Points of View

### 1. First Person
"I" is the viewpoint character, centrally involved. Only what "I" knows, feels, perceives, thinks, guesses, hopes, and remembers can be told. The reader infers others only from what "I" observes.

**Strengths**: Intimacy, voice, immediacy.
**Dangers**: Can become claustrophobic; tempts the writer to make every character sound the same; limits information delivery.

### 2. Limited Third Person
"He" or "she" as viewpoint character, with the same essential limitation as first person — nothing is seen or known except what this character sees and knows. Switching from first to limited third is not as simple as changing pronouns; the imaginative energy is different for both writer and reader.

**Strengths**: Intimacy without the constraints of "I"; can shift between characters (with care).
**Dangers**: Accidental POV slips into other characters' thoughts; one-sentence incursions that break the contract.

### 3. Involved Author (often called "Omniscient")
No single viewpoint character. The author can enter any character's mind, describe things no character is present to see, make judgments, interpret behaviour. The oldest, most widely used, and most versatile POV — and probably the most difficult for contemporary writers to handle well.

**Strengths**: Maximum flexibility; can provide context no character possesses; allows authorial commentary.
**Dangers**: Can feel distant; requires a strong, confident authorial voice; easy to handle clumsily.

### 4. Detached Author ("Fly on the Wall")
No viewpoint character. The narrator reports only what a neutral observer could infer from behaviour and speech, never entering a character's mind. The least overtly but most covertly manipulative POV — everything is controlled by what the narrator chooses to show.

**Strengths**: Creates mystery; forces the reader to interpret; can produce powerful understatement.
**Dangers**: Emotional coldness; readers may not connect with characters.

### 5. Observer-Narrator
The narrator is a character but not the principal one — a witness rather than an actor. Available in both first and third person.

**Strengths**: Can observe the protagonist from outside while maintaining a personal voice; creates natural mystery about the protagonist's inner life.
**Dangers**: The observer can upstage the protagonist; limits access to the protagonist's thoughts.

## Tense

### Past Tense
Gives continuous access to before and after. Minds move around easily as they normally do. Like sunlight — illuminates everything.

### Present Tense
Narrower field of vision. Focused on action in a single time and place. Sets up a permanent artificial emergency. Like a narrow-beam flashlight.

Present tense can be exactly right for fast-paced action or a character whose engine runs hot. But many writers use it from fashion rather than choice. If you always write in present tense, some verb forms in your head may not have been activated for a long time.

### Two-Timing
Switching between past and present tense without awareness or signal is one of the most common and disorienting errors. Every tense shift must be deliberate and serve the story.

## POV Shifts: The Rules

You can change point of view. It is your right as a fiction writer. All that is required: **know that you're doing it**.

The hierarchy of difficulty:
1. **First ↔ third person** — enormously difficult in a short piece; uncommon even in novels
2. **Detached ↔ involved author** — essentially impossible within a single piece
3. **Between viewpoint characters in limited third** — possible but must be handled with awareness

The final rule: you can shift from one viewpoint character to another any time you like, **if** you know why and how, **if** you're cautious about doing it frequently, and **if** you never do it for a moment only. One-sentence POV shifts are always uncomfortable.

## Indirect Narration

Not all storytelling is direct scene and action. Indirect narration includes:
- **Exposition** — necessary information delivered without dumping it as lectures. Break it up, grind it fine, and make it into bricks to build the story with.
- **Polyphony** — letting characters speak in their own voices, not as mouthpieces for the author.
- **Character by indirection** — describing a place to reveal its inhabitant; describing an aftermath to reveal an event.

## POV Diagnostic Checklist

- [ ] Can you name the POV type being used? (first, limited third, involved author, detached, observer)
- [ ] Is the POV consistent within scenes?
- [ ] Are there accidental one-sentence slips into another character's thoughts?
- [ ] Is the tense consistent? Are any shifts deliberate and signaled?
- [ ] Does the chosen POV serve the story? (Would another POV work better?)
- [ ] If the protagonist's subjective filter is the POV, does it color everything?
- [ ] Is exposition integrated into the narrative, or dumped in lectures?
- [ ] Do secondary characters have their own voices, or do they all sound like the author?

## When to Read Reference Files

- **For detailed POV types and voice guidance** — read `references/pov-types-and-voice.md`
- **For tense, person, and the passive voice** — read `references/tense-and-person.md`
- **For indirect narration and polyphony** — read `references/indirect-narration.md`
- **For the protagonist's subjective filter and emotional POV** — read `references/protagonist-filter.md`

## Exercises to Offer Writers

1. **Points of View** — Devise a situation with several people. Write it five times: limited third (character A), limited third (character B), detached narrator, observer-narrator, involved author. Feel how each changes the story.
2. **The Old Woman** — An old woman doing a task while thinking about a past event. Version 1: one tense throughout. Version 2: the other person, switching tenses between "now" and "then". Do not search-and-replace pronouns — rewrite, because changing person and tense changes the story.
3. **Changing Voices** — Write a 300-600 word narrative shifting POV between characters with marked changes. Then rewrite it shifting POV without obvious signals. The ice is thin.
4. **Pure Dialogue** — Two people in a crisis, written as A and B with no description or stage directions. Everything about character, setting, and situation must emerge from what they say.
5. **Being the Stranger** — Write from the viewpoint of someone you dislike or find alien. Suspend judgment. Inhabit them. See the world through their eyes.
