1. Who is telling the story?
Point of View
Who is telling the story?

2. Different Points of View
First Person
Third Person
Story told through the voice of one of the characters
Easy to add “voice”
Reader knows what that character is thinking & experiencing
Good for emotional, scary, thoughtful stories
Story told through a narrator’s voice
Must add characters’ “voice” through dialogue
Reader knows what everyone is thinking & experiencing
Good for plot-driven stories with many characters & action

3. POV Pronouns First Person Point of View: I, me, my, we, mine, our
Third Person Point of View (Narrator): he, she, his, her, they, their

4. “Are you always this lucky?” Justin said when he got the ball back.
Michael didn’t need to look at the scorebook to know that he was the only one on the Clippers Justin hadn’t struck out yet. Michael was batting third today. Justin had come up and in on him his first time up, knocking Michael back off the plate and then glaring at him again afterward. But Michael had gotten back into the left-hander’s side of the batter’s box, dug back in, and promptly taken a low, outside pitch over the third baseman’s head and into the left-handed corner of the cool ballpark, the ball rolling all the way to a Home Depot sign out there.
As Michael came flying around second, he saw the left fielder having trouble picking up the ball and just kept motoring into third, cap flying off his head.
Stand-up triple.
“Are you always this lucky?” Justin said when he got the ball back.
Michael ignored him.
On the first pitch to Anthony, who was up next, Justin tried to throw the ball about two hundred miles per hour, and bounced the ball in front of the catcher, who had absolutely no chance to even block the ball.
-Excerpt from Heat by Mike Lupica

5. This is a story about baseball
This is a story about baseball. Since there is a lot of action that needs to be described to the reader in this story, the action can be described more effectively by a narrator than by one of the characters. This is third person point of view.

6. In the afternoon they spent a couple of hours together unsuccessfully searching for the ghosts. The Ghost Mother made sure Jack searched especially well in places the children never went. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, with Jack increasingly concerned about not finding the ghost children, but also having no choice except to rest in his room, still recovering from the asthma scares of the past few days.
In the evening, after they’d eaten—a quick meal, the Ghost Mother wanted to cook something more elaborate, but why risk increasing Jack’s suspicions?—she said she would be pleased if he spent a little more time with her by the hearth.
-Excerpt from Breathe by Cliff McNish

7. This story has many characters, and much of the action takes place when the main characters are not present. If it was told in first person point of view, the reader would miss out on learning important information needed to understand the story. That is why it is written in third person point of view.

8. Man, can you believe that chick? Typical.
As long as I’m cool and everything’s rosy, she’s fine. But the second the chips are down—is she sympathetic? Understanding? How about even civil? Isn’t a girlfriend supposed to be loyal and stand by you through thick and thin and all that?
Gimme a break. I don’t need this noise.
I’m just glad she let her true self show so I don’t waste one more second on her.
I never really thought Ruby was so hot anyway. If you want to know the truth, I don’t know why I stayed with her for all these months. Habit? Laziness?
I’m glad it’s over.
-Excerpt from The Cheat by Amy Goldman

9. This excerpt is absolutely full of voice
This excerpt is absolutely full of voice! You can hear the character’s voice and personality come through the words. The reader knows exactly what he is thinking in his head, without needing dialogue with another character in order to understand his feelings (interior monologue). It is a wonderful example of how powerful first person point of view can be.

10. Thursday
Tonight Mom came up to my room, and she had a flyer in her hand. As soon as I saw it, I knew EXACTLY what it was. It was an announcement that the school is having tryouts for a winter play. Man, I should have thrown that thing out when I saw it on the kitchen table.
I BEGGED her not to make me sign up. Those school plays are always musicals, and the last thing I need is to have to sing in front of the whole school.
But all my begging seemed to do was make Mom more sure I should do it. Mom said the only way I was going to be “well-rounded” was by trying different things.
Dad came into my room to see what was going on. I told him. I knew that Dad would take my side. Dad and Mom argued for a few minutes, but Dad was no match for Mom. So that means tomorrow I’ve got to audition for the school play.
-Excerpt from Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

11. Here is another example of how the reader can know the character’s feelings when we use first person point of view. However, with first person point of view we are limited to that one character’s inner thoughts—we don’t know what his mother or father are thinking about the situation. We only know the parents’ thoughts through their actions and the words they speak, as observed by the main character.

12. So what point of view should YOU choose?

13. So what point of view should YOU choose?
Are feelings, fright, or emotion an important part of your story?
Does your story have one main character that you want the reader to sympathize with?
Do you like to use a strong VOICE in your writing?
Does your character have interior monologues?

14. So what point of view should YOU choose?
Are feelings, fright, or emotion an important part of your story?
Does your story have one main character that you want the reader to sympathize with?
Do you like to use a strong VOICE in your writing?
Does your character have interior monologues?
If YES, choose first person point of view.

15. So what point of view should YOU choose?
Does your story have a lot of action?
Does some of the action happen when the main character isn’t present?
Are there several main characters?
Is it important for the reader to know what all the characters are thinking?
Is there a lot of background information that the reader needs to know?

16. So what point of view should YOU choose?
Does your story have a lot of action?
Does some the action happen when the main character isn’t present?
Are there several main characters?
Is it important for the reader to know what all the characters are thinking?
Is there a lot of background information that the reader needs to know?
If YES, choose third person point of view.