Pebblepup's Writing Den

In fiction, point of view is very important. It means to see the action from a single character. We all have a point of view.

When something happens in life, everyone can see it. It’s like camera angles in a movie. We only know what we see and hear. That’s our point of view. Someone else may have seen and heard the same actions as we did, but they had a different perspective.

Suppose you saw someone hit by a ball. You don’t see who threw the ball. So you have no idea why they threw the ball at the person. So you tell a cop or teacher, or some other person what you saw.

“I saw person A get hit by a ball.” That’s all you can say. That’s the facts as you saw them. Now imagine someone who was in a position to see the person who threw the ball joins you.

“Person B threw the ball. As person B let the ball go, a dog jumped on the person. The ball then flew in the wrong direction and hit person A.”

Well, you can see where I’m going with this. This is a good way to conceal action but still have it come out when you want it to. That’s good story telling. That’s what engages and interest your readers.

A note of caution, you have to be careful not to let your point of view jump from person to person. You need to let your reader know whose head you are in. You don’t want your reader to get whiplash from what I call head hopping.

If you can, stick to one point of view in each scene. It will be easier for your reader to follow the action. A good cue to give your reader a head’s up when you change the point of view character is to change scenes. Then mention the name of the point of view’s character before any other character’s name. This is common practice and not a rule. Here’s an example.

Annie raced down the hill on her skateboard. As she hurtled down the hill, she realized she was heading for a pothole. She tried to swerve around it, but started too late and fell off her skateboard. The ground rushed up to her face. There was a moment of pain, then nothing.

Bill watched the scene unfolding before him with horror. Annie was going to hit that pothole. At the last minute she leaned to the right. Her skateboard tilted and gravity did the rest. She slammed into the ground and lay still. He ran over to her.

You see how I changed the point of view character? Annie, being unconscious would not see Bill run up. I needed to show what happened so Bill became the point of view character. It’s a separate scene because it’s not from Annie’s point of view. It’s from Bill’s. The first scene gave the reader the rush of the run down the hill on the skateboard. The second showed the aftermath.

That is how point of view works. Be careful how often you change it, if you change it at all. If you aren’t sure whose point of view your scene is from, then your reader won’t be either. Make sure you know.