Point of View

When analyzing a work of literature, or trying to figure out your own story, it's helpful to ask yourself four questions:

1. Who Speaks?
2. To Whom?
3. In What Form?
4. At What Distance?

Who Speaks?

1st Person

• singular v plural
• central v peripheral

2nd Person

• where "You" becomes a character

3rd Person

• omniscient – having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding about all the characters thoughts and actions and all the events.
• limited omniscience – having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness and understanding about one individual character
• objective – only observing, not having any knowledge, awareness or understanding of any character beyond what's observed. Fly on the wall.

To Whom?

• an implied reader
• another character
• to self

At What Distance?

• Temporal – how much time has taken place between the story and the telling of it
• Emotional – how the narrator feels about the story
• Physical – where the narrator is standing in relation to other objects or characters. The only one that really changes throughout the story.