Welcome to Day 3!
We’re officially on Day 3 of the challenge now, and today we’re still talking about narrators…but we’re building on what you did yesterday and moving into point of view, or POV.
Before we get there, though, I want to clear up a couple of things that came up yesterday, because a few of you had very similar questions, and I think addressing them directly will make today’s lesson make a lot more sense.
Clarification from yesterday
One thing that came up was some confusion about which character the narrator should be.
Your narrator does not have to be a character in your book.
It doesn’t have to be someone we ever meet. It doesn’t have to be someone you ever acknowledge. It can be an outside entity that is watching the story unfold.
But—and this part is important—even if your narrator is an outside observer, they still need to have:
a personality
a way of speaking
and a point of view of their own
There is no such thing as a completely neutral or objective perspective. Someone is always deciding what the reader sees, what the reader has access to, and what the reader does not see.
So even if your narrator is just “watching” as some random entity, you are still controlling that narrator, and that narrator is still shaping the story for the reader.
Part of that shaping comes down to how close the narrator is to the story, which is exactly what we’re talking about today when we talk about point of view.
Hopefully this will also help clear up some of the confusion about whether your narrator needs to be a character we meet or acknowledge. And today’s work might help you iron all of that out on your end. (Remember: it’s okay if things change! Stories are alive; they evolve.)
A quick note on reading recommendations
Before we dive fully into POV, one other thing:
A few people emailed asking for more recommended reading after I mentioned Big Magic. So I’ve put together a recommended reading list inside The Canterbury Bookshop’s digital storefront on bookshop.org.
Quick disclaimer (as always): I do own The Canterbury Bookshop, so if you use my link, the bookshop does get the business. If you don’t want to use my link, that’s completely fine.
What I would encourage is buying from an independent bookshop if you can. If you use bookshop.org, you can choose any independent bookshop in the UK to receive credit for your purchase, rather than sending it to Amazon. If you have a local shop you’d like to support, this is a great way to do that!
Some highlights from the list:
On Writing by Stephen King: part memoir, part masterclass, and one of the best books about writing I know
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: great for thinking about creativity as a practice (yes, a bit woo-woo, and yes, she’s controversial)
Rick Rubin’s book on creativity, The Creative Act, which has become huge over the last couple of years
The Artist’s Way, which a lot of writers have worked through, especially for practices like morning pages and artist’s dates
I’ll put the link to that reading list below, and I’ll also keep it linked in the footer of future emails and add to it as things come up.
Okay…on to today’s lesson.
Today’s topic: point of view (POV)
When I say point of view, or POV, I’m talking about two related things:
The first is the grammatical point of view: the pronouns you’re using.
The second is how close your narrator is to what’s happening in the story.
We’re going to talk about tense tomorrow, so today we’re just focusing on pronouns and proximity.
Part 1: Grammatical point of view (pronouns)
The most common way people think about POV is grammatical, and that comes down to pronouns.
You have three main options:
First person
This uses the I pronoun.
“I did this.”
“I thought this.”
“I woke up and this happened.”
This is very popular, especially in genres like romance, because it puts the reader directly inside one character’s experience. The advantage is that we get access to that character’s internal world: thoughts, feelings, reactions.
The limitation is that we don’t get access to anyone else’s internal world.
Second person
This uses you.
“You wake up in the morning and notice the sun hasn’t risen.”
This is rare, and it’s difficult to sustain for a whole book, but it can work.
(I’m working with a writer right now who’s writing an entire book in second person, and it’s actually really good.)
It can be a fun thing to experiment with, but it is definitely a stylistic challenge and can feel jarring for some readers.
Third person
This uses he, she, or they.
This is what a lot of books use: I, for example.
It’s an outside observer describing what’s happening.
Third person gives you the most options, which can be great…but it can also make things harder, because more choice means more decisions to manage.
So the first decision you need to make today is simply: which pronoun set are you using?
Part 2: How close your narrator is to the story?
The second part of point of view is about proximity: how close your narrator is to the characters.
This matters most with third person, but it’s important in first person too.
If you’re using third person, you need to decide:
Can the narrator see inside everyone’s head?
Or only one character’s head?
Are they following one character like a fly on the wall?
Or can they see everything, everywhere, all at once?
A narrator who can see inside everyone’s thoughts and feelings is a third-person omniscient narrator.
A narrator who can only see inside one character’s head—usually the main character—is much more limited, and that limitation needs to stay consistent. (Third person limited)
(I once worked with a writer who had a third-person narrator that stayed very close to the grandfather in the story. We could see what he thought and felt, but never the granddaughter’s internal world.
Then, in the second-to-last chapter, suddenly we were inside the granddaughter’s head, and it was incredibly jarring, because the narrator had changed without warning.)
So…consistency is key.
Whatever you choose, you need to be clear about what your narrator is privy to, and what they are not.
If you’re using first person, the same rule applies. We should only see and feel what that person sees and feels. We don’t suddenly get access to other characters’ internal worlds.
Your assignments for today
You have two main tasks today.
1. Choose your grammatical POV
Decide whether you’re using:
first person
second person
or third person
2. Decide how close your narrator is
Tell me:
which characters your narrator can see inside
whether they follow one character or several
and what information they are privy to
Then…
Once you’ve decided, put the following in the comments below this post:
the grammatical POV you’re using (first, second, or third)
how close your narrator is to the characters in the story
Extra credit (optional)
If playing with POV has made you realise that your premise or narrator needs to change, that is completely fine.
If that happens, please put that in the comments as well. That kind of realisation is exactly what this stage is for.
Troubleshooting + chat
Because this can be a tricky day, I’m also going to open a troubleshooting thread in the chat.
If you’re confused, torn between options, or just need to talk it through, that’s the place to do it.
If you don’t want to use the chat, you can still put everything in the comments or email me directly at shelly@academyofstory.com.
Before I go
I hope you’re having fun with this, because I’m having so much fun reading your premises, narrators, and seeing what you’re all working on!
I’ll see you tomorrow for the next part of this, and we’ll keep building from here.
Talk to you soon,
Shelly x
