Different POV's in Books | Point of View

I don't know if Point of View is important to you, but it sure is to me. For those who didn't (probably not you),the narrator's perspective we get on a book is the POV. Basically, the author's role in the story. The character whose head you are in. This stuff may feel weird, so I'll make it simpler.

First Person- You are in the main character's head. The author, aka the the protagonist. This Perspective gives us close access to the thoughts and feeling of the main character. You know what they feel, think, smell, and all that stuff. It's pretty cool because you are a bit like the BFF of this character and you know things about this character that the other characters don't. Unless it's a suspense novel and the protagonist chooses not to make their best friend or tell you all their secrets. But don't worry, coz in most good books, you find out by the end.


Second Person- This is pretty rare in fiction. (I'm saying that coz I've never com across a novel in which I'm the protagonist though that would be awesome). You may find this writing in self help books or journals, which address you. This makes the book feel personal and forces you to take action.

The Night Circus*
Booked*

Third Person-
Omniscient: The author observes the story from a distance. He/she plays the role of a narrator and shows the bias or preference towards any of the characters and the reader (you) gets complete knowledge of the entire plot. What I mean is, one chapter could be following the protagonist of the story, and the next one could be about a side character having a bath on the other side of the world. I like to imagine the narrator in these kind of books as god, sitting in space, able to see what happens everywhere at any given point of time. This writing can get annoying if the author uses head hopping in a not so very subtle way.


Limited: The narrator plays a small role in the story. We understand the story only from their perspective and know only what they do at any point in the story.

Eleanor and Park*
The Giver*

Multiple Perspective- The same story is told from various perspectives of different characters. This can be fun as we see what two characters feel about the same incident.


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* We haven't read these books but the rest are read and reviewed.

Saloni Porwal

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