A basic explanation of point of view in stories

When it comes to writing a story, point of view is everything. It can be the difference between an engaging tale and a flat, boring one.

Think about it: when you read a book, you are essentially living in the skin of the protagonist. Everything that happens in the story is filtered through their senses and experiences. So, if the point of view is well-written and believable, it can make for a very immersive reading experience.

Conversely, a bad point of view can completely ruin a story. It can make the characters seem unbelievable, the events seem contrived, and the overall story just fall flat.

So what is point of view, exactly? In short, it is the perspective from which a story is told. This includes both the physical perspective (first person, third person omniscient, etc.) as well as the mental perspective of the narrator or protagonist.

The physical perspective is relatively straightforward. First person means that the story is being related by one of the characters in first person pronouns (I, me, my). Third person means it is being related by an external narrator in third person pronouns (he, she, they). And third person omniscient means that the narrator knows everything about all of the characters in the story - their thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

The mental perspective is a bit more complicated. It has to do with how reliable or unreliable of a narrator the character telling the story is. Are they trustworthy? Do they understand what is going on around them? Are they biased in any way?

This all might sound very technical and dry, but trust me - understanding point of view is crucial to writing a good story. It will help you create believable characters and craft an engaging tale that will keep your readers hooked until the very end.