Overview Voice: Point of View

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

“Any story could be written from any point of view.” Jack Hodgins

Then Hodgins asks, what effect does the material need to have?

Several weeks ago we looked at how tone is expressed throughout the story in several ways. It includes the writer’s voice in that it will be consistent with his/her work worldview and the point of view from which the story is being shared. Tone includes attitudes, the world at large, the genre, the age group, and the physical setting. Tone grows organically in response to the character’s background, attitudes, dynamics, and insights as well as purpose.

However the decision regarding the narrator’s point of view will determine the degree in which tone and voice influence both the story and the reader’s reception.  In fiction point of view is often either omniscient, third person, or first person. In non-fiction the point of view most often translates into informational, camera angle, or personal narrative.

Each perspective, each choice, has limitations and possibilities and, according to Hodgins, also carries a responsibility to deliver. The choice not only involves the material but also the reader’s experience.

So, how to choose?

First take a look at what feels most natural to you and your voice. What form do you gravitate to both as a reader and a writer?

Action Steps:

1.     Look at your current stack of books you are in the process of reading.  Make a list of the point of view perspectives.

2.     Do you have a variety or one in particular? By choice or not?

3.     Look for similarities and differences in particular genres or topics.

4.     Which appeals to you personally? Why?

            Share: What narrator persona do you want to be for this specific story you are writing? Why?

Read deep, marcy