If we look back at the origins of storytelling, I posit that there are two natural viewpoints from which stories can be told: the first person past tense, and the third person omniscient.
Choosing Viewpoint: The Third Person Limited
Third person limited past tense might be the single most dominant viewpoint in genre fiction today.
Choosing Viewpoint: The First Person
This first post will cover the first person past perspective and the first person present perspective, the next post will be on the third person limited past and present perspectives, and the third in the series will address the third person omniscient in past and present tense.
A Certain Point of View
It's been awhile since we've posted a writing technique post, so coming off of reading Steering the Craft, it seemed like a good idea to share a little more of my continuing efforts to improve my writing. Specifically, I'd like to talk about points of view, because I realized as I was reading Steering the Craft that I might have been thinking about my POVs incorrectly for years. For those who aren't familiar, POV (point of view) is the literary term for the perspective from which a piece is written.
