When writing  your story, one of the most important things to consider is what point of view to write your story in. There are four you can use which are first person, second person, third person limited and third person all-knowing. In this entry, I am going to discuss only two, and those are first person and third person limited. The reason is simple, while I know the basics of second person and third all-knowing, I have never used them in my own writing and therefore lack precise knowledge on the benefits and drawbacks to either of the point of views. Since I am not qualified to talk about them I am not gonna, plain and simple! Now that we have that out of the way my Padwans (yes I know I spelled it wrong, too lazy to change it and a little too fond of it at this point) let's get to the lesson!

First person is the most commonly used POV you're gonna see on Wattpad and why is that? Because first person is the easiest point of view to write for one simple reason, it's familiar to us. When we tell a story in every day life, we only have our own perspectives on the situation. You only have one set of thoughts on the matter-your own. First person point of view is much the same way. You only have one characters point of view on events. You are limited to what they see, hear, taste, smell and touch. That is all you have to tell the story. And that right there is what makes first person a great starting point for new writers-we know how to tell a story with those sort of limitations because that is how we tell our own.

Now, those limitations can be a drawback. Like I said already, whatever your point of view character does not see, hear, taste, touch or otherwise experience is gone from the story until it is somehow introduced to them. It can make parts of the story unclear or confusing for your reader. And so you're forced to include interactions or lessons within the text that you might have been able to skip out on if you have opted to use third person point of view.

Example of this Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

Within that story there's a newborn army terrorizing Seattle and Bella knows nothing about it. She knows nothing of newborns, how they work as an army or anything of that nature. To compensate for this fact, Bella has to get a history lesson via Jasper. When Bella had access to the information the reader did to, but not up until that point.

And yes, one can argue that you can have more than one person narrating in a first person story-and yes you can do that. Shiver by Maggie Stefiaver, Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen and Legend by Mary Lu all had multiple narrators with first person point of view and yes, that can cover the gaps, Narrator A might not know something, but Narrator B might know it and boom! Reader can know what's going on while Narrator A is in the dark and we get some of that delicious dramatic irony! But even having multiple narrators in first person point of view can have drawbacks too.

Namely this; when you have multiple narrators in first person it can be really hard for the reader to keep track of who is talking. I and me are what you use to narrate in first person and while familiar I and me are not specific. I and me applies to everyone and does nothing to make anyone stand out.

So yes, first person has some drawbacks, but it also has benefits! Namely, first person is easy to write in. We know how to tell stories with those blinders and limits. We are right in our characters heads, we have access to their most intimate thoughts and feelings and we can get those down on paper. First person is also easy to read for many of the same reasons but most importantly first person connects the reader with the characters emotions and draw them into the story.

Now onto third person limited. In many ways, third person limited is a great deal like first person. You are in one characters head at a time, but unlike first person the words "I" and "me" are not used within narration unless in spoken dialogue. Third person limited uses "he, she, him," or "her" when referring to the narrator of the story. In many ways this takes off some of the limits of first person-namely the problem of confusing narrators and that is because  the words he/she/him/her are specific. This takes out the question of who is speaking, at least to some degree which can help cut down on the question of 'who's head are we in now?'

But while that problem is gone or at least severely diminished  but others take it's place. Third person limited is impersonal. You are not in the narrators head. You are not seeing inside their heads and seeing events from their eyes. You are an outside viewer. You are looking down at the story through a one-way mirror. That also makes third person limited harder to write in-though you have access to the thoughts and feelings of your characters, you are also not right in there. You are on the outside looking in.

Example of this, Harry Potter by JK Rowling

Right off the bat in the very first book you see this happen, the outsider looking in-the author starts by telling her readers that "Mr and Mrs Durlsey of Number Four Privet Drive..." (yes I can actually quote the entire line, I just won't do that here) and you would never see that in a first person narration. That's too impersonal to fit there.  This is talking about the characters as though they are not currently present or performing an action.

So this is pretty much it-the basics of the two most common POVs in novel writing here on Wattpad and in some areas of the publishing world. Neither are perfect and neither is better or worse than the other. It always depends on the story, the writer and what they feel comfortable doing and then proceed accordingly.

That's it for this entry, any requests or suggestions for the next entry let me know in the comments!

Write on! :D