Last night’s “Third Wednesday Free-For-All” (May 15, 2019) featured a lively examination and discussion of “Point of View” as an element of narrative. Some of the points raised included of course the predictable definitions, followed by the predictable quibbles over the definitions, and the equally predictable bristling from some quarters over the notion that there are “rules,” about such things.

Some questions thrown on the table deserved more response than we were able to give however, so I’m posting a few thoughts here in hopes that members (or passersby) might be moved to elucidate with commentary.

To wit:

  • Do you find a particular narrative voice (First/Second/Third Person with the various types of Third Person) easiest to work in?
    • any idea why?
    • is that your default selection when beginning a new piece or do you still go through a selection process?
  • Do you find one particularly difficult to work in?
    • any idea why?
    • have you given up on writing in that voice or do you still exercise in it?
  • Do you select the voice for your piece before you begin work on a new piece?
    • if so, do you often find yourself changing mid-composition?
    • Changing back?
    • Flip-flopping like a moribund mackerel?
  • What’s your usual response (as a reader) to a piece of fiction that varies the voice between first/third persons, for example?
  • What’s your usual response as a reader to a First Person narrative that changes the narrator?
  • Are you a hard-core “point-of-view nazi?”