Point of View
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Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told – whose eyes the audience sees the events through. This includes how much that narrator knows or is thinking, what they’re feeling, and what information is revealed. In personal storytelling, point of view is, by definition, first person, since the storyteller is sharing their own lived experience. But even within a first person point of view, there can be variation in how that perspective is presented.
An important choice within a personal story’s point of view is the time-frame. A story can be told as the person is living through the event in real time, uncertain of how the future will unfold, or from the perspective of looking back with the full knowledge of how events resolved. Each option creates a different relationship with the audience.
Point of view also determines what the audience is allowed to know at each turn of the narrative. A storyteller recounting a conversation can share what they observed or later learned, but they can’t claim to know what another person was thinking unless they learned that directly. It’s critical that storytellers respect that reality and refrain from inventing someone else’s private thoughts.
Shifting point of view partway through a story – moving from a moment of uncertainty to the clarity of hindsight – can be a powerful practice in personal storytelling. It lets an audience feel the confusion of not knowing at one point, then finally understand the situation, all within the same story.
Examples
“I didn’t know, standing in that hallway, whether the surgery had worked. All I knew was the sound of my own heartbeat and the too-bright fluorescent lights, and no amount of hoping was going to speed up the wait.”
“Looking back now, I can see exactly where that year went wrong, though at the time, living inside it, I genuinely believed everything was fine.”
“I don’t know what my father was thinking the night he left. I only know what I saw: a duffel bag by the door and a note that said less than I needed it to.”
“At seventeen, I thought getting rejected from that school was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I understand now, twenty years later, that it was the best redirection I never asked for.”
“I’ve never asked my mother what she was actually feeling that day, and maybe I never will. All I can tell you is what I saw on her face, and what I’ve imagined ever since.”
these resources will make it more impactful!
The Essential Literary Techniques
The Essential Literary Elements
The Essential Literary Devices
Ten Fundamental Story Blocks