Viewpoint

This is the handout on viewpoint I said I'd post. I see that I'd revised it a bit since the version I gave out at last night's meeting--not a lot, just tried to make it smoother.
Joyce

Choices:(You’ll see these called by various names, but it’s essentially the same list.)
1. Unlimited viewpoint (or Omniscient, or Omniscient narrator).
Third person (using he or she.) An unseen, unnamed, implied narrator—presumably the author—tells the story, but is not part of it. This narrator sees everything, hears everything, knows thoughts and feelings of all characters. Sometimes the unseen narrator may seem to have a definite voice and personality; other times the narrating voice is neutral, so that the reader may forget it’s there.

2. Objective viewpoint (or scenic, or camera-eye, or fly-on-the-wall.).
Third person. This has similarities to the unlimited viewpoint, but here the scene, action and dialogue are reported as if through a camera. The camera does not know thoughts and does not comment. The author chooses where and how to aim the camera, though, and those choices can affect the reader’s interpretation.

3. Limited viewpoint:
May be either in first person (using I) or third person (he or she.) Very rarely you may see a story using the second person (you.) We are inside one of the characters in the story, and experience everything through that person’s eyes and with that person’s mind. We know only that person’s thoughts and feelings. The person will need to be present for all events shown, or will need to learn about the events in some logical way.

The viewpoint character may be the main character, or one of the main characters, in the story, or may be another character who is present, but not one of the central actors in it. The viewpoint character may or may not be a reliable reporter of the events. Unreliability might mean the character is not telling it straight, or it might simply mean the character doesn’t understand everything. For example, the viewpoint could be that of a young child, and from things the child thinks and sees, the adult reader might understand more than the child-character does. The viewpoint character cannot know exactly what any of the other characters is thinking or feeling. The reader can get the idea from what the character says, though, or there might be some body-language that gives a clue. The viewpoint character might also have his or her own ideas about it (which might or might not be correct.)

A story can have more than one viewpoint character—one person can take the viewpoint role for some sections and another for other sections. If you have more than one viewpoint character, most of the time it works best to stay with one of them for a while (a whole scene, or a whole chapter, etc.) before switching to another. If you try to move back and forth within the same small space it can easily feel scattered, and can also get confusing.

Staying with one viewpoint for a defined amount of time isn’t an absolute rule, although it probably comes pretty close to one. But there aren’t any out-and-out ‘absolutes’in creative writing, and you’ll see some excellent exceptions to this one. It does take a fair amount of skill to make it work, though. If you’re going to move around among characters within the same scene, it’s important that you know you’re doing it, that you’re in control of the process, and that it works well in this particular story.