Writing a story involves making many choices, and one of those choices is which narrative perspective you want to use. So, what is actually meant by ‘narrative perspective’, and why does it matter?

‘Narrative Perspective’ Definition

When we talk about the narrative perspective, we’re talking about the point of view a story is told from. Who (or what) is telling the story, and how they’re related to the plot and characters.

There are a bunch of options for this, and people will passionately defend their preferred options. It largely comes down to personal choice—you can tell a great story with any narrative perspective. But there are some commonly accepted advantages and disadvantages of each perspective choice, so we’re going to talk through these!

Once you’ve planned your story, if you don’t have a strong feeling already about which perspective you want to use, you can weigh up what’s going to best serve your plot.

First Person Narrative Perspective

We’re going to start with the closest point of view: first person. This means your narrator is a character in the story, often the main character, narrating from their own perspective.

“People usually start life by being born. Not me, though. That’s to say, I don’t know how I came into the world.” – Walter Moers, the 13 ½ lives of Captain Bluebear

Let’s start with the advantages. With a first person perspective, your readers are right in the head of one of the story’s characters. This can make it easier for readers to empathise with your character, especially if they make questionable choices or behave in a way that might make them seem unlikable! It creates a close relationship between the reader and the character (and, by extension, the story). It’s also easy to introduce surprises in a first person narrative, because in this perspective the reader is limited to knowing things that the narrating character knows. This does also lead us into the disadvantages though!

One of the main problems with a first person narrative perspective is that it’s inherently limited. It can be hard to balance subtle foreshadowing with not giving too much away for your readers. They can’t see anything the narrating character doesn’t see, so it can be difficult to highlight things that will be important later in a way that doesn’t tip your hand.

Switching First Person Perspective

This is a variation on standard first person, in which the narrative perspective swaps between characters. This is particularly popular in stories with ensemble casts—stories where multiple characters are equally important in the story.

The advantage of switching up the point of view character is that your reader gets more angles on the story. You can tell the story from several places or periods of time, without losing the intimacy of the first person perspective.

On the other hand, switching between perspectives can make it hard for readers to get invested in any of the point of view characters to the same extent that they would if there was just one. Also, it’s difficult to make the different narrators sound distinct, which can be off-putting to readers.

Close Third Person Narrative Perspective

With a third person narrator, the actions of the characters are described as if by another person.

“Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.” Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere

Close third person, specifically, means the narrator is ‘close’ to the main character. The narrator doesn’t know anything that character doesn’t, or doesn’t know much that they don’t. They can’t describe what other characters think or feel, only what they do. It offers very slightly more flexibility than a first person narrative perspective, with a lot of the same opportunity for that intimate reader-character relationship.

Of course, for some people those advantages are essentially the disadvantages! Close third person has a lot of the same disadvantages of first person. Namely that the reader can’t be given information that your main character doesn’t have. Also, the use of third person puts readers at a remove from the main character. This means they don’t get the same closeness as they would with first person.

You can also use the switching perspective trick with close third person. It has basically the same pros and cons as switching first person perspective, although you don’t have to worry about making the narrative voices specific to the characters with the third person point of view.

Third Person Omniscient Perspective

I’ve talked in more detail about the third person omniscient narrator before, but I’ll go over the basics here!

With this kind of narrative perspective the narrator is still external, referring to the story’s characters with he/she/they etcetera, but this time they know everything. It’s not as popular these days as it used to be, but it can be a fun one to play with. It can make your readers feel like they’re getting the full, objective truth of the story. It’s easy to share information with readers, in fact, it can be difficult not to, since the narrator is aware of everything that all of the characters are doing, thinking and feeling.

So, the disadvantages are that it’s hard to hide things from your readers with this point of view. If you do hide things, it can feel kind of contrived. Also, it’s the most distant from any of the individual characters, making it more difficult to create the kind of intimate reader-character bond that comes with a closer perspective.

Second Person Perspective

This is probably the most unusual narrative perspective to come across. In this, the audience is almost turned into a character by use of ‘you’.

It’s attention-grabbing, and it really forces a reader to identify with the story. They’re being told it as if it’s something they are participating in, so it really breaks down any distance between the reader and the narrative!

On the other hand, some readers will find it hard to get on with. Especially if they’re being told that they think or feel things that don’t ring true. It can also be a very limiting perspective to use, since you can’t communicate anything that the main character (or the reader) can’t directly experience through the course of the story.

What’s Your Favourite Narrative Perspective?

Either for reading or writing? I used to be 100% for close third person, but I may be slowly shifting in towards first person. What do you like best? Let us know in the comments!