What is Point of View in a Story?

Choosing your story’s point of view isn’t just a technical decision. It’s a design choice rooted in emotional impact, character focus, and theme.

So ask yourself: Whose story is this?

Whose emotional journey is the reader following? Whose inner flaw are we establishing?

That’s how we decide on point of view, and your POV should ask those questions.

Here are the most common POV types and when you should use them:

1. First-Person POV (I, me, my)

This POV is best used for character-driven stories, especially when readers and/or the audience need to access the emotional depth of one character.

This POV is perfect for deeply personal characterization. It suits confession stories well. Use it when you want to hit that personal feeling of vulnerability we all share.

Emotional focus: internal conflict, vulnerability, voice-driven tone.

2. Limited Third-Person POV (he/she/they)

The limited third-person is exactly how it sounds. The narrator is not all-knowing but tells the story in third person, yet stays inside one character’s thoughts and emotions.

Limited third-person gives you some flexibility in your narrative, yet it still preserves that character intimacy you’re going for.

Emotional focus: The character’s inner struggle is felt by the reader with narrative distance.

3. Peripheral POV

A side character within the narrative tells the story about the protagonist.

Think: Nick in The Great Gatsby or Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Use this point of view to create intrigue. For example, when the protagonist is mysterious, guarded, and so it’s best revealed through another character’s lens.

Emotional focus: reflection, contrast, external moral commentary.

4. The Omniscient Point of View (all-knowing Godlike)

The narrator of the story can enter the mind of any character and so comment freely throughout the prose.

This POV is best used for plot-driven stories, large-scale universal themes, ironic twists, and/or social commentary on issues of today.

Emotional focus: broad worldview, emotional complexity across characters.

5. Unreliable Narrative Point of View

The narrator is limited, mysterious in some ways, could be biased, hiding something, or could even be a drunk.

Use this when the character’s misperception of experiences is the central conflict and tension in the story.

Emotional focus: truth vs. illusion, denial, discovery.

Design Tip:

Don’t just ask “What POV fits best?”

Ask:

 “Whose emotional journey needs to be seen and how closely?”

 “How much truth should the reader access and when?”

Your POV should be the deciding factor as to how the theme is revealed. It should influence how the character arc is experienced. Your POV also affects how much emotional truth your reader feels along the way.

Happy Writing!

M.C. Convery