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Fictional Narrative Basics - Point of View
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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Identifying breaks in point of view is also helpful in revision, not because they are mistakes that need correcting like typos and misspellings, but because they are usually very revealing. Most often, a writer will break point of view for a reason, even if he or she doesn't realize it. In many cases this happens because the writer wants the reader to know some important piece of information that the character can't know, but the point of view is third person limited or first person.
It takes skill to get a first person narrator to reveal something to the reader that the narrator himself or herself does not know. If you find yourself making these kinds of breaks often, then you have an indication that the dramatic tension in your story relies on the reader knowing things the character doesn't and you might consider a point of view change. It is often helpful to think about what information you want your reader and each of your characters to know as a way of selecting the most effective point of view.
Beyond this, a thorough understanding of the elements of point of view allows for more precise fine-tuning of each element. Breaks of point of view and sudden unexpected shifts in audibility or psychic distance are jarring to the reader and may have them wondering more about how the story was written than what's going on in the story itself.
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This completes the point of view section of this discussion unit.
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