by Nori J. Muster, 2003
There are several techniques you can use. Most beginning fiction writers prefer the "close third," which means that you tell the story from the point of view of your main character. It's easy because you always stick with the main character. Your reader only sees what the main character sees. You readers can only see inside one character's head to hear their thoughts. For example, "Sandy walked inside the building and was bewildered by the sights and sounds. She thought to herself, this isn't what I expected." etc., etc.
close third is the easiest for a new writer, but it certainly isn't the most flexible. For example, if something vital to your story happens on the other side of town, your character must find out about it for the reader to know.
The "close third" can easily be converted to first person. For example, "I walked inside the building and felt bewildered by the sights and sounds. It wasn't what I expected." etc., etc.
Sometimes the close third is best for an autobiographical story. I wrote my first book from the viewpoint of my main character "Lori," but later changed it to first person. It was just easier to imagine the events happening to someone else.
Most beginning writers use either close third or first person.
More complex points of view are the omnicient, where the story line moves from person to person, or just an overview, as though the narration can cover anything that's happening at any location in the world. Although it allows more flexibility, and is useful for more complex plots, it's much harder to carry off in a convincing way.
Another viewpoint technique is to have a narrator. The classic example is "One flew over the Coo-coo's nest," where the story is narrated by an asylum patient who observes the main charcter. This works in detective novels, where the detective describes the twists and turns of his case and tells you what's going on. If you use this technique, keep in mind that it's more difficult and there are a few rules you must observe. First, the narrator has to tell you things you need to know. The narrator cannot come out at the end and say, "Oh yes, and I actually had the mystery solve by page 95 but I didn't want to spoil it for you." Also, the narrator has to be honest. You can't have a surprise at the end where the narrator says, "By the way, I fibbed about Doc being at the lake last night, because he actually was at the crime scene but I didn't want to tell you." Also - and this is most important - the narrator cannot turn out to be the murderer. For example, "And it was me. I killed the judge, but led you on a wild goose chase for the last 200 pages." If you use the character-narrator technique, your narrator must be honest, interesting, and frank throughout the whole story. Also, the reader can only find out what the narrator finds out. So you can't have any omnicient narration, like: "He didn't know it, but across town the Mafia was getting ready for their next big job." The whole story must come from the lips of the narrator.
Experiment with the various styles and find the one that you find comfortable using. Choose one and stick with it throughout your story.
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