Creative Writer's Study on "Voice" By Deborah Owen At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Every story and every article has a "voice". What do we mean by voice? It is the angle from which your story is viewed. No one point of view (POV) is right or wrong.

* First person point of view pronouns are: I, me, my, mine, and we. New authors usually write in first person because they feel more focused and closer to the story when using "I". And it truly does draw the reader in closer.

But there are at least two problems with this approach. For one thing, the constant use of "I" is a problem. For another, the story's character can only know what the writer knows, and can only see things from that point of view.

For example, if John says, "Susan is going to meet me at seven o'clock," and in the meantime, Susan falls, breaks a leg, and lies helplessly on the floor, John will not know what happened to her until someone tells him. First person POV is better reserved for memoirs, journal entries, and specific stories that should be told from that angle.

* Second person POV pronouns are you, (singular), you (plural), and yours. Example: "You must come with me to the Christmas play. You and I will have popcorn and lots of fun. Your hat is on backwards." As you can see, this point of view is even more limiting, and is never used.

* Third person POV pronouns are: he, she, it, and they. There are two kinds of third person writing. In third person omniscient, the reader is like a fly on the wall. They can even see into people's minds. This POV limits the suspense since the reader is left with very few unanswered questions – but it is easy to write because the author can provide solutions to questions by making a character think it, or by changing perspective. He doesn't have to work at "showing" the scene.

* In third person limited, your story won't show internal dialog (thoughts), and the characters won't foreknow things. As in first person, the reader can only see through the character's eyes, but they can see through the eyes of various characters. The difference is that the writer can skip from one character to another to see through their eyes, whereas in first person, we can only see through one character's point of view. Thus the word, limited.

In third limited, the suspense builds as the writer shows the scene instead of telling it. The reader lives the story as the character lives it. Here is an example from The Perfect Crime:

"Harrison slumped against the car, collapsed on the ground, and rolled in agony as he clutched his chest. Vision blurred. His eyes rolled back and eventually settled into an empty glaze that resembled a blind stare."

Editors buy more third person limited than first person; however, it takes a little longer to learn because it depends on showing, not telling. Let your readers feel your characters as they experience the gamut of emotions.

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