First Person vs Third Person POV - Your Unique Writer Voice

First Person vs Third Person POV - Your Unique Writer Voice

​A unique writer voice can make your book or screenplay stand out. However, to create a compelling, consistent voice through your story, you need to understand the nuances of point of view (POV), particularly first person vs. third person. In this guide, I tell you what you need to know. 

What is a writing voice?

A writing voice is the tone a writer uses to tell a story. Though characters can have their own voices, the writing voice refers to the overall voice telling a story. With first-person POV, the voice is that of a specific character. In many other cases, it belongs to no character.

Voice is important because it plays a key factor in the style of a story. Is a story told in a sarcastic way that pokes fun at the characters? Or, is that story told in a matter-of-fact fashion that gives the reader information without any direct opinion?

​These are two drastically different examples that would drastically alter the story's style. If you're trying to capture a certain style, you need to be mindful of voice. And that means you need to be mindful of POV...  

What is a writing POV?

​A POV is the perspective a story is told from. The two main options are first person and third. In first, the story unfolds from the perspective of a character, who speaks with "I." In third, various characters can be the subjects of specific scenes, yet they are referred to by name, not "I."

POV is important because it helps define voice and style, but also because it plays a major role in how information is delivered to your reader. When writing from the perspective of a subject character, you can only discuss information that character would be aware of - in a given scene, the reader can only know as much as this character.

​Because of the various nuances associated with POV - which we'll discuss later in this post - writers often make POV mistakes. Unfortunately, these can make you come off as an amateur.

As I went over in my post on dialogue writing, publishing-company employees, film producers, and consumers will often only read five or so pages of your story before making a decision to continue or not. If you have a POV error on those opening pages, you'd be giving someone a reason to stop reading.

What are the types of POV in writing?

As mentioned, the two major POV categories are first person and third. However, within third are various distinctions. The four key POVs:
​

• First person
• Third person, limited, close
• Third person, limited, distant
• Third person, omniscient

If you're writing a book, you can choose any of these four POVs. Once you pick one, you need to stick with it through your story, though. Thus, be sure to select the one that'll let you tell your story in the most impactful way. 

If you're writing a screenplay, you don't have any choice about POV. Scripts tend to be written in third-person omniscient.

​Below, find a detailed breakdown of the four key POVs. If you want even more advice on developing a great writer voice, check out my Powerful Pages online writing class. 

What is first-person POV?

• The story is told in a direct way by a POV character (who tends to be the protagonist), referred to as “I” even outside of dialogue.

 

• Every chapter of the book tends to be told from the POV of this one character (though exceptions exist).

 

• The events of the story are limited to the POV character’s experiences and knowledge – this character must be present in every scene.

 

• The POV character can only describe things he is able to perceive – for instance, if he is 1,000 feet from two characters engaged in conversation, that conversation can’t be featured in dialogue since the POV character would not be able to hear it.

 

• Only the POV character’s direct thoughts or feelings can be expressed (ie, internal monologue), however, he can speculate on the direct thoughts or feelings of any other character.

 

• All descriptions, internal monologue, and even narration are conveyed in the voice of the POV character.
  

​

• The POV character’s dialogue is in his own voice, however, the lines of other characters are spoken in their voices.

What is third-person, limited, close POV?

• Each scene of the story features a single POV character – unlike first person, however, this character is not referred to as “I” outside of dialogue, but rather, by name or third-person pronoun.

 

• Though the protagonist is often the POV character, unlike with first person, various other POV characters tend to appear through the book. 

 

• The details of a scene are limited to the POV character’s experiences and knowledge – this character must be present in the scene.

 

• The POV character can only describe things he is able to perceive – for instance, if he is 1,000 feet from two characters engaged in conversation, that conversation can’t be featured in dialogue since the POV character would not be able to hear it.

 

• The POV character is the only one in a scene whose direct thoughts or feelings can be expressed (ie, internal monologue), while those of other characters can be suggested, though not confirmed (ex, “Jane seems mad” is okay, while “Jane is mad” is not okay). 

 

• With close third person, all descriptions, internal monologue, and narration are told in the voice of the POV character, even though “I” is not used.

 

• The POV character’s dialogue is in his own voice, however, the lines of other characters are spoken in their voices.

What is third-person, limited, distant POV?

​

• Each scene of the story features a single POV character – unlike first person, however, this character does not speak with “I” outside of dialogue, but rather, is referred to by name or third-person pronoun.

 

• Though the protagonist is often the POV character, unlike with first person, various other POV characters tend to appear through the book.

 

• The details of a scene are limited to the POV character’s experiences and knowledge – this character must be present in the scene.

 

• The POV character can only describe things he is able to perceive – for instance, if he is 1,000 feet from two characters engaged in conversation, that conversation can’t be featured in dialogue since the POV character would not be able to hear it.

 

• The POV character is the only one in a scene whose direct thoughts or feelings can be expressed (ie, internal monologue), while those of other characters can be suggested, though not confirmed (ex, “Jane seems mad” is okay, while “Jane is mad” is not okay).

 

• With distant third person, descriptions, internal monologue, and narration are not told in the voice of the POV character, but instead a voice that does not belong to any character, rather, a third party.

 

• This third-party voice tends to have the tone of a neutral observer, telling the story in an objective, straightforward way, however, this tone is not required – the author can choose any tone, yet is encouraged to stay consistent with one throughout the book. 

 

• The POV character’s dialogue is in his own voice, however, the lines of other characters are spoken in their voices.

What is third-person, omniscient POV?

• The idea of a POV character doesn’t exist.

 

• Any character in a scene can have his direct thoughts or feelings expressed (ie, internal monologue).

 

• Scenes are not limited to any character’s experiences, knowledge, or perception – any character can be, or not be, in any scene.

 

• Descriptions, internal monologue, and narration are not told in the voice of a specific character, but instead a voice that does not belong to any character, rather, a third party.

 

• This third-party voice tends to have the tone of a neutral observer, telling the story in an objective, straightforward way (screenplays use this tone), however, for books, an author can choose any tone, yet is encouraged to stay consistent with one throughout book. 

 

• All dialogue is expressed in the voice of the speaking character.

Leveraging POV for a distinct writing voice

As mentioned, with first-person POV, your story's overall voice becomes that of the protagonist. With third-person POV, however, the overall voice is fused together by various factor, such as:

• Are you using a close or distant POV?

 

• If you're using a close POV, is the main character the subject of the vast majority of scenes? Is another character - like your villain - the subject of many scenes too? In what way do the voices of these characters clash? 

 

• If you're using a non-close POV, is the outside voice that of a neutral observer or an opinionated one? 

Dialogue, description, internal monologue, and narration play important roles in capturing the voices of individual characters and the overall story. To learn expert-level techniques for these on-page elements, enroll in my Powerful Pages course. 

---

You might also like my posts on descriptive writing and characterization.