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“I am an invisible man.”

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“Mrs. Dalloway said she would 
buy the flowers herself.”

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“You are about to begin reading 
Italo Calvino's new novel.”

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These three opening lines, 
from Ralph Ellison’s "Invisible Man,"

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Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs. Dalloway,"

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and Italo Calvino’s 
"If on a winter’s night a traveler,"

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each establish a different point of view.

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Who is telling a story, 
and from what perspective,

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are some of the most important choices 
an author makes.

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Told from a different point of view, 
a story can transform completely.

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Take this fairytale:

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"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,"
the Prince called, "let down your hair."

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Rapunzel unbraided her hair 
and slung it out the window.

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The prince climbed her tresses 
into the tower.

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Rapunzel is typically told like this, 
with the narrator outside the story.

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This point of view is called third person.

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But Rapunzel can also be told 
by a character in the story—

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a first person narrator.

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The tail end of Rapunzel’s locks 
plopped down at my feet.

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I grabbed on and began to climb… ugh!

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I couldn’t untangle myself.

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Strands came off all over me, 
sticking to my sweat.

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In a first person narrative, the story 
can change dramatically

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depending on which character
is the narrator.

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Say Rapunzel was narrating 
instead of the prince:

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I hope he appreciates how long it takes 
to unbraid 25 feet of hair, I thought.

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OUCH! I'll be honest; I thought my scalp
would stretch off of my skull.

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"Can you climb any faster?" I yelled.

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In second person, the narrator addresses 
the story to the reader:

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He calls your name. He wants you 
to let your hair down.

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You just finished braiding it, but hey–
you don't get a lot of visitors.

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Third person, first person, 
and second person perspectives

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each have unique possibilities
and constraints.

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So how do you choose a point 
of view for your story?

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Constraints aren’t necessarily 
a bad thing—

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they can help focus a story 
or highlight certain elements.

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For example,

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a third person narrator is necessarily
a bit removed from the characters.

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But that can be good for stories 
where a feeling of distance is important.

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A third person narrator 
can be either limited,

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meaning they stick close to one 
character’s thoughts and feelings,

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or they can be omniscient, 
able to flit between characters’ minds

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and give the reader more information.

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A first person story creates closeness 
between the reader and the narrator.

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It’s also restricted 
by the narrator’s knowledge.

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This can create suspense

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as the reader finds out information
along with the character.

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A first person narrator 
doesn’t necessarily

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have to represent the character’s 
experience faithfully—

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they can be delusional or dishonest.

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In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel 
"The Remains of the Day,"

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Stevens, an aging British butler in 1956, 
recounts his many years of service,

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but fails to acknowledge the flaws 
of the man he serves.

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The cracks in his narrative eventually 
draw the reader’s attention

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to the under-acknowledged failings 
of the culture and class system

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he inhabits.

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Justin Torres’s novel, "We the Animals,"

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begins with a plural 
first person narrator:

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“We were six snatching hands, 
six stomping feet;

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we were brothers, boys, three little kings
locked in a feud for more.”

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Partway through the story, 
the point of view shifts

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to first person singular,
from we to I, as the boys come of age

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and one brother feels alienated
from the others.

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Second person is a less common choice.

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It requires the writer to make the reader
suspend disbelief to become another “you.”

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Placing the reader 
in a character’s perspective

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can build urgency and suspense.

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Sometimes, though,

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second person is intended to distance 
the narrator from their own story,

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rather than bring the reader closer 
to the story.

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In these cases,

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second person narrators refer 
to themselves as “you” rather than “I.”

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Writers are constantly experimenting 
with fresh variations on point of view.

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New virtual and augmented 
reality technologies

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may expand the possibilities
for this experimentation.

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By placing people at a particular 
vantage point in virtual space,

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how might we change the way 
we tell and experience stories?