Perspective Vs. Point Of View ©
By Leslie King

I am sure that at some time in your life, each of you has had someone, (be it contest judge, editor, agent or just well meaning but misguided friend,) who read your work and in their critique made comments like, "This was too hard to follow, you make too many P.O.V. changes. I can't keep up with which character this is coming from." While I am sure that they all meant well, I am also sure that this was not necessarily correct. (Yes, I can hear you gasping and whispering. That's right, I said they might have been WRONG.)

The reason for this baffling enigma, is the oft-misunderstood difference between Perspective and Point of View. First, let us look deeper into the vague and mysterious term, P.O.V. (Point of View.) There are several different forms of P.O.V. that a person can use in their writing, but for this article, I will stick with the main three.

First Person Narrative. Example: I really think that judge is wrong. I know that I didn't change P.O.V. in my story. I might have changed perspective, but not P.O.V. (This P.O.V. is used to narrate action in which the writer participated.)

Second Person Narrative. Example: You really think that judge is wrong. You know that you didn't change P.O.V. in your story. You might have changed perspective, but not P.O.V. (This P.O.V. uses you as the focus. It is the least popular, and is used more in instruction manuals, etc. than in literature.)

Third Person Narrative. Example: Leslie really thinks that judge is wrong. She knows that she didn't change P.O.V. in her story. She might have changed perspective, but not P.O.V. (This P.O.V. is used to narrate action performed by people other than the narrator.)

As you can tell by the examples, P.O.V. is much more than simply changing which character is the narrator of the moment. Point of View, in simple terms, is nothing more than the narrator's relation to the action at hand. It is a writing style. The following would be an example of actually switching P.O.V.'s in your work:

I really think that judge is wrong. You know you didn't change P.O.V. in your story. Leslie might have changed perspective, but not P.O.V. (A bit confusing when you consider that I, you, and Leslie are all the same person!)

What your critics are far more likely trying to say is that you change perspective too often. This is much less confusing than P.O.V., and is simply nothing more than switching who is narrating your story at any given moment.

When you have two different characters in your story, it is easy to fall into the habit of frequently flopping back and forth between the two. Imagine that Leslie and James are both discussing this uninformed critic. This would be an example of changing perspective too often.

Leslie thought that judge was wrong. She had not changed P.O.V. in her story. James agreed, he thought that he might have changed perspective, but not P.O.V. Leslie was going to do something about it. She was going to write an article and share the distinctions between P.O.V. and perspective with people. James thought it was a good idea. Too many people mistook perspective for P.O.V. The two were actually quite different.

In this short paragraph, the narrator's perspective changes four times. This makes it hard to follow, and the reader loses the gist of the story just trying to keep up with who is thinking what. The last two sentences could have been thoughts from James or Leslie, and this is where we need to be more consistent in our writing. Consider instead, something like this:

Leslie thought that judge was wrong. She had not changed P.O.V. in her story, just perspective. She wondered if James would agree. She decided to write an article and share the distinctions between P.O.V. and perspective with people. She hoped that James would think it a good idea. Leslie believed that too many people mistook perspective for P.O.V.

Can you see the difference? While both paragraphs involve two characters, in the first one, we get both of their thoughts. In the second, we only get Leslie's thoughts. This makes for easier reading, and understanding.

I hope that you now have a better comprehension on the difference between these two, troublesome writing terms. While it is easy to confuse them, they are in actuality very diverse. Next time you are asked to critique someone's story, keep these distinctions in mind. You will not only be a better critic, but a better writer as well!

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