The first-person narrative point of view only gives the reader access to the narrator’s perspective of the events, characters and plot. It often includes the narrator’s experiences, observations, thoughts, feelings and motivations.

First person narrative is a point of view (who is telling a story) where the story is narrated by one character at a time. This character may be speaking about him or herself or sharing events that he or she is experiencing. First person can be recognized by the use of I or we.

The first-person point of view allows readers to feel close to a specific character’s point of view; it lets the reader in, so to speak. They only can know what the narrator knows, and this can make telling the story more difficult, depending on the plot and other characters involved.

The third person omniscient point of view is the most open and flexible POV available to writers. As the name implies, an omniscient narrator is all-seeing and all-knowing. While the narration outside of any one character, the narrator may occasionally access the consciousness of a few or many different characters.

Second-person point of view is a form of writing that addresses the onlooker or reader directly. For instance, the text would read, “You went to school that morning.” Learn more about this uncommon type of storytelling and get examples of it.

1. Second person pulls the reader into the action. Especially if you write in the present tense, second person allows the reader to experience the story as if it’s their own. To avoid a “choose your own adventure” feel or an aggressive tone, mix up sentence structure and add in description and dialogue.