Imagine it’s your job to tell the story of what happened in the Super Bowl football game. Naturally, the more you know about the game of football, and the more you know about the players, the better your story will be. Also, you’re going to want to choose the right type of narrator.
Are you confused about the different types of narrators? Well, you came to the right place! We are going to learn all about narrators and points of view. Let’s get started!
Mind Reading: Does the Narrator Know What the Characters Are Thinking and Feeling?
Now, imagine that you can read the players’ minds as they play the game. Would you be able to tell a better story or a different kind of story if you knew every thought and feeling that every player had? I think so! Well, that’s exactly what a “Third-Person: Omniscient” narrator can do.
In contrast, a “First-Person Narrator” cannot read the minds of the other characters any more than you or I can in real life. Although we all make guesses at what people are thinking and feeling, we don’t truly know.
For more on narrator mind-reading, be sure to read Narrator Point of View and Mind Reading.
The Two Types of Narrators
We have two types of narrators: 1) first-person narrator and 2) third-person narrator. We can break those two types of narrators into six kinds of narrators.
1. Narrative: First-Person Point of View: Central Character
2. Narrative: First-Person Point of View: Peripheral Character
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3. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Objective Point of View
4. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Omniscient Point of View
5. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Limited Point of View (aka Close Third)
6. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Shifting Point of View
Although we do have second-person pronouns, there is no second-person point of view. Be sure to read The Two Types of Narrators or Speakers in Writing.
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Our Super Bowl Narrators
Once again, in our Super Bowl story, we can use two basic types of narrators:
1. First-Person Narrator: A first-person narrator is both a character in the story and tells the story from his or her point of view. Readers see the story through the eyes of this first-person narrator. As the writer of the story, you are that first-person narrator.
In our Super Bowl story, our first-person narrator is a player on the football field playing the game. Our first-person narrator is a part of the game and the action and a character in the story. As the writer of the story, you are that player.
2. Third-Person Narrator: A third-person narrator is an “eye in the sky” observer that tells the story. In effect, we don’t know who the narrator is because the narrator is not a part of the story. Third-person narration is a matter of grammar choices in that the narrator does not use any first or second-person pronouns (outside of quotation marks). The third-person narrator uses only nouns and third-person pronouns.
In our Super Bowl story, our third-person narrator is an “eye in the sky” watching the game on TV. This helps us grasp that our narrator is removed from the story’s action and is an observer. Our third-person narrator is watching and telling what happened. As the writer of the story, you are that eye-in-the-sky observer.
We will now break these two types of narrators into our six types of narrators! We must choose a type of narrator to bring consistency to our piece of writing. As writers, we want to have a clear vision for our piece of writing before we begin writing. We create this clear vision in prewriting, which saves us a great deal of time in rewriting!
First Person: The Narrator is a Player on the Field
We have two types of first-person narrators.
1. Narrative: First-Person Point of View: Central Character: You’re a player on the field. You know what you think and feeling as you play the game. Additionally, you can see the other players’ actions and behaviors in great detail, and you can hear what the players around you say.
2. Narrative: First-Person Point of View: Peripheral Character: Everything from above applies here; however, you (the narrator) focus on the star quarterback’s game. It’s his final game, and he’s playing with an injury, and he’s breaking every record in the record book. As Sherlock Holmes once said, “Genius needs an audience.” You are a witness to his playing genius!
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Third Person: The Narrator is Watching the Game on TV
In grammatical third-person narratives, the narrator never uses the words “I” or “we” outside of dialogue or quotes. The third-person narrator is not a part of the story; the third-person narrator is simply an observer and storyteller.
The Power of Third-Person: Jumping to What’s Interesting and Exciting?
The third-person “eye in the sky” is in a powerful position. In short, this narrator is in charge of all the TV cameras in our Super Bowl story. Our third-person narrator can zoom in to any part and every part of the field and watch and listen to anything the narrator chooses. Put simply, our third-person narrator can observe anything it wants to!
To tell a great story, the third-person narrator will only report what is most interesting and exciting, especially the action and the various forms of conflict.
Let’s Explore Our Three Types of Third-Person Narrators
Remember when we talked about mind reading at the beginning of all of this? Well, the one thing that makes these three types of third-person narrators different is their ability to mind read. For more on narrator mind-reading, be sure to read Narrator Point of View and Mind Reading.
Let’s take a look!
3. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Objective Point of View: As a third-person objective narrator watching the Super Bowl game on TV, you can report on what you know, what you see, and what you hear people say. Remember, you can see and hear everything you want to. Our goal is to tell a great story! However, you can’t read any of the players’ minds. You are simply observing and telling the story that you see in front of you. Once again, the more you know about the game of football and the players, the better your narrative story will be.
4. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Omniscient Point of View: As a third-person omniscient narrator watching the Super Bowl game on TV, you can report on what you know, what you see, and what you hear people say. Remember, you can see and hear everything you want to. Our goal is to tell a great story! However, you are also an all-knowing mind reader! This means that you can report on what all of the players are thinking and feeling and their entire life experiences. After all, by definition, omniscient means all-knowing.
5. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Limited Point of View (aka Close Third): As a third-person limited narrator watching the Super Bowl game on TV, you can report on what you know, what you see, and what you hear people say. Remember, you can see and hear everything you want to. Our goal is to tell a great story! To be honest, mind reading is hard work. It isn’t easy to keep track of everyone’s thoughts. Therefore, with limited viewpoint, you mind-read only one player: e.g., the star quarterback who is playing his final game. As narrator, you stick close to this one player, which is why “Limited POV” is also called “Close Third POV.”
6. Narrative: Third-Person Point of View: Shifting Point of View: Shifting Point of View is usually a “Limited Point of View” that shifts to different characters in different chapters or sections of a book. Be sure to read the section above again if you’re not sure what “Limited Point of View” is.
Since the Super Bowl has four quarters, we can easily divide our Super Bowl story into four sections. Our third-person narrator will follow or “stay close” to one quarterback using “Limited Point of View” in one quarter, and the next quarter, the third-person narrator will change and “stay close” to the other quarterback. We will start a new section or chapter of our writing at each quarter break.
Quarter 1: Follow Quarterback #1
Quarter 2: Follow Quarterback #2
Quarter 3: Follow Quarterback #1
Quarter 4: Follow Quarterback #2
That’s how we write Shifting Point of View.
