Viewpoint
Your story must be told from a point of view. There are two basic narrative viewpoints that can be used in creative writing - first person and third person.
First person: This is where the narrator (the storyteller) is a character in the story. “I walked into the room and saw Sarah” is an example of first person narrative.
Third person: This is where the narrator is the writer. “John walked into the room and saw Sarah” is an example of third person narrative.
You can switch viewpoint from chapter to chapter, especially if you’re telling the story from the view of several characters. Do not switch viewpoint in the same paragraph as this makes your writing sounds poor.
Can’t decide on first person or third person when writing your story? Take a few scenes and write it in both perspectives, keeping the details exactly the same and compare them later.
As an exercise, try writing in first person perspective but use the present tense (and if you’re in the mood for them we have more writing exercises). Try to make it sound like your hearing the character’s thoughts as events around them unfold. I tried this in one of my stories “Hollow” and found it was very hard to stick to the present tense. (As a side note, this exercise can improve your writing by getting you into the practice of writing active, rather than passive sentences.)
If you’re narrating a story try telling it to a friend and use a dictaphone to record what you say and then use that to write your story.
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