Point of view helps set the mood of the story. There are two major types.  First person is narration from the point of view of a single character, as though the character were speaking, writing about, or reflecting on the events. Because of this, stories in first person have more leeway with grammar and colloquial language. This type of narration puts one character in the foreground with an intimate knowledge of his or her thoughts, feelings and motivations.

The second type is third person and can be split into three subtypes. Objective third person is the literal fly-on-the-wall approach. The narrator only knows what is physically happening and knows about thoughts and feelings based on assumptions made due to the actions of the characters.

Omniscient limited third person focuses on a single character, but has intimate knowledge of that character. This narrator knows about that particular character’s thoughts, feelings, secrets, and other internal, personal information. Omniscient third person narration has intimate knowledge about all the characters. The best way to think of this subtype is that the narrator sees and knows all.

Second person may also be used, although it seldomly works well. It is best used for youth choose-your-own-adventure books.

If you can’t decide, try writing a short section of your story in different types (usually first person and one type of third person) and use the one that best captures the mood of your story.

Note: You may switch point of view between chapters, and even paragraphs, although be cautious when doing this. Switching point of view too often or within chapters can become confusing or even messy.