Point of View: Who is Telling the Story (and to Whom)

In this seminar, we’ll look at Point of View from a different perspective. (See what I did there?) While a writer’s choice of a narrator for a story (or essay, or even a poem) is critical and one that most writers put a great deal of thought into, we may spend less time identifying to whom the story is being told. And by that I don’t mean who the ideal reader of the piece might be, but the fictional audience to whom the narrator is speaking. This choice, like choosing the narrator, will impact the work’s tone, language, and distance. We’ll examine some recent and older examples of fiction where the identity of the listener is clear and others where it’s less clear. We’ll also try some exercises in which changing the listener will also significantly change the writing.