 Drama: February 26, 2025 Issue [#12985] |
This week: Voice and Point of View Edited by: Joy  
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If somebody from the past doesn't rise up from the grave and start talking to me, I haven't got a book. I have to hear that voice, the voice of the narrator. How she sounds will tell me who she is, and who she is will tell me how she will act - and that starts the plot in motion.
Geraldine Brooks
The third person narrator, instead of being omniscient, is like a constantly running surveillance tape.
Andrew Vachss
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” Peter Drucker
“Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Jace shoot her a look of white rage - but when she glanced at him, he looked as he always did: easy, confident, slightly bored."
Cassandra Clare, City of Bones
“We disconnected. And I wondered if we had ever truly connected.”
Eric Jerome Dickey, Dying for Revenge
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. In this issue, I'll be talking about "voice" and the "point of view" .
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Have you every wondered or wasn't sure of the difference between voice and point of view? Although we writers use both and hopefully very well, usually we aren't consciously aware about the relationship of the point of view and the voice telling the story.
Simply put, "point of view (POV)" is who is telling the story, and what they know about it. It has to do with perspective and the events. On the other hand, "voice" is how the story is told. Before I go into any detail about these two friends, let me show their differences with some examples.
Example for POV in first person:
The storm started as I reached the house. I hesitated at the threshold as my shadow stretched long across the ground.
Example for the same information told in a serious, poetic voice:
The storm rolled in just as I reached the old house, its wooden frame groaning under the weight of the wind. I hesitated at the threshold, my pulse steady but alert, knowing that once I stepped inside, there would be no turning back.
Example for the same information told in a casual and a little sarcastic voice:
So, of course, the second I finally decided to visit this creepy old house, a storm showed up like it’s auditioning for a horror movie. Typical. I should have turned back, but nope, being me here I was, standing at the front door like an idiot, about to do the one thing every horror movie told me not to do. I murmured, "Go inside!"
Let's analyze the last two examples.
They have the same POV as both are in third-person limited (following the character’s thoughts and experiences only).
But they have different Voices:
First voice is serious, atmospheric, and dramatic.
Second voice is hip, modern, sarcastic, and self-aware.
This shows how voice changes the feel of a story, even when the POV stays the same.
So now, let's go see what the Point of View is about. As I stated in the beginning, POV shows who is telling the story and how much that narrator knows. It's about perspective and it determines how the reader experiences the events of the story.
The main types of POV (singular or plural) are:
 First-person ("I/we") – The narrator is a character in the story.
Second-person ("You") – The narrator speaks directly to the reader, making them part of the story.
Third-person limited ("He/She/They") – The narrator knows the thoughts of one character.
Third-person omniscient – The narrator knows the thoughts and experiences of multiple or all characters.
Now, let's go back again and take another look at "voice." Voice is about how the story is told—it’s the personality, style, and tone of the narration. No two voices may be alike. For example. two different first-person narrators (same POV) can have wildly different voices. As such, a voice could take shape as:
Narrative voice – The distinct style of the narrator (e.g., formal, sarcastic, lyrical)
Character voice – The way a character speaks or thinks, influenced by their personality and background.
Authorial voice – The writer’s unique style that shines through in word choice, sentence structure, and themes.
Just to illustrate, let me try to write the same above examples in third-person limited but in two different voices.
Example 1: Serious & Poetic Voice
The storm gathered over the house as Jason approached, wind pressing against the rotting wood with an eerie groan. He hesitated at the threshold, heart steady but tense, knowing that once he stepped inside, there would be no turning back. Shadows stretched long across the floor, whispering secrets only the lost could hear.
Example 2: Casual & Hip Voice
"Of course there was a storm. Just Jason’s luck. He stood at the front door, rain dripping off his jacket, debating whether this was the worst idea of his life or just in the top five. The house looked like every bad decision ever made in a horror movie, but here he was, reaching for the doorknob like a total genius."
As you see, the first example is the author's style of telling something. The two following voices are not as straight forward, as the first voice is poetic, moody, and atmospheric, while the second voice is informal, hip, sarcastic, and current.
Voice against point of view? Not against but together. Above all, writing is subjective. There may not always be clear lines. When we add voice to our POVs, however, we are more likely to get positive attention from our readers.
Until next time! 
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 Enjoy!
| |  | The Final Out (E)
A short story about the final out of a baseball final, told from three viewpoints.
#2043930 by Ben M  |
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 This Issue's Tip: Everyone has a voice. Sometimes it is hidden inside people. When found by writers, it adds style and energy to the work and enhances the story being told. So the tip is, don't be afraid of weird quirky details and tidbits.
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Feedback for "Which Point of View?"
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S 🤦 
I tend towards first and limited third person PoV. First works well in horror, so the audience learns things and experiences things as the narrator does. However, of the reader needs to have more info that the central characters, then limited Pov is fine.
I only use omniscient 3rd person PoV when I am doing an expansive fantasy-style story and several characters in several places need to be catered for. I find that jumping limited 3rd PoV, even if in chapters or section breaks, can be distracting to readers, so I try not to let that get in the way.
Having said that, of my five published novels, only the first is omniscient PoV, and that was a comedy adventure. 3 were limited 3rd and one was first person. So, they are all sellable to the right publisher and the right audience.
Thank you for your input. In fact, choosing the right POV is very important. I am not a fan of POV jumping either, especially if those jumps are not indicated in some way. I stopped reading a very famous author's book because she kept jumping from one person to another, and all in first person. I didn't know what it was that I was reading. I think she did that to give her prose some kind of a poetic tint but it confused me since it was a novel.
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