Point of View: How a Story Thinks

Whether you are just beginning to think about a story you want to write or are in the middle of a project, experimenting with point of view can be productive, help jump-start your writing, and help you to better understand the central truths in a narrative.

Even when a piece of fiction employs an omniscient narrator, someone is still telling that story, making choices, directing the reader’s attention. How do you choose point of view? For some writers, determining the most fitting point of view for a story might be an instinctive decision. Others allow the narrative strategy of each piece to help them choose. In this course, we will define and explore some of the many ways one can deploy point of view. In-class writing prompts and exercises and lively discussion of selected readings will help us in the process.

Your writing will be the primary focus of our weekly workshops, which will offer a comfortable and creative setting for writers of all levels of experience to share their work. The class will focus on providing participants with constructive feedback on the story as a whole, as well as on the uses and effects of different narrative strategies and points of view. Our ultimate goal is to enhance you toolkit as a fiction writer.