Source: Eye, Firas, Flickr
Writing a good short story involves planning and organization. For this reason, you may want to spend a few minutes thinking about how you want to tell your story in terms of perspective, or point of view. To help you think about point of view, let’s go back to the short scene in this lesson’s introduction. In particular, let’s look at the somewhat unusual point of view from which the scene is written: second-person singular.
As you probably know, a story written from this point of view uses the pronoun “you,” thereby giving the reader the feeling of being a character in the story. When choosing the point of view of your story, keep in mind that the plot generally centers on one character’s personal journey. First-person point of view will allow you to show the reader how the character thinks and feels without relying on the plot’s events to bring the character to life.
Watch this short video about point of view.
Use your knowledge of point of view to answer the following question having to do with second-person narratives.
Which of the following statements best illustrates the reason the author chose the second-person point of view for the opening scene in this lesson? (Note: Keep in mind the author’s purpose for writing this lesson and the audience who will read it.)
The author likely uses a second-person point of view because—
A Word about Conventions
Source: the written word, palo, Flickr
When writing in response to a prompt, one thing to keep in mind is how your point of view affects other English conventions such as verb tense and subject/verb agreement. In your writing, you need to observe these rules and other usage conventions (e.g., logical sentence connections, correct punctuation, and vivid word choice). This alone will go a long way in ensuring that your readers can easily follow the action in your story. Remember also that adding believable dialogue, as in the opening scene in this lesson, is also a powerful tool that you can use to help make your characters come alive for your reader. Now let's turn our focus back to point of view.
A story written in first-person point of view places the narrator at the center of the story and uses pronouns such as I, we, and my. Use your notes to create a different version of the scene from this lesson’s introduction by changing the point of view from second person to first person. As you revise, remember to be mindful of the English conventions mentioned above. When you’re finished, check your understanding to see a possible response. You can copy and paste the text from the introduction into your notes.Say you are sitting in Mr. Thomas’s third period English class. It’s a Monday morning in early May, but it’s already 85 degrees outside—springtime in Texas. As you fish your notebook out of your desk, you hear your teacher’s voice from the front of the room.
“All right, before we get started on our writing lesson, I need to remind you about the timed writing exercise scheduled for Friday.”
You exchange shocked looks with your friend across the aisle. Swallowing hard, you blurt out, “What exercise? We don’t know about any exercise this week.” Turning to your friend for support, you begin saying, “You didn’t tell us . . .”
Before you can finish, Mr. Thomas answers. “Now I know to some of you this might come as a bit of a shock,” he says. Looking in your direction, he continues. “This is not a surprise,” he says. “In fact, you might say that in one way or another, we’ve been preparing for this writing exercise since the holiday break.”
“Oh, that,” you say, relaxing a bit. “Now I remember. Short stories, right?”
Mr. Thomas nods, smiling benevolently. “That’s right, Robert. Short stories, the things we’ve been reading, studying, and writing since the holidays. Now it’s time to try one on your own in one period and in a space of less than 30 lines. You’ll need to remember everything we have talked about in terms of planning, organization, and writing. But that shouldn’t be a problem. You have all done so well on literary text reading and writing up to now that it’ll be as easy as taking a dip in Barton Springs and twice as satisfying!”
You and your friend roll your eyes.
“He always says something cheesy like that,” your friend says.
You let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, it makes you wonder if he’s ever been to the Springs!”
Sample Response:
I am sitting in Mr. Thomas’s third period English class. It is Monday morning in early May, but it’s already 85 degrees outside—springtime in Texas. As I fish my notebook out of my desk, I hear my teacher’s voice from the front of the room.
“All right, before we get started on our writing lesson, I need to remind you about the timed writing exercise scheduled for Friday.”
I exchange shocked looks with my friend across the aisle. Swallowing hard, I blurt out, “What exercise? We don’t know about any exercise this week.” Turning to my friend for support, I begin saying, “You didn’t tell us . . .”
Before I can finish, Mr. Thomas answers. “Now I know to some of you this might come as a bit of a shock,” he says. Looking in my direction, he continues. “This is not a surprise,” he says. “In fact, you might say that in one way or another, we’ve been preparing for this writing exercise since the holiday break.”
“Oh, that,” I say, relaxing a bit. “Now I remember. Short stories, right?”
Mr. Thomas nods, smiling benevolently.
“That’s right, Robert. Short stories, the things we’ve been reading, studying, and writing for a while now. Now it’s time to try one on your own in one period and in a space of less than 30 lines. You’ll need to remember everything we have talked about in terms of planning, organization, and writing. But that shouldn’t be a problem. You have all done so well on literary text reading and writing up to now that it’ll be easy as taking a dip in Barton Springs and twice as satisfying!”
My friend and I roll my eyes.
“He always says something cheesy like that,” my friend says.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, it makes you wonder if he’s ever been to the Springs!”