How to Turn Your Life into Fiction Step 5: Point of View

Choosing your point of view for your life story is critical. It will determine the feel of the story and will indicate the genre of your book to the reader.

First or Third Point of View?

The first point of view narrative is a very personal one. It’s often used by novelists who want the reader to get close to the protagonist. This point of view can feel very intimate to the reader and can make a work of fiction feel like a memoir.

When, however, you are writing your life story, you may wish the book to appear more like a work of fiction, in which case using the third person point of view may be more suitable.

When you use your own life as the plot, the novel could seem too personal, and too much like an autobiography, with a first-person narrative.

Both First and Third

It is, however, also possible to use both first and third-person narratives together. This is a technique to consider especially when writing a story based on your own life. Especially if you are writing from several points of view, this would be an excellent way of distinguishing the voice of the different characters.

Omniscient Point of View

Another alternative is to use omniscient narrative – a narrative in the third person which has all all-knowing perspective, which includes hidden truths and secrets the characters hold from each other.

This point of view can work well in a work of fiction, especially if the writer wishes it to appear that the story is a true tale.

But beware.

Since your aim is to write a piece of fiction based on your own life, and the omniscient narration assumes the author him or herself is speaking, the novel can sound a lot more like an autobiography rather than a work of fiction.

The English Heart

The English Heart, a novel based on how I met and fell head over heels with my English Navy Officer at the British Embassy in Helsinki, began life as a series of blog posts. The story was written in the first-person point of view, mainly because it was a memoir, rather than a piece of fiction–at the beginning at least.

When I turned the posts into a novel, I decided to change the whole story into the third person. This way the novel became more of a fictional account and sounded less like a memoir. This was the advice given to me by one of my early readers, and I am eternally grateful for her comments. 

While editing the novel, I also added the male protagonist’s voice. This made it easier for me to explain certain plot points that the female protagonist, Kaisa, didn’t know about. For example, how Peter spent three days phoning Kaisa, without getting a reply. He’d been dialing the wrong number, mistakenly thinking Kaisa’s European style number one was a seven.

Over to You

Have you decided which point of your you are going to use when turning your life into fiction? Comment below and start the conversation.

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