The Ultimate Guide to Tense & Point of View | Writing Tips

1st person? 2nd person? 3rd person? Omniscient? Present tense? Retrospective? What are all these things, how do you use them, and why am I so obsessed with point of view?

RELATED VIDEOS:

MY SHORT FICTION:

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
2:50 - The POV spectrum
4:44 - 1st person present tense
10:41 - 1st person past tense
15:00 - 2nd person
16:30 - 3rd person present tense
19:35 - 3rd person past tense
23:04 - Omniscient POV
24: 24 - Other POVs
24:59 - How to choose the POV of your story

OUTRO MUSIC: "l u v t e a [acoustic]" by Autumn Keys

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[lauraj.sawyer]

This is the writing advice I didn't know I needed.

[liliakovacs]

I'm a young writer, and I just discovered your channel. You motivate me a lot, thank you!

[ShaelinWrites]

Me: here's 29 minutes of detailed analysis on POV
People in the comments: I'm Really Mad about the 2 seconds where you said gender was a spectrum. unsubscribing.

[tidyheidi]

It’s so bizarre to me hearing you talk about how you thought 3rd person was the harder one and the more mature one, for me it’s the exact opposite. I usually default to 3rd person because it’s so much easier and simpler for me to be an omniscient narrator than to accurately capture the thoughts, emotions and internal dialogue of a primary character for the entire duration of the story. It feels so cumbersome because I can’t just tell the story, I have to filter everything through that character’s singular experience and point of view, then have to filter it again through how they individually perceive things in their own subjective way. For me 3rd person is much easier because it’s just me going, “This is what happened” and not having to always elaborate or extrapolate on the main character’s biased and limited perception of these events. Weird.

[volleyballbabe]

it’s such a relief to hear you talk positively about third person present. i’ve been struggling deciding between 3rd present & past. and i’ve mostly been struggling because EVERYONE talks very negatively about it. but third person present is the right choice, because the past itself is still an active force/role/character in the story. also, i disagree about having an unreliable narrator in 3rd person. characters with mental illness, issues with addiction, and other reality processing problems would be unreliable, even in their own head. thank you for the video!! it was very helpful. ❤️

[cBake]

Shaelin, thank you for sharing your experience and gathered knowledge with us. Your channel has incredible value to all of us out here aspiring writers. I love how you lens your information through how it's impacted your work and process. Never stop sharing :)

[rejjunke]

Thanks for showing those specific examples. Too many other YouTubers ramble on about POV but don't actually compare specifics. Great job!

[atis]

Your passion for these POV/tense combinations shows in the best way. Thank you for giving us a good and comprehensive understanding of these mixes.

[caspercomments]

damn this is the best pov video I've ever watched. it was so in-depth and honestly perfect 😭

[r-pupz]

I really needed this, I've always wanted to write a novel but I'm in my 30s and can't remember any of my highschool English classes! I've got plenty of ideas but I tend to panic when it comes to the technical side of writing. So glad I found your channel! Thank you :)

[carlydaniels]

You are on point. "What the story is almost inherent to the point of view----boom!"

[patnewnam]

I had only a vague idea about point of view, and even less understanding of tense. I’m dense, but gradually emerging from my ignorance with each review of this video. You have an amazing grasp of the skills that you offer, to make an aspiring writer relevant in this artistic realm. Having begun your search for knowledge at such a young age has given you an exponential head start on your detractors, who only wish they had your skills. You will far surpass them in lifelong accomplishments.

[juanitadark]

Thank you so much for this, Shaelin. I'm writing a piece in third person/present tense and this has sold me on sticking with it.

[cwfcwfcwf]

Wow, I think you paid attention in class or you're a prodigy. One thing for sure, you're brilliant. My favorite point of view to write and read is third person past tense. :)

[justluc]

Honestly, Shaelin, thank you so much for these videos. You're the most inspiring and helpful person ever, so really, thank you so much <3 Your writing advice is so different in comparison to others, in a very good way!

[Umurhan]

Funny thing is I'm Turkish and when I'm writing in Turkish present tense is out of the picture. In Turkish present tense isn't used in storytelling at all to the extent that present tense novels when translated to Turkish are in past tense now, such as The Hunger Games. So these rules are actually limited or diversified by language. This is because present tense in Turkish only implies continuous habits and such, in fact we call it wide tense. So we also don't have headlines in present tense.

[StellaDonna]

Wow, I love your nuanced videos and how you use examples from different genres, not just YA or fantasy, but also literary as well.

[Ptcruz]

Great video Shaelin. Just a addendum. You said that first person past means that the character lives, but that is not always true. There is this Brazilian book called Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas or Epitaph of a Small Winner where the narrator is telling us the story after his death as he is reflecting back on his life.

[eidechsebernstein]

I am absolutely in love with your channel, I listen to it while drawing and I feel like I learn so, so much! Right now I'm working on two novels: one in third person limited present tense, and another in first person retrospective, but it is sometimes kind of stream-of-consiousness-y because the narrator is able to tap into the emotions of her younger self.

[erikaroth]

So expansive! I think I am going to need a flowchart guiding me in the right direction when choosing point of view lol. You're brilliant!