What is point of view' in fiction?

What is point of view' in fiction?

Russell Celyn Jones (Published writer. Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MA Programme at Birkbeck College (University of London).) gives expert video advice on: What is fiction?; Where does fiction begin?; What is the most important element of fiction? and more...

Point of view in a novel is normally the angle you take on the material, and point of view is a very important decision. It's not just first person or third person; it's the character you choose through which to tell the story. The point of view can sometimes be unreliable. Fiction can be written from the point of view of the antihero, or villain; it doesn't have to be the point of view of the hero. But the reader will identify with that point of view, so you have to be careful. If you want to write an unsympathetic character, the chances are that your reader might give up on you. On the other hand, some of the greatest fiction has approached the moral subject from the immoral point of view. It's about how you organize your material, how you angle it, and it gives you a narrow aperture upon which to view the world of your fiction.