First person (1st) is one variation of POV. This is when the story is told from a character INSIDE the narrative of the story and is directly experiencing it. We as the audience are allowed the opportunity to experience the story through the eyes of this character. A quick identifying marker of 1st person is the use of pronouns I, me, my, mine, we, our, us. As a point of view, this method invites the audience into the story directly lowering any walls between the character and the audience. 

1st person (past tense) example: I was sitting on my couch and realized I wanted some chocolate. Picturing my favorite candy, I got up and walked to the corner store where I stood in front of the tiers of candy and selected my favorite to eat for my dessert.

Another variation of POV is second (2nd) person. Uncommon in fiction writing, it is more often represented in manuals or persuasive rhetoric. This method is when the story is told through the eyes of the audience. The narrator is YOU, because it is YOU as the audience who is experiencing the story directly. In the 1980s, a popular style of book came out called a Choose Your Own Adventure that employed this POV perspective. Methodologically, this perspective carries a risk when used in narrative fiction. First it makes assumptions about the reader, forces them to carry those assumptions which make it as a style taxing to read, but when done well has the potential to be very powerful.

2nd person (past tense) example: You were sitting on your couch and realized you wanted some chocolate. Picturing your favorite candy, you got up and walked to the corner store where  you stood in front of the tiers of candy and selected your favorite to eat for your dessert.

Third person (3rd) the narrator of the story is outside of the events describing what happens to a removed audience. A quick identifying marker of 3rd person is the use of the pronouns he, she, him, her, they, them. As a point of view, this method removes the audience from the immediacy of the story and potentially erects walls to create a perceived distance.

There are three kinds of 3rd person POVs. 

1. The first is the 3rd person omniscient. This is “godlike” or when the external narrator has the ability to tell the story from every angle, every character, every moment no matter what’s occurring in the story. The main character is in the immediate scene but the narrator can comment on what a character off page is thinking or doing and why. 

2. The second is 3rd-person limited and is when the narrator can only tell the story based on what is happening in the immediate scene right in front of them like a spectator. The narrator is unable to slide into the mind of any other character and functions more like a “reporter” to the scene. This POV often creates the unreliable narrator or an untrustworthy narrator though an unreliable narrator can exist in any POV presentation.

3. The third is 3rd-person limited-omniscient and is when the narrator tells the story based on what is happening in the immediate scene, usually from only a singular character’s experience. The narrator will know the singular character's motives, but no head-hopping into other characters! 

3rd person limited-omniscent (past tense) example: She was sitting on her couch and realized she wanted some chocolate. Picturing her favorite candy, she got up and walked to the corner store where she stood in front of the tiers of candy and selected her favorite to eat for her dessert.