What is POV? Writing Prompts to Help Understand

What is POV? A definition and POV writing prompts for practice! 

POV stands for “point of view”. A point of view in writing refers to the perspective from which a story is told or the vantage point through which events are described.

More specifically:

The point of view (POV) is the narrator’s position about the story being told. The point of view determines the perspective from which events and characters are described to readers.

Common types of POV in writing include:

• First-person POV – The story is told using “I” or “we,” portraying events from the narrator’s direct perspective as a character in the story. This brings readers closely into the narrator’s experiences.
• Second person POV – The narrator refers to the reader as “you,” placing the reader directly into the action rather than having them view it from afar. This is not commonly used.
• Third person POV – The narrator refers to all characters by name or as “he/she/they.” Different types of third-person POV provide the narrator with varying degrees of access to different characters’ thoughts and feelings.

In summary, the point of view shapes the reader’s understanding of and perspective on unfolding events based on who is telling the story and how closely they are tied to the action. The POV heavily influences how information is conveyed in a narrative.

Sidenote: The TikToc #POV hashtag is meant to indicate to viewers to put themselves in the situation happening in the view. Trying these writing prompts is exactly what the #hashtag means.

Mastering Point of View: 50 Engaging Writing Prompts to Build Perspective-Taking Skills

Writing from diverse narrative points of view allows writers and readers to step into different characters’ shoes, gaining invaluable empathy and insight. The following 50 thought-provoking point-of-view writing prompts will help writers gain proficiency in portraying events, emotions, and growth from the varied first-person, second-person, and third-person perspectives.

This collection of writing prompts provides enriching entry points for narrative role-play across imaginative genres and settings. Scenarios ranging from whimsical, magical realms to emotional coming-of-age moments offer writers opportunities to inhabit protagonists, secondary players, or even anthropomorphized objects to relay impactful tales.

Through consistent practice responding to these innovative prompts from a chosen focal character’s viewpoint, writers build skills vital for captivating, immersive storytelling. Whether writing from the awestruck eyes of a young wizard entering Diagon Alley, conveying a maple tree’s autumn attention-grabbing enchantments, or depicting astronauts’ otherworldly Mars arrival, depicting events through purposefully selected vantage points invites discovery.

By alternating between close first person, more removed third person limited, or fully omniscient narrative styles, writing across this exciting prompt set hones perspective-taking dexterity. Like actors discovering motivation through method techniques, exploring emotions via different characters’ inner voices fosters greater human understanding while crafting compelling stories readers will find hard to put down.

Master perspectives through regular writing practice: choose a prompt, decide on POV, become that character, and relay their tale! Grow more versatile in portraying consciousness while igniting new fiction worlds through these launching pads for viewpoint exploration. Let your empathy expand through walking in varied shoes!

Here are 100 POV writing prompts:

1. You wake up as your 5 year old self, remembering everything about your current life. Write about an average day as your child self with an adult mind.
2. You switch bodies with your pet for a day. Write about your perspective of a normal day as your pet.
3. You become invisible for 24 hours. Describe where you go and what you do without being seen or heard by anyone.
4. An alien ship abducts you. Write about your experience onboard and interactions with the aliens from your POV.
5. Your houseplants and indoor greenery suddenly come to life. Write from the perspective of your favorite plant after this astonishing change.
6. Your favorite childhood toy comes to life when only you are around. Write about an adventure you have with your suddenly conscious toy.
7. You wake up and realize you switched genders overnight. Describe your confusion and how you navigate the day in an opposite gender body.
8. You shrink down to only an inch tall. What ordinary locations seem extraordinary from your miniature POV as you travel around?
9. You are granted your favorite fictional character’s abilities/powers for a day. Describe learning how to use and control these newfound abilities.
10. Write a dream sequence about something bizarre or fantastical from the first-person POV without revealing it’s a dream until the end.
11. Everyone in the world has disappeared except for you. Describe wandering through a deserted city looking for answers.
12. You suddenly gain the ability to communicate with animals. Write about a conversation with your pet or a random animal in your yard.
13. You put yourself to sleep and have a lucid dream in which you can control everything that happens. Describe an exhilarating adventure.
14. You wake up in someone else’s body. Describe your disorientation and frantic efforts to figure out what is going on.
15. You are the first astronaut to step onto Mars. Describe your arrival and the landscape from your POV.
16. A mad scientist performs an experimental procedure on your brain, exponentially raising your IQ. Explain how you now view and interact with the world.
17. You ingest a magic potion allowing you to time travel. Write about accidently alterning the future when reliving a memory from your past.
18. You are deathly allergic to the sun. Write a story about a catastrophic event occurring that forces you outside during day time.
19. You discover you can heal people with your hands. Write about secretly treating someone close to you without revealing your gift.
20. Your sibling/friend morphs into an evil doppelganger version of themself. Describe the eerie changes from your increasingly terrified POV.
21. You suddenly gain telepathic abilities. Describe the chaos of involuntarily hearing other people’s secret thoughts and emotions all around you.
22. Write a wilderness survival story from the POV of someone lost in the woods without supplies or assistance.
23. Tell a post-apocalyptic story from the POV of one of the last people left on Earth after catastrophic destruction.
24. Rewrite a fairy tale from the perspective of the villain detailing their motivations and view of events.
25. Gods walk the earth as ordinary humans. Describe a god just trying to fit in from their own divine POV.
26. You are a dog seeing snow fall for the very first time. Describe what you see, feel, smell, and think as the white flakes fill the air.
27. Write a diary entry from the perspective of a student on their first day at a new school in a new town. How do they feel as they try to navigate new classes, teachers, and peers?
28. Describe a fun day at an amusement park from the point of view of someone who is afraid of rollercoasters. What’s going through their mind as friends try to coax them onto the biggest, fastest ride?
29. You are a character in a fantasy video game going on your first quest. Describe the new sights, smells, and creatures you encounter as you venture through magical lands unknown.
30. Tell the story of making new friends on the playground as a painfully shy 1st grade student who struggles with social situations. What thoughts run through your mind as you work up the courage to join a game?
31. From the perspective of a hamster, vividly depict escaping from your cage and having free run of the house while your family sleeps.
32. As a butterfly emerging from your cocoon for the first time, describe experiencing and interacting with the colorful world around you.
33. You are a maple tree changing colors with the season. Capture the experience through the tree’s eyes as autumn arrives.
34. Write about your mom surprising you by bringing your classroom pet rabbit home for the weekend as if you are the pet rabbit experiencing a human’s home for the first time.
35. Tell the story of a teenager buying their first lottery ticket, envisioning how they’d spend the money if they won.
36. Describe trying coffee for the first time as a 5 year old who sneaks some during a dinner party when adults aren’t looking.
37. From the perspective of a piece of fruit, describe being selected at the grocery store and going home with an excited new owner.
38. You are the first astronaut to land on Mars. Document this momentous event from the astronaut’s awe-filled perspective.
39. Write about reading your favorite book again as an adult that you first loved as a child through your nostalgic eyes.
40. Depict making a new discovery as a scientist that turns research in your field upside down from their game changing viewpoint.
41. You are a wild horse galloping across open plains for the first time after escaping from captors. Capture this exhilarating experience.
42. Tell the story of a refugee arriving in a new land, documenting thoughts, hopes and fears.
43. Describe playing fetch as a dog – your favorite game with your beloved human friend.
44. From a giraffe’s perspective, depict interacting with the fascinating giants (humans) at a zoo for the first time.
45. Write about qualifying for the Olympics from the emotional perspective of the athlete.
46. You are the owner of a restaurant reviewing opening night through their anxious but excited viewpoint.
47. Channel a whale’s perspective to convey breaching alongside others during an epic migration south.
48. You are a spell book documenting the escapades of a bumbling witch or wizard apprentice practicing magic for the first time from your bemused view.
49. Capture receiving an acceptance letter to Hogwarts school through the eyes of a young witch or wizard who grew up unaware of their magical abilities.
50. Convey spotting the first crocuses poking up through snow from the joyful perspective of Spring herself after a long winter.
51. You are a balloon soaring up, up into the bright blue sky after a child loses grip on your string at a birthday party. Describe your flight to freedom.
52. Channel an adventurous cat embarking on their first outdoor exploration when a door accidentally opens.
53. Tell the story of a crayon drawing their very first picture in a brand new box of crayons.
54. From a wave’s perspective, depict building momentum throughout a storm and ultimately crashing over a sea wall.
55. You are the smell of cookies wafting out of a bakery on a busy city street. Capture enticing people into the shop.
56. Write from the strained voice’s perspective inside a rock star’s throat during a big concert trying to hit all the songs’ high notes.
57. Convey receiving terrible nightmare-inducing news as the Sandman, so it permeates every dream you weave that night.
58. Depict being picked from a vibrant flower bed to become part of a lovely bouquet for a special occasion through the rose’s experience.
59. You are the first forkful of creamy Thanksgiving stuffing as it bursts with flavor inside someone’s mouth after a long prep.
60. Document travel anticipation through the eyes of a suitcase as its owner packs for a huge trip.
61. Capture fireworks launching into the air and exploding overhead during a 4th of July show from an enthralled viewer’s POV.
62. Channel a peanut butter and jelly sandwich trying to hold together as a messy kid takes big bites enjoying you after school.
63. You are snake skin helping the snake below emerge after shedding your former dried casing for their fresh new exterior.
64. Depict the intermingled horror and astonishment of villagers first encountering a dragon laying waste to their realm.
65. Convey a fruit smoothie getting mixed, blended and consumed from creation to consumption.
66. Capture a skyscraper looking down on the bustling ant-like city below through the unique vista it provides.
67. You’re an adventurer’s loyal walking stick helping your aged owner continue their globe-spanning travels late into life.
68. Write about beams of sunlight streaming into an ancient tomb from a small opening when its door first cracks ajar after centuries sealed away.
69. Tell the story of kids shrinking to enter a intricate fairy village hidden in the woods from one sprite’s view when the enchantment happens.
70. Convey exhilaration speeding down a winding slide as a young child lets go into the wonder of the wild ride below.
71. Describe bubbles floating and popping around giggling kids in a hot summer bath through a particular bubble’s brief, glistening existence.
72. Channel an ice cube’s POV slowly melting inside a boiling pot as it heats up transforming you into hot liquid.
73. Capture an excited dog’s perspective chasing squirrels through lush autumn woods amidst colorful falling leaves all around you.
74. You are crumbs and spice getting mixed into cookie dough then baked into cookies from grain to dessert.
75. Depict fire spreading from log to log and tree to tree from an ominous forest fire’s relentless viewpoint as it ravages the woodlands overnight.
76. Tell the tale of a young wizard’s wand selecting them in a magic shop, leaving your shelf for adventures untold from the wand’s perspective.
77. Convey the claustrophobia of being trapped overnight alone on a stuck elevator through the elevator’s frustrated lens.
78. Depict stage fright striking right before the curtains rise as the lead in a big Broadway musical through the character’s anxious experience.
79. Describe falling asleep inside a young child’s mind as the Sandman, sprinkling dreams of birthday parties, pets and playgrounds.
80. You are the rear left bike tire getting a puncture from broken glass, forcing an abrupt end to your rider’s triathlon race dreams.
81. Channel a lightbulb flickering off after months providing reading light for an avid book lover from the bulb’s slowing filament.
82. Write about water rising all around during a torrential storm from the perspective of an outdoor basement staircase.
83. Convey being a baby carrot suddenly doused in hot soup among swirling ingredients in a blender from your viewpoint.
84. You are saliva inside a superhero’s mouth attempting to speak clearly with loose dentures as they save the city.
85. Tell the tale of a mischievous ghost reveling joyfully in scaring hotel guests away from their possessed room forever.
86. Describe create-your-own sundae night though the bittersweet experience of a lone maraschino cherry atop ice cream.
87. Document travel in the internet’s wires from an email’s excited perspective winging towards an overseas pen pal.
88. You are a pirate’s persistently flapping Jolly Roger flag viewing the high seas peril and plunder from your lofty crow’s nest home.
89. Capture becoming separated from Crayola friends boxed together since birth when adopted by a young artist for their crafts.
90. Channel a baby carrot suddenly doused in hot soup among swirling ingredients in a blender from your viewpoint.
91. Convey the euphoria of scoring a late game-winning goal in the championship through the eyes of the victorious ball.
92. Depict being trapped in amber during a lush primeval forest’s fossilization over millions of years from an insect’s perspective.
93. You are an aging dam struggling to withstand increasing pressure from raging floodwaters behind your weakening structure.
94. Document a river raging from mountain snowmelt overflowing banks, uprooting trees and swallowing homes through the ruthless current’s path.
95. Tell the tale of film premier anticipation morphing into standing ovation applause from a director’s script first draft to their proud movie’s opening night.
96. Describe police sirens and flashing lights receding into the distance from the alieved viewpoint of a graffitied city overpass.
97. Convey doubt transforming into confident realization of super powers manifesting for the first time inside a teenage superhero’s mind.
98. You are the ears of corn peeking hopefully above rich dark soil, reaching eagerly for warm sunlight and growing rains.
99. Channel a young witch’s favorite quill pen, relaying their academic successes and failures within the walls of Hogwarts.
100. Capture a fruit tree’s exhilaration bursting into fresh flowering blooms after a long cold winter from the apricot tree’s perspective.

So what is POV? Exploring diverse perspectives through creative writing invites discovery. Whether inhabiting awestruck wizards, personified maple trees, or amateur astronauts arriving on Mars, purposefully inhabiting different points of view builds empathy while crafting immersive tales. Keep an open mind, choose varied shoes to stand in, and let these writing prompts transport you! By experimenting with first person intimacy, third person distance, even inanimate object POV, writers can wander new worlds. Master narration styles through consistent practice. Try out different narrative voices. With each prompt, decide on a viewpoint and relay their experience as if you walked in their shoes. Let the boundaries of your consciousness expand through embracing other real and imagined vantage points, unlocking your storytelling potential.

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