One aspect of viewpoint that I find is sometimes underrepresented in craft instruction is that of Narrative or Psychic Distance, which refers to the sense of how close readers feel to the viewpoint characters in a story and to the events unfolding in the narrative.

This sense of distance or proximity can be impacted by:

Chronology: From what perspective in time is the story being told? Years after the events of the narrative? Days? Seconds? Or, in a present tense narrative, immediately as they’re occurring?

A story told from a vantage point of a character looking back through the years can create a greater sense of distance and a slackening in tension. The reader is signaled that the character/narrator has survived the events of the story and gained perspective through the passage of time.

However, sometimes that gained perspective adds to the psychological depth of a story (example: Scout in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD) or a greater understanding of historical/cultural events.

Number of Viewpoints: Generally, it’s thought that reader connection/investment grows diluted with each viewpoint introduced into the story and that more than three points of view can create a disruptive effect, causing mini breaks in the fictive spell that require the reader to spend time recalibrating and re-immersing in the narrative.

That said, those mini breaks might be worth it if the narrative offers compensatory rewards like greater story scope, answers to questions the reader needs even as some characters are still searching, the use of multiple exciting settings, and equally valuable perspectives that all deserve representation on the page. We’d miss something critical without those viewpoints.

Narrative Attitude: Is the storytelling voice warm and confidential or more objective and detached? Is there a palpable emotional texture to the narrative? Does the narrator have strongly held views that are expressed in colorful ways, or do they step back to recount events more dispassionately and allow the reader to fill in the emotional significance of events?

Internal Access: Along with the above, how much of the narrator’s/viewpoint character’s inner life do we have access to? Do narrative filters remind us of the storytelling, or do we become one with the character and their emotional, spiritual, and psychological life, experiencing it as deeply as we’d experience our own?

Variability: Psychic or narrative distance can vary within a story, often with positive impact on the reader.  

However, it’s helpful to employ a consistent strategy for when the reader is pulled closer and allowed to be fully immersed in a character’s perspective and when the “camera” pulls back to allow the reader a broader view of the story world and circumstances.

Without a consciously applied pattern of narrative distance/proximity, a reader might feel unmoored, and their reading experience might be diminished.

Consider these examples from John Gardner’s THE ART OF FICTION. What impact does each bit of text have on your level of interest in the story and your immediate sense of closeness to the character and events described?