Thinking about Voice & Point of View in Fiction May 27, 2026 May 28, 2026 By Melanie Austin, Freelance Editor When we talk about voice in fiction, we mean the way a character (or a narrator) speaks, thinks, reacts, and so on. Word choice, sentence structure, dialogue, and interior voice all contribute to the development of voice in fiction. We know an engaging voice when we encounter one, but creating a voice that draws readers in takes time and effort. Voice and First-Person Point of View Some writers suggest using the first-person (I) point of view (POV) to create a strong voice, just as Mark Twain does in his famous 1885 novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Let ’ s take a look at how this works in Twain ’ s novel. Can you hear Huck ’ s) voice in the passage below? “I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and th...
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