Lesson 9.05 A Step Back in Time

First Person Point of View

Review first person point of view. This is the point of view from which you will write your historical fiction short story.

In first person, the readers see everything through the narrator's eyes. This narrator may be biased since he or she is a character in the story. Readers are only told what the narrator knows and feels, so this point of view may not be trustworthy or 100% true.

Look at the excerpt below from R.J. Palacio's Wonder.

"I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an Xbox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

"If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here's what I think: the only reason I'm not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way."

What makes this excerpt first person point of view? Hover your cursor over the words indicating first person point of view.

Is this excerpt biased Yes, not everyone in society sees the narrator as he sees himself. The reader is only getting his perspective. ?

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Purpose of Historical Fiction

The purpose of writing historical fiction is to help readers experience what it is like to live during the era when the story takes place. Historical fiction is created from a historical event. The author researches information and creates factual information into the story along with details from their own imagination.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series. The author grew up in the Big Woods region on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota where she sets her story.

Hover your cursor over the map to see where Wilder lived.

There are many historically accurate aspects of the series such as setting and how the characters lived. Some of the adventures that Wilder describes may not have really happened; however, there is a possibility that they occurred. Her novels help the readers experience life on a prairie where transportation was horse and buggies.

The I Survived series, written by Lauren Tarshis, allow readers to experience terrifying occurrences in history through the eyes of a boy who lives to tell the tale. Some of the books are about nature attacks, natural disasters, the Nazi invasion in 1944, the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Each one of these fictional stories is based on historical events. The historical facts are embedded within the fictional story. The author uses her research skills to weave fact and fiction into great stories.

Watch the video (04:23) as the author describes her research for I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011. Let's read an excerpt of the novel.

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