Definition
A perspective is also referred to as "point of view". When writing the author writes from a certain point of view and thus perspective. The perspective serves as a lens through which the reader observes the characters, events and happenings.
Types of perspectives
First person perspective
Writing from the perspective of the author or main character. Here the main characters tells their own story and uses first person pronouns (such as "I" and "We"). The reader sees everything through the main character's eyes.
PS: The Romance short story example is in first person perspective.
Second person perspective
This perspective is not very common and here the author uses second personal pronoun: "you" and "your".
Example:
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (By Annie Dillard)
“You are a sculptor. You climb a great ladder; you pour grease all over a growing longleaf pine. Next, you build a hollow cylinder like a cofferdam around the entire pine, and grease its inside walls. You climb your ladder and spend the next week pouring wet plaster into the cofferdam… Now open the walls of the dam, split the plaster, saw down the tree, remove it, discard, and your intricate sculpture is ready: this is the shape of part of the air.”
Third person perspective
This is a very common narration perspective. Here the author uses "he", "she", "it" and "they". The reader can read about events but not the thoughts and feelings of the character.
The third person perspective also has three different types:
Third person objective: The narrator (storyteller) narrates the facts or details to the readers.
Third person omniscient: The narrator reports the facts and thoughts of the characters.
Third person limited: The narrator reports the facts and thoughts of one character.
PS: The Mystery and Fantasy short story example are written in third person limited.