Point of view is an odd beast. So often, it feels, we choose the point of view of our stories out of whim or habit. It's selected before we've envisaged much of the story at all. But it's a powerful force in the story. Not only does it control what information is revealed and when, it shapes the bias and perception (and therefore the progression) of the whole story. For example:

Take a simple story you know well - Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Handsel and Gretel, etc. Iconic stories often work best for this exercise because they've already been pared down to their basic components, and the original story (and variations upon it) are well-ingrained in our memories; we don't have to stop and think about what happens next.

Look in the story for a minor character - someone who is entirely incidental to the story. They don't have to be in the official version,  - in fact, it's probably a good indication if they're not in every version, as if means they don't have a pivotal part.  The footman who carries the glass slipper all over the town following the prince, Red Riding Hood's mother, the Huntsman who butchered the deer instead of Snow White, Handsel and Gretel's new stepmother (or her sister).

Write the story from this person's point of view. It might help to jot down exactly how much of the original story this person can actually see. The footman might be at the ball, for example, and he may have noted the prince dancing with a beauty, but he knows nothing of her home life, her fairy godmother, her sisters or the prince's obsession with her. Instead, the story has to change to be about him, with the original going on in the background. What are his troubles, what does he worry about and hope for? What's his life, and how do the few scraps of the fairy tale fit into it.

More importantly - the ending has to change. Someone else's happily ever after isn't going to do much for him. So the real story is, how have the events of Cinderella changed his life?

Bonus points if you can change the ending, but still keep the fairy tale recognisable.

WIth thanks to Judy Bird for her suggestions on this exercise.