In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Tiffany Yates Martin examines direct vs. indirect point of view and how to choose the right one for your story. “Point of view is your story’s voice and its vibe, an element invisible to most readers, but which permeates their entire reading experience,” she writes. “Strong, clear, well-chosen point of view serves as a powerful guiding force for readers: inviting us into the story, setting the tone for the journey, and subtly directing how we experience it and how we react.”
In direct POV, the story is told through a main character’s eyes, either in first person or close/deep third. Omniscient and limited third person narration are considered indirect, as the reader experiences the story through a filter and with some narrative distance. “Thinking of the points of view in these two categories—direct and indirect—is a great frame of reference for considering which might best serve your story and you as an author,” Yates Martin writes. “Each has benefits and challenges that may determine what feels most comfortable for you, what best suits the story’s genre and feel, and which offers you the perspective and narrative power that allow you to tell the story as effectively as possible.”
Direct POV helps you create a connection between your character and the reader, but also creates the risk of crafting too much interiority or navel-gazing. It also demands deep character development and intimate knowledge of your narrator, as every scene will be filtered through their experience, including their thoughts, emotions, reactions, and blind spots. “You must anchor yourself as the storyteller firmly within your POV characters’ immediate perspective: see through their eyes, think their thoughts, feel their feelings—and the narrative is filtered directly through their frame of reference,” Yates Martin says.
When choosing your POV, consider your genre, the feel you want your story to have, and your narrative approach and strengths. For direct POV, consider the level of intimacy you want your reader to have with your character and if your reader should identify with the narrator.
Indirect POV allows the author to narrate scenes and backstory that the main character does not experience, such as the thoughts and experiences of other characters, hints at the future, or the repercussions of a current action. The challenge for writers is to create an intimate experience, even though there is narrative distance from the characters. It’s also possible to lose traction in your story, if your narrative jumps around too much, and to rely too much on telling, rather than showing.
“The benefit to these more removed perspectives, though, is that readers can know more than the characters do, even about themselves—which can offer you as the storyteller opportunities to heighten suspense and tension with that juxtaposition, and deepen the story’s emotion and impact,” Yates Martin notes. Indirect POV allows the writer to give the reader information that is withheld from the character, creating tension and suspense.
Indirect POVs also require the writer to create a voice for the narrator and consider who is telling the story. Your narrator may be sarcastic, dry, highly educated, or informal. “These removed viewpoints lend themselves well to genres where broader perspective is useful, and the story’s feel may be less informal and chatty: ‘literary’ or upmarket fiction, science fiction and fantasy, action/adventure, police procedurals,” Yates Martin says. “It can also work well in suspense/thriller and horror.”
While it’s possible to use multiple POV in one novel – for example, where there are two distinct storylines or multiple POV characters – it’s challenging to pull off. “This can be the most confusing use of POV, because these stories seem to breach the boundaries between POVs in ways that can easily risk disorienting readers, creating a weak or unclear narrative perspective, or head hopping,” Yates Martin writes. “Regardless of which one you’re using, POV is most successful when it doesn’t draw attention to itself or to the author’s hand.”
