In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Tiffany Yates Martin offers advice on picking the right point of view for your story. “Choosing the most effective perspective from which to tell your story is a combination of both the technical and the creative,” she says. “It’s useful to consider the benefits and limitations of each POV, the feel that each POV might lend, and how well it fits the tone and tenor of your story— as well as its genre.”
- Third-person omniscient POV. In this POV, the author’s voice is free to travel anywhere, at any time, and is privy to any information it wants the reader to know. This POV gives the author tremendous power, but also separates the narrator from the events in the novel. The POV is a witness, not a participant. It can feel distant or dry, Yates Martin says. It works well for an epic novel, but can easily go off the rails.
- Third-person limited POV. In this POV, the narrator is more limited. It can report on anything within its scope, including a character’s thoughts and feelings, but generally doesn’t offer knowledge unknown to the main character. It can still feel distant, but is more intimate compared to omniscient POV.
- “Deep” third-person limited POV and first-person POV. With deep third-person, the narrator is as close as possible to the main character, without going into first person. The writer attempts to portray events as seen through the eyes of the protagonist and to immerse the reader in the experience. First person provides the same intimacy, but the author addresses the reader using “I” statements. Both POVs can be limiting, because the reader can see only what the protagonist experiences. Also, writers can slip into “reporting”, as if the character is telling the story of events, rather than experiencing them, Yates Martin warns.
So, how do you choose? “Deciding which point of view you want to use is also a factor of personal preference and comfort level,” Yates Martin says. “Many authors have a natural voice that they often write in that feels most organic to them, and most if not all their stories will adopt that point of view.” But if you aren’t sure, she suggests an exercise:
Take a pivotal scene or two and try writing it from several different points of view: omniscient, limited third, first-person. You might find that one immediately feels like the right choice for your story. Even if you’ve already chosen a POV, this exercise might show you more options or confirm that your first choice was correct.
