Recommended Reads: Point of View

Of all the tools in storytelling, point of view seems to be the most often bungled. An author says they’ve chosen omniscient POV, but what they’ve written is close third person POV with numerous errors. Or they wrote 3rd person POV from the MC’s perspective, but then when both the love interest and the MC are in the same scene, the POV is swapped every other paragraph. An author chooses first person point of view but writes the thoughts of another character in the scene (and it’s not a telepathic species moment!).

The other issue that often comes up with point of view is really related to characterization. If you’re in a character’s point of view, you’re in their head as they’re experiencing the story. So a full psychological understanding of your character is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you’ll be writing actions – great – but without ever underpinning it with the psychology that would lead to that behavior.

So, here’s some resources I send clients to if they are struggling with maintaining point of view consistently.

1. Going Deep into Point of View by Beth Yarnall. Start at the beginning. A superb resource.
2. Point of View, How to Use the Different Point of View Types by Sandra Gerth. This is a short but effective primer.
3. Point of View: Whose Story is This Anyway? by Writer’s Digest. This is actually a video tutorial, well worth every penny in my opinion if you are struggling to understand this nuts-and-bolts element of writing fiction.

My advice

The MC should tell the story from their point of view. Omniscient POV is not close – it’s the furthest away from the characters. Choose third person POV or first person POV, and get as close to the emotional core of your main character’s psychology as possible. Remember, every sentence written in a point of view is effectively a thought that character is having. So dialect and diction are unique insofar as you have made your character a unique being.

And don’t let another character’s thoughts and feelings horn in on the MC’s story.

Unless they’re telepaths.

Happy writing!

~ Lara