Point of View: Common Types and 5 Tips for Strengthening
Point of view, it seems so simple, but it is so easy to screw up, and if you do, all your other hard work plotting and building characters my be for naught as your reader, frustrated with not knowing whose head they are in, flings your book across the room.
First, let’s review…
The most commonly used types of point of view in today’s fiction.
First Person – Uses “I” pronoun. As close as a reader can get to a character. They live the story inside that character. They become that character.
Third Person Close – “He” or “She” pronoun, but gets in close to the character. Reader can hear the character’s thoughts. Very similar to first person. One trick to doing this is to actually write in first person then switch out the “I”s.
Third Person Objective – “He” or “She” pronoun, but never get in the character’s head. More distance from character. Objective is frequently used in prologues. Think “fly on the wall.” No internal thoughts from anyone including narrator.
Third Person Omniscient – Story teller is not part of the actual story, but knows everything that is happening, including all characters’ thoughts. This type of point of view was used more in the past by such authors as Tolstoy and Dickens. It is not as popular today. Omniscient narrator can also have own personality and offer thoughts on what is happening. Today this is frequently seen as “author intrusion.” “Little did he know.”
First Person Omniscient – Story teller is not part of the actual story, but knows everything that is happening, including all characters’ thoughts and the story is told with an “I” pronoun. There are very few ways this makes logical sense. Narrator would have to be godlike, dead, etc.
Five Tips for Strengthening Point of View
1.) First person and third person close will draw your reader into the story the most quickly and keep them there. Third person objective and omniscient are not as popular (in modern books) or as personal of a choice, but can be used if you do so knowing why you are using them and for a specific effect/outcome.
2.) Decide upfront whose point of view you should be in for this scene/chapter/book. The best point of view for a scene is the point of view of the person with the most to lose.
3.) Try to stick with one person’s point of view for as long as possible. Switching back and forth between points of view, even with a blank line to show shift, can be confusing. Really think “Do I need to make this switch? Will it enhance or detract from the reader’s experience?”
4.) Check yourself to make sure you are truly in the chosen character’s head. Would this character “know” the thoughts and events happening in this scene? Would they think in this manner? For example a 14-year-old girl witnessing a boy skateboarding through the mall is going to have a completely different reaction from a 40-year-old mother witnessing this same scene. Make sure you are not only in the proper character’s head, but also that you are not in YOUR head. Give us the character’s/narrator’s thoughts/reactions, not the author’s. (Unless you are using an omniscient narrator who is you—Note: I don’t recommend this for most books.)
5.) Avoid giving a character a point of view scene only for effect. Too many points of view can be confusing, and readers tend to latch onto characters whose heads they have been inside. Because of this, it is best to avoid showing a scene in a character’s point of view who readers will not meet again. Ideally, point of view characters are important enough to have their own story arc, even if it is a small one.
Have other tips? Or confused by which type is best for your story? Share!
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Good post, Lori. Point 4 is tricky for me, maybe for most writers. I tend to impose my “worldview” upon my characters rather than give them their unique perspective.
My one tip to offer is that on a very fundamental level, have male characters think more in a facts-first, emotions suppressed mode, and female characters on an emotions-first, facts- secondary mode. Not to stereotype characters, because you work out from there to create individuals, but start there because I think that is a true, fundamental difference between males and females, with exceptions certainly noted and allowed for.
I could be wrong but Third Person Omniscient is still quite common today. Otherwise, great post.
Correction: I’m confusing Third Person Omniscient with Third Person Limited with a Shifting Point of View.
Chris, I totally agree. When I write male characters I always give them fewer words to say the same thing a female character will use more for.
Danielle, I may have confused you by saying Third Person Close instead of Limited. It’s the term I first learned and it has stuck with me.
Lori
Thanks for the article. I have always confused some of the POVs for instance the first and last one. Very clear now.
Love this article. Thanks for writing this.
One question, though. Is it fine to switch between two people’s point of view when doing the first person POV.
Kenzie, pretty much everything is fine if you do it well.
You even see two first person POVs – with each character getting their own chapters. That definitely falls in the “have to do it well” category though. And isn’t something I recommend to do just TO DO.
Lori,
POV always confused me, but your article is the best one I’ve read in understanding the different pov’s. I like to write in first person pov or third person limited/close pov.
If there is more than one main character in a novel, than it is okay to shift pov’s?