Whose POV are we in anyway?
Before I launch into the murky waters of POV, let me update you on the progress of my novel.
First, I’ve decided (almost) on the title—The Prodigals is now the working title.
Secondly, after two and half weeks of writing, I finished the first draft with 47,000+- words.
Third, I have started on the second of five revisions and added a new dimension. In my Christian Fantasy Series—The Witch and the Wise Men (books 1-4) I took my readers behind the curtain, similar to Frank Peretti’s Piercing the Darkness, into the spiritual realm. In this mystical dimension, we encountered God’s angelic hosts battling the forces of darkness. In like fashion, I have once again returned to this familiar ground and it has opened my eyes to the truth—WE ARE NOT ALONE.
Fourth, I have highlighted all the bubbles from the mind-mapping exercise and included them in this post. As you can see, I have nearly used every extension.
Now to the topic of POV. I found {arker Yamasaki’s article very useful.
What Is Point of View in Writing, and How Does It Work?
by Parker Yamasaki
Updated on August 10, 2022, · Students · Writing Tips
POV or Point of view in novel writing simply means the perspective from which a story is told. The common points of view are as follows:
First-person point of view. This is the reader telling the story through one person. It’s like reading the main character’s diary. You will notice pronouns like I, me/my, we, us, or our in first-person writing. This limits the scope of what a reader can know about other characters, but it is truest to how we live our lives.
There are two ways to write in first person:
First-person central: The narrator is also the protagonist of the story. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is both the main character and the narrator, meaning this novel is written in first-person central.
First-person peripheral: The narrator is telling the story of the protagonist from close by. One famous example is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The story of Gatsby is told not by Gatsby himself but by a narrator named Nick, a friend, and neighbor of Gatsby’s.
Why write in first person?
Identification: The reader is discovering information right alongside the narrator, so they identify more closely with them. First-person writing creates a feeling of “we’re in this together.”
Opinion: If your piece is heavily dependent on opinions, then it’s a good idea to establish whose opinion it is. This can be the fictional opinion of a character or the opinion of the writer. Either way, using the pronoun I ensures the opinion won’t be read as fact.
Intrigue: The limits of a character’s knowledge can play to the advantage of the writer if you want to create mystery around other characters. For example, the narrator’s distance from the subject in The Great Gatsby creates a sense of intrigue about Gatsby.
The second-person point of view uses the pronoun you.
This point of view establishes the reader as the protagonist or main character. It is the most difficult point of view to maintain in a longer piece of creative writing. As a writer, you want your reader to be engrossed, engaged, and enthralled but . . . involved? There is a time and place for second-person, such as nonfiction, advertising, immersive stories, and this blog post. There are some examples of second-person point of view in novels, which we’ll explore later in this article. Just know that it’s the most challenging and least-often-used point of view in fiction.
Why write in second-person?
Uniqueness: It’s unusual to find the second-person point of view in creative writing. Write in second-person for a creative challenge or to create a novel experience for your reader.
Space for reflection: By inserting the pronoun you into writing, you’re addressing the reader directly. This is a useful way to generate space for their personal contemplation.
Third-person point of view
In third-person point of view, the narrator has the ability to know everything. You’ll see the pronouns he/his, she/her, they/them/their, and it/its in third-person point of view. This point of view allows for the greatest flexibility and also creates the most complexity.
There are three ways to write in the third person:
Third-person omniscient: The narrator speaks freely about everyone and everything. There are no limits to the time, space, or character the narrator can access.
Third-person limited omniscient (also called third-person close): The author writes in third-person but keeps the thoughts and feelings limited to one central character. The Harry Potter series is an example of third-person limited omniscient. The reader has access to scenes across time and space, but they are only ever in the head of Harry himself.
Third-person objective: The narrator is a neutral entity, relying on observations of characters rather than getting in their heads. It’s writing from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. Ernest Hemingway was a master of third-person objective. Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” is the most popular example of this rare style in fiction.
Why write in third-person?
Complexity: The possibilities are endless in third-person writing. The writer is not limited by the thoughts, observations, or movements of a single character, which gives them the opportunity to build more complex worlds, plots, and characters.
Flexibility: Third-person narration is not bordered by time or space, so the writer can move the story wherever they want to.
Authoritative narrator: Human beings are inherently biased, so removing the narrator’s subjectivity can make the writing feel more authoritative.
My thoughts - The problem for writers is not to Head Hop. In other words, telling the story from two characters’ points of view at the same time. The POV should be told from one character at a time. The other character(s) reactions can be shown such as, their face reflected shock, or his mouth fell open. That gives the reader an idea of what that character felt without entering their head. This is also called showing vs telling. An experienced author is a master at showing not telling.
If the author wants to get into the other character’s head, put the camera on the shoulder of the person to whom he/she is speaking. This happens all the time in films and TV shows. The camera is constantly switching from one speaker’s shoulder to the other speaker’s shoulder.
As writers, we don’t have the luxury of a camera, so we use breaks such as a small line between sections, or ellipsis—anything to indicate we are now in someone else’s POV.
This may be a bunch of gobbled-goop to the non-writer subscribers of this blog, but it may help you appreciate what an author has to consider when writing their story. So the next time you pick up a book, (hopefully one of mine) watch for the camera shifts. Better yet, just enjoy the story and let us worry about the POV’s.
Until next time, keep reading.