All writers need to learn to write in point of view. Point of View (POV) is one of the hardest parts of writing for beginning authors. Once a writer master POV their work becomes tighter and more enjoyable for the reader.
POV – Point of View. Three little letters that have to be the bane of every new writer’s journey. Oh, if we only were writers 40 or more years ago—now that would have been a completely different story. In the ‘good ol’ days’ we could write from everyone’s point of view at anytime. Now—it is a big ‘No-no.’ Now authors need to learn to write in clear, redistricted, single POV.
Readers want you to pick a character and crawl in their skin, their thoughts, their motives, and their goals. Authors are allowed to change your POV character—but not without appropriate warning to the reader. Make a new chapter or denote a divide in a chapter to make sure they know of the switch.
How do you write good Point of View?
If I am a character in your story and a fly lands on the back of my head—I can’t know it. Anything that happens in another place, at another time when the character was not present, in another character’s head, or out of the POV character’s view—they can’t know until someone tells them about it. She didn’t know he was in the room until he spoke. If she didn’t know it—than you can’t write it. When an author learns to write Point of View clearly, the reader is surprised with the character. She jumped off the couch with a yelp when he said, ‘Hello.’
Learn to write only the thoughts and feelings of your Point of View character.
Your character can’t know what another character is thinking or feeling. I know she was thinking how stupid I had been. Nope, the character doesn’t—not unless the author writes fantasy and the character is telepathic. It’s called head-hopping, and it’s not considered good writing. Now the character can: see another roll their eyes, smirk; hear them sigh or chuckle; turn away with a dismissive flip of hand—all in the POV of the character, but they can’t know what another is thinking.
Here is an example: writing in Mary’s POV, you can’t suddenly say, Sally felt sick to her stomach.
This is part of show don’t tell too. While in Mary’s POV, the author has to learn to write a description of what Mary is seeing Sally do. The reader can then infer what is happening with Sally. Sally pushed her hand against her stomach as she bent over. Her face glistened with beads of sweat and lost color. Now you have stayed in Mary’s POV.
Another thing to consider when writing Point of View
Here is another stickler. The character can’t describe what their own face or hair looks like without being in front of a mirror. My face turned ten shades of red. Nope! Now the character can sweat, feel the heat rise in their cheeks, feel the pounding of their heart. All these are correct POV.
Find Resources to Learn to Writing Point of View
Because Point of view is so challenging, there are many books written on the topic. Check out Point of View: How to Use Different POV Types, Avoid-Head Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book by Sandra Gerh for a quick guide to help you.
Once you have learned to write in Point of View and mastered the technique—be patient, it won’t happen overnight—then the next step is to work on deep POV. More on that next time.
