One of the author’s primary tools to create great characters is point of view (POV). The character or characters through whom the reader experiences your narrative will become the people they know best, and, if those characters are compelling, the friends they carry with them after the story is done. As writers, we must consider […]
June 21, 2015 by 92 Comments Point of ViewWhat Every Writer Ought to Know About the Omniscient POV
Writers don’t only have to decide which character’s point of view the story will be told in, they also have to figure out whether to then share that character’s narrative in first-person, third-person, second-person, or (*cue ominous rumbling*) omniscient POV. The point of view (or POV) in which you tell your story’s narrative is arguably the single […]
March 25, 2015 by 92 Comments Point of View1st-Person POV vs. 3rd-Person POV: Which POV Is Right for Your Book?
This week’s video discusses the pros and cons of 1st-person POV vs. 3rd-person POV in order to help you make the right decision for your book. Video Transcript: Few decisions are more crucial to your story than that of point of view (or POV). This is a multi-faceted decision, involving the questions: Who’s going to […]
June 11, 2014 by 97 Comments Point of View3 Ways You Can Use a First-Person Narrator to Tell a Better Story
Using a first-person narrator is tricky and should be attempted only by the most experienced hand. In-house editors know this, which is why they no doubt cringed when they saw the opening chapter of my new release The Cat Lady’s Secret. Not only is it in first-person, it’s in present tense. To make matters worse (to make […]
March 26, 2014 by 60 Comments Point of ViewVicarious Love: The Greatest Advantage of Multiple POVs
Multiple points of view—should you use them or should you not? More genre books than not use multiple POVs to present multiple protagonists–or sometimes just to give readers a glimpse at what’s happening behind the main character’s back. Usually, I’m more inclined to discuss their drawbacks, because, sadly, they’re more likely to be abused than […]
May 22, 2013 by 17 Comments Point of ViewAre Your Multiple POVs Killing Your Story’s Suspense?
This week’s video cautions against sharing too much information with readers at the expense of their investment in the protagonist. Video Transcript: A trend I’ve noticed among writers—myself included—is that we tend to love writing multiple POVs. We have all these characters that we just adore, and we want the opportunity to explore the mindsets and the activities of […]
September 26, 2012 by 28 Comments Point of ViewYet Another Pitfall of Multi-POV Stories
I want to start this week’s post with a disclaimer. As you can tell from the title, this is going to be yet another harangue on the dangers of multi-POV fiction. However, none of this is to say multi-POV fiction is inherently bad or wrong. I love multi-POV fiction. Every single one of my books […]
March 14, 2012 by 49 Comments Point of ViewThe Biggest Danger of Multiple POVs
An author’s choice about which and how many characters to feature as point-of-view narrators is crucial to the story. The narrating characters will control the tone and flow of the story, and largely decide whether or not the book works. It’s true there are many advantages to multiple-narrator books. Not only do they allow you […]
November 16, 2011 by 17 Comments Point of ViewThe #1 Factor to Consider When Choosing POV Characters
How do you go about choosing your POV characters? This is one of the most important decisions you can make in planning your book. The characters who narrate will largely control the flow, tone, and focus of your story. Change the POV characters, and you’ll likely change the entire story. And yet this is a […]
June 8, 2011 by 31 Comments Point of ViewIntroduce Important POVs as Soon as Possible
By the time readers get through your first couple chapters, they will have made an emotional and intellectual investment in your main characters—your important POVs. If they’ve read this far and plan to continue reading, they’ve found the characters introduced in these chapters to be worth their time and attention. Now… imagine their annoyance when, […]
