When Not to Give an Interesting Character a POV

One of the toughest decisions for any book is which and how many characters should be given POVs. Often, writers seem to just dive in and write whatever POV is handiest for any particular scene, without considering how this will affect the book as a whole. One of the tip-offs of a savvy author is control over POVs. If it’s obvious an author has specifically chosen POVs, rather than just writing whatever’s handy, you know this person is making conscious choices.

As we’ve discussed in previous videos, there are many factors to consider in selecting POV characters. One of those factors is usually, “Is this character interesting? Does this person have a lively narrative voice?” This is a great rule of thumb. But there are times when you will actually want to resist giving POVs to your most interesting characters.

Why? I mean, on the surface, that sounds idiotic, right?

The reason you may want to consider restricting POV from interesting characters is to give readers a little distance from them. Sometimes strange or fascinating characters lose a little of their magic and  mystery when we get too close to them.

For Example:

Kathryn Magendie, in her haunting coming-of-age story Sweetie, chose to do exactly what we’re talking about. The title character is easily the most fascinating person in the book. But she isn’t given a POV. Magendie lets readers view her only through the lens of the first-person narrator, who is Sweetie’s best friend.

The result of this clever choice is that Sweetie maintains every last bit of her ethereal strangeness. If we had gotten into her head, a lot of that would have been explained away—or, at the very least, mitigated.

Before giving all your most fascinating characters a POV, consider whether you might better capture them by filtering them through another character’s perspective.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! Have you ever opted to restrict POV from a particularly interesting character? Why? Tell me in the comments!