I’ve been discussing description over the past several posts, and I hope that’s been helpful. Let’s move on to a different topic. One that’s really important.
Point of View (POV).
I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, and one thing that has jumped out at me has been the issue of point of view. Many writers simply don’t seem to understand how to incorporate it into their stories correctly.
First, let’s talk about what it is and why it’s so critical that the author use it correctly.
“Point of view refers to the narrative perspective from which a story is told.”
That’s a pretty simple definition from Bing. Ha.
But it sums it up well. Point of view determines whose senses the reader experiences, which “head” the reader will be in. For example, think of the movie Castaway, with Tom Hanks. Honestly, I’m probably one of the few who hated the movie; but nevertheless, it’s a good example of point of view. Through whose eyes, ears, etc., did we, the viewers, experience the movie? Chuck Noland’s, the character Tom Hanks plays. We had no idea what the people in Tom’s life were doing while he was on the island.
That is what point of view is. We know what the character in the scene knows. POV answers the questions: Who is telling the story? and What information can they reveal to the reader? Meaning, the reader will only know what the character knows.
One example: If you have a couple and the husband is cheating on the wife but he hasn’t told her and no one else has either, the wife cannot know about the affair.
This is deep point of view. Meaning, readers experience what the character in the scene experiences. While there are exceptions to the rule, most publishers prefer this point of view for stories.
In short, POV not only determines what the reader knows but also how they feel about what they know. It guides the reader’s perspective and shapes their overall experience of the story.
In the story I’ve been crafting for these blog posts, we’ve been in Oliver’s point of view only. Yes, we’ve had other characters in the scene; but there’s been only one point of view.
Take a look at your story. Does each scene have only one point of view, or do you head hop (meaning more than one point of view per scene)?
The world goes on without me,
beyond my field of view,
and the limits of what I can see
may yet not all be true.
That house, for instance, over there;
I’ll never see its other side.
Is it facade for empty air,
where no-one doth abide?
There are people, yes, and cars,
all seen in silhouette.
Are they all but movie stars,
acting on a set
defined by mocked-up door and wall
behind which lies nothing at all?
I like the example of Castaway for POV. I thought it was an okay movie. Went on a bit too long for me, but then he WAS on the island for years, right? haha!
I think it’s especially important when writing for children that we don’t head hop. And yeah, there are exceptions for omniscient POV, mostly in speculative fiction. But I’ve found if it’s done well, I read for a while without realizing it’s not in just one POV. And it always surprises me. haha! That doesn’t happen often.
I’ve also been told most of the writing rules we have in Christian publishing are not a thing in the general market. Don’t know if that’s true, but I did listen to a novel on Audible this summer that head hopped. It released this year and was written by a pretty big name in the general market. And I was okay with it because it wasn’t blatant, if that makes sense.
So, maybe the general market is more lenient? I don’t know. But for myself, I feel better when I’m writing in just one POV in a scene or chapter.
I enjoy both reading and writing books with different POVs. I don’t like to head hop, but I do try to make my characters’ voices so distinctive, even in their thoughts, that the reader is always comfortably aware of whose head they’re in, even if there is no “Shelly wondered if…” or “…she wondered” to assure them about who is wondering. I occasionally fail, however. One beta reader of my last novel said I didn’t always have clear antecedents to the pronouns, and specified where they were needed. (I REALLY appreciate such a picky and knowledgeable beta reader!) 😊
There have been a few novels I’ve read where there was head hopping and it was very confusing, so it’s nice being reminded to keep the POV to only one head in each scene. Thank you!
You mentioned deep POV, and this is one thing I’ve tried to get a handle on. As you stated deep POV is one character’s POV per scene. That’s how I write, yet sometimes my critique group will say I’m not in deep POV. Is there a level of information that makes POV deep? Such as more gut level reactions from the character?
I’m preparing a blog post to address this very issue. I hope it helps. It will be posted on Thursday, the 24th of October. 🙂
With 3rd person omniscient pov, you can never head hop — you are god. In your story world, you know everyone and everyone’s thoughts. But I don’t understand why it’s not popularly used today — it’s actually avoided. Why!? Will someone answer me personally – here is my email address: leoblanco998@gmail.com.