Point of Views
- Robyn Weightman
- Sep 26, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 28, 2020
POV, or Point of View.
A POV is what point of view your story will be told from, and how many refers to how many different characters view points.
In the older days of novels, most books were written from one point of view. Either the narrator or the protagonist. In more modern times, it is common for books to have 3 or more Point of View characters per book. With readers seemingly wanting more and more realism and less narrator zoom outs.
Which way is the best?
This entirely depends upon your own personal writing voice and the book you're writing. It can also depend on if you're aiming to get published, or are already onto your tenth published book.
For example;
George R.R.Martin uses multiple character view points in his work Game of Thrones. And to great effect. The reader is transported into the mind of which ever main character he has chosen, often informing the reader on battle strategies and betrayals. Without this approach, Game of Thrones would perhaps be confusing and disorientating.
However, this is just another series in Martin's wide list of published books.
As a new novelist, you're less likely to be published if your book has more than three character Point of Views.
Why?
Because the more character POV's the harder the book is to write and keep coherent, and tougher to keep your reader invested in your characters.
However, books from only one characters POV or the narrators are also awesome.
Such as, Harry Potter.
Harry Potter is written from a narrators Point of View, who is telling their story. Though they will sometimes imagine what other characters must be feeling, you generally only get to know arry Potter on a close basis.
Another important factor to look at with POV's is layout.
If we look at Lord of the Rings, a series I'm sure everyone has read. The books are split in two. The Fellowship's story and Frodo's. I hated this. Mostly because I didn't enjoy reading Frodo's chapters, so to have a big chunk of him from the middle to the end of the book was horrible for me. But, this can still work well.
Or, the more modern way to do things. To swap character view point in alternating chapters, like in Game of Thrones.
A third option, is to have only your protagonists Point of View but to sometimes put in the view of other characters.
Eve: The Awakening by Jenna Moreci is a good example of this, as you follow the protagonist, Eve's, view point throughout most of the story. However, on brief occasions, sometimes only a few paragraphs per chapter, you change to Jason, the second main character. Jenna uses this technique well as these changes mainly happen in fight scenes, making sure she does as little telling as possible and therefore keeping the readers hooked.
The Point of View you choose depends upon the story you're trying to create. Think hard about what techniques you want to use, and see which view points would work best. Also consider your own writing voice. Do you write better from a characters mind, or narrators?
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is another huge success which is written only from Kvothe, the protagonist's, POV. That protagonist speaks as the narrator as he is telling the story of his life. And the story works really well in this way.
As always, it's your choice. Do what works best for you and play around with it. Try each variation if you want until you find your favourite. Experimenting with your writing in the early stages never hurts :)
Comments