How Do You Decide Tense and Point of View When Writing a Novel?

Writing a novel is a difficult endeavor. There are many craft choices and even more conflicting resources on how to frame your book.

(What Is a Split-Time Novel and Why Do Readers Love Them?)

I’ve published five novels and have three releasing in the next 10 months, and they all vary in POV and tense. Here’s the run-down:

1st book – 1st person POV, past tense2nd book – alternating 1st and 3rd person POV, past tense3rd book – 1st person POV, present tense4th and 5th book – 3rd person POV, past tense6th book – 1st person POV, present tense, second person POV, present tense, and 3rd person POV, present tense7th book – Alternating POV first person, present tense8th book will be Alternating POV, third person, present tense

What in the world… you might be thinking. Most authors I know choose one or two styles and stick with it. I try to use the one that best fits the story.

There is a method to my madness. If you’re struggling with “finding your voice,” I’ve shared a few tips for narrowing down the best tense and point of view(s) to tell your story.

Anything goes these days, and there are no hard and fast rules. However, there are some basic guidelines I’ve found helpful.

On Tense

The most commonly used tense for literary fiction is past tense, and most authors tend to gravitate to past tense when they write their first novel. Past tense is simple and easy to understand.

Here’s an example from the first line of the prologue of Dan Brown’s famous work, The Da Vinci Code: “Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery.”

This is a great introductory sentence that tells us a lot about our character—his name, what he does for a living, that he’s very good at his job, and where he’s at—a museum. The author was able to build in backstory, work in the protagonist’s expertise level, and ground us in the setting, all by choosing third person, past tense to craft his story.

Third person, past tense has always felt like the “safe” choice, and may be a good place to start your first novel if you’re uncertain.

Let’s look at what happens when you make Brown’s statement first person, present tense: “I stagger through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery.”

We know less. We don’t know who the narrator is. We don’t know the protagonist’s job, or what business he has being in that museum. You’re going to have to do more work to build this story from the jump if it’s framed this way.

So when do you use present tense?

I write thrillers, and sometimes the genres blend between crime fiction, domestic suspense, and psychological thrillers. When the author wants the reader to feel immediacy and that the action is happening—right now—present tense is a good choice.

For my genre, I’ve also found present tense useful in creating tension and amping up the suspense.

Writing in present tense does have its technical challenges. My first traditionally published novel, Sweet Water (Thomas & Mercer), was written in first person, present tense. I still feel as though I should send the developmental editor an apology note, because while I loved how that novel sounded in present tense, I found it challenging writing in simple past whenever the main character had to reflect back on events. The novel had an alternating timeline… so there was a lot of reflecting.

The best piece of advice I can dole out here is that if you’re writing your novel in present tense, you will almost never use the word “had” in your novel. It will most likely be “was” when you are talking about an event that happened in the past.

Here is an example:

I carry the gun into the underground station and look both ways before I board the train.

Simple past reflecting on that event later in the story…

The day I shot the man on the train was the worst day of my life.

If you switch from writing past tense to present tense you may be tempted to write—”The day I shot the man had been the worst day of my life.” See above. It should be simple past.

Once you get used to writing in present tense, it can be a powerful vehicle for creating vividly present scenes in your writing.

In fact, my next three books coming out will all be written in present tense. I’ve made a concerted effort to create shorter, faster-paced thrillers, and present tense was the right choice for me and my forthcoming novels.

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Now onto point of views: 1st, 2nd or 3rd? One, two, or more?

How much space do you want between you and your narrator?

This is a question you want to ask yourself before choosing a point of view.

First person is a great choice if you want the story told squarely through the narrator’s eyes. There is a oneness with the protagonist that creates an immediate connection to the character.

It is a great choice… with a couple of caveats:

Unreliable narrators are extremely hard to pull off in first person. Not because the voice doesn’t work, but because it’s harder to hide the character’s untruths when you’re so close to them.

My novel, The Den, has been compared to an Agatha Christie style murder mystery. In order to set up this novel, I have three point of views, and the book is written in third person, past tense. It’s a whodunnit with a full cast of characters, and the best choice to setup this novel was to write it in third person to create as much space as possible in between the characters, as to not give up the murderer.

I also chose three point of views because I wanted to kill off a couple of the suspects. I knew this from the beginning, so I didn’t want to give those soon-to-be-killed characters a point of view. Had I not decided to off those characters, this novel could’ve been written from five point of views. It all depends on what the novel needs to tell the best story.

Ask yourself—what does your novel need to tell the best tale?

General rules on POV:

If you want to be closer to your character(s) – 1st person

If you want to create space – 3rd person

2nd person is a difficult point of view to master. I have snippets of 2nd person woven into my new book, The Wife at The Window (Bookouture). The protagonist in the novel suffered an episode that killed her child and when she reflects back on her life with her husband she refers to him as “You.” This sets up an eerie tone of a woman who can’t move past a terrible tragedy.

I used 2nd person sparingly and only when she was thinking of her husband. I don’t think I could carry out an entire novel in that point of view, but I think it’s a good point of view to use when one character is placing a laser focus on another, almost in a stalkerish way.

The novel I can think of that did this the best was You, by Carolyn Kepnes, one of my favorites.

Check out Cara Reinard’s The Wife at the Window here:

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Number of POVs:

When deciding on how many points of view to use, it’s important to dissect what is needed to truly tell your story. Sometimes there’s a desire to give all of your characters a voice, but that’s often not necessary, and can take up precious real estate on the page.

When writing a novel from one point of view, it’s important to have a strong main character, one a reader can become invested in for 300-plus pages, and an equally engaging plot with high stakes to propel that character forward from chapter to chapter.

A second or third, etc., point of view should be added if there is no other way to tell the story without it. One way to know you’ve overloaded your story with too many point of views is if you find yourself repeating information already explained in a prior POV. 

Or, if the pace of one of your POVs drags and you dread writing that character, that’s a sure sign. If that’s the case, try cutting the slow POV and seeing if the story can exist without it. Can you weave in that information from one of your other protagonists?

Still not sure?

If you find yourself torn between tenses or whether to use a point of view or not, my fix for that is to write it two ways. Draft a paragraph playing with craft trying it both ways, and the one you gravitate toward more is likely the right answer.

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful, and I wish you all the best success in drafting your next novel!