POV: It’s About the Author, Not the Story
Choosing which point-of-view to write from is one of the most fundamental decisions an author has to make, well before a single word is put to page. And like all rules a writer “has” to follow, the POV rules are made to be broken.
(Tips for Creating Voice in Your Writing.)
The only thing that matters is the answer to this question: Does it work?
For example, one steadfast “rule” we often hear is that you can never shift POVs in a single scene, yet I was revisiting a James Clavell novel the other day and he did just that. And you know what? It worked.
The POV choice can be an analytical one, a detailed consideration of how much the author wants both the character and reader to know, which bits of information best service the story, and what viewpoints create the most tension. Hitchcock’s bomb under the table device suggests an omniscient POV works best when you want the reader to see dangers the characters cannot, and it can be used to great effect. Others would argue that by staying only within the protagonist’s POV, the reader becomes much closer to the character, which, when done well, is a great way to up the stakes.
Yet I’ve learned over the course of 13 novels (including the first three that didn’t sell) that POV should be less a practical decision than an empathetic one. I’d argue that finding the POV that works most naturally for you, the author, is synonymous with finding your voice. When I wrote my first book, I did it from a third-person, past-tense point-of-view, which just seemed like how authors wrote (I was exceptionally green at the time). And that worked fine, or at least well enough to get an agent. In fact, I wrote my first seven books from a third-person past, (mostly) singular-character POV.
But with my book Mister Tender’s Girl, I chose to write it from a first-person, present-tense singular POV. This wasn’t a long debate in my head; I had so much empathy for my character, Alice, that I couldn’t imagine writing it any other way. And when I completed the book—a novel that felt easier to write than all the others—I re-read it and thought, Wow, I think that’s my voice. Eight books in, I’d finally found my fingerprints.
Check out Carter Wilson’s The Father She Went to Find here:
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Since then, all my protagonists have been written from a first-person present POV, because that’s just what comes naturally to me. It’s what I’m good at, and for all the limitations inherent in that particular POV, my books are simply better because of that choice. How do I know?
Because when I set out to write my 2024 release, The Father She Went To Find, I initially reverted to my old ways and told the entire story from a singular, third-person past POV. The problem was I overthought it. My protagonist, Penny Bly, was a 21-year-old female with acquired savant syndrome, and I reasoned that I couldn’t possibly get close enough to this character to write her from a first-person present perspective. Not only was I wrong in assuming that, but I actively chose a path that didn’t feel natural to me as a writer.
My editor, naturally, struggled with my initial draft of The Father She Went to Find, finding it difficult to connect with Penny. Therein I discovered the Catch-22 of my situation: I didn’t think I could get close enough to Penny to write her from an intimate POV, but by writing her from a distance I made her character that much more unrelatable to the reader. I suggested to my editor that I rewrite the first 25 pages from a first-person present POV, and on reading the revisions my editor said, “Ah, there’s Penny.”
So I rewrote the 85,000-word manuscript, sentence by sentence, changing it from third-person past to first-person present. And in doing so not only did Penny fully come alive, but my voice showed up in that manuscript for the first time.
In the writing retreats and one-on-one coaching offered through my company Unbound Writer, my advice to novelists deciding on POV is to ask questions not of the story, but of themselves. Are you a person with deep wells of empathy? If so, consider choosing a POV that puts you directly inside your character at all times, because readers will gravitate to the emotion you can generate with that particular point-of-view.
What POV comes most naturally to you? Perhaps take a chapter and write it a few different ways, then choose the one that feels like your voice. Most importantly, what POV do you enjoy writing? Writing a novel is a Herculean task, so it’s critical to do it from a place of joy.
Yes, you must consider plot (to a certain extent) when choosing POV, because certain pieces of information might need to be conveyed to the reader that cannot be achieved through the preferred POV. But that might be an opportunity for a second, minor POV to be introduced, rather than bucking your natural POV choice and creating a manuscript that feels flat and disconnected. Though it may take years and many novels to do it, make no mistake: The moment you discover which POV comes most naturally to you, that’s the same moment you’ve found your voice.
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