Choosing Point of View
One of the first things you have to decide when starting a new story is what point of view you are going to write this story in. Sometimes this decision can be easy, and sometimes it can be hard. It can depend on a person’s writing style. It can depend on what will serve the story the best. There are limitations, pros, and cons between each point of view. If you are unsure of the different kinds of points of view or the differences between them, I have a post to help you here.
If you want to have a close and strong connection to one or two of your characters, you might want to consider writing your story in first person. This viewpoint is excellent for gripping your audience with a connection to your main character(s). The reader will be fully immersed in your character’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The narration will be full of personality and could, at times, be a conversation between the character(s) and the reader. For the writer, this viewpoint can potentially be easier to write in. It allows the writer to be focused on a narrow space instead of having to jump around to lots of different characters, places, and events. The author must still know about events and timelines throughout his/her world, but he/she doesn’t have to figure out how to weave them into the physical text.
However, be sure to consider the drawbacks of this point of view. It is important to consider if the focus and closeness to the character(s) will hinder your story and how you want to present things. One main limitation of this point of view is how focused it is. You reader is limited in how much he/she can know and understand. All events are centered around the one or two characters you have set as the center piece. All of the knowledge you can give your readers comes from what your character(s) knows or has experienced. The reader can never truly know what the secondary characters think or know unless those characters share that information. Some stories are not as effective or powerful with such a limited view even if you want to mostly focus on one or two main characters.
If you want to have a close relationship with one or two main characters but want to keep the narration a little more removed from them, a third person limited point of view might be what you’re looking for. This viewpoint is really nice for getting a closeness with the main character(s) without having to be limited in narration to only what the character knows. In fact, third person limited has the most flexibility for the writer. He/she can decide exactly how close to the character(s) the narrator is. Some stories benefit from being almost as close as a first-person novel, and some stories have a clear narrator that is describing what is happening but is removed from the action and events.
The main worry a writer needs to have when writing with this viewpoint is being consistent. The flexibility that is so nice for a writer, can also be a downfall. The author must decide how close he/she wants to be with the narration and stick to that throughout the entire story and the whole series if there are multiple books. It will not be an effective story if chapter one sets the narration up as close to the character only for chapter five to be a much more removed and all knowing. It might be helpful to do a couple of tests by writing and rewriting sections of the story with different levels of closeness to decide what would be best for the overall storyline and character development.
However, if you are wanting a narration that is very clearly separate from the characters or events, third person omniscient will be what you want. This viewpoint allows for the story to center around a large group of characters. It is also useful when an author has characters in different places that are all important for the reader to experience. If the storyline is more complex with multiple subplots working together, this viewpoint would be the most ideal. It allows the narrator to know everything and express that knowledge throughout the story.
Just be aware that this viewpoint has the main drawback of being very removed from the characters. This can make it hard for the writer to establish a relationship between the reader and the characters. It is important to be aware of how often you are jumping between locations or characters. If there is too much jumping around, it can give the reader whiplash. If there is too little, then the reader won’t get enough of the full picture you are wanting to provide. At times, I feel that this viewpoint can be the hardest to do well. You want the reader to be engaged while still keeping a space between the narrator and the story.
Sometimes it is not always easy to know what the best choice is when starting your story. If you are unsure what the best option is, I suggest trying out all of them on small sections of your story to see what you feel gives you the best reading interaction. What comes naturally for you and your writing style? What do you want to be the focus of your novel: the story, the characters, or a balance of both? How does your story change based on the viewpoint it is written in? Be a bit playful and see what works best.
