Home » Writing & Publishing » Novel Writing » Look Who's Talking: Establishing Point of View

Look Who's Talking: Establishing Point of View

© Kim Kay

"It is the eye which makes the horizon." -- Emerson

Point of View (POV) is quite simply, who is telling the story. It may sound easy but establishing POV and keeping it consistent throughout the novel can be extremely challenging. To select the appropriate POV for your novel requires you must make some important decisions. Who will be the POV character(s)? In what person will the story be told? Will it be in past or present tense? By answering these three questions, you will have overcome the first obstacle: determining POV. Once you have chosen the POV, you must then convey it to the reader and keep it consistent from beginning to end.

POV characters

The first thing you need decide is who will be your narrator or "POV character." Choosing the right POV character is important since it is through this character that your readers will watch the story unfold. Many writers use the protagonist as the POV character. Others create an impartial character to narrate the story or use multiple POV characters.

If you are a beginning writer, it might be best to stick with only one POV character. While there are many successful novels which use multiple POV characters, it is much more difficult to use effectively. If you do decide to use multiple narrators, make sure your transitions from one to another are smooth. Try not shift back and forth in one scene, but rather make the transitions at scene or chapter breaks. Whether you use one POV character or several, the character(s) must be in every single scene. Remember, you are telling the story through the eyes of your POV character(s) and in order to convey something to the reader, the POV character(s) must experience it.

Person

First Person

In first person POV, the story is told by a specific character in the "I" voice. (I opened the door...) Information is limited to what the POV character sees, hears, thinks, experiences, and feels. First person allows your reader to feel an emotional connection with your main character that is difficult to achieve with other POVs. It can result in some powerful and emotionally charged scenes. On the other hand, first person limits the amount of information you can convey to your readers. You cannot explore the thoughts and feelings of other characters since that is not information to which your POV character has access.

In "Narrative Voice," Crawford Killian divides first person POV into the following categories:

The copyright of the article Look Who's Talking: Establishing Point of View in Novel Writing is owned by Kim Kay. Permission to republish Look Who's Talking: Establishing Point of View in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.