You may wonder why I’ve saved my point-of-view post for the end of the month. In my work as an editor I see a lot of writers who I feel are using the wrong point-of-view. They could be using third person when first person would really serve their story better. They might be using first person but the narrative is so head-hoppy they really need to get out of their main character’s skull. They might be writing present tense because they think that’s trendy when in fact present tense doesn’t make a lot of sense for what they’re writing.
I know from personal experience that it’s a lot easier to start with the right POV than it is to go back and edit the hell out of it later. There’s a whole new level of line editing required to switch tenses.
So today we’re going to contemplate which point-of-view is best for your story—how do you know whose head to be in or whether you should be in anyone’s head at all? And how deep into that person’s psyche do you want to get? How can you take the POV you’ve chosen deeper?
You might consider an exercise of writing a scene from two different POVs and seeing which feels more natural. Or you could just skim the following links:
TODAY’S LINKS:
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