Writer’s Desk

A Writer’s Point of View

Point of view in fiction writing comes in three basic flavors: First Person (I, me, mine), Second Person (you, yours), and Third Person (his, hers, theirs). It is the foundation of narrative perspective and flow. It’s also where a lot of new writers get into trouble.

Mixing and matching first and third person, for example, even when it’s properly delineated (roll with me, I’ll explain in a bit), is never a good idea. When it’s not properly delineated, it quickly turns into a confusing mess that sends the reader running to anywhere but your book or short story. The same is true when writers make it possible to see inside the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters’ minds, often within the same paragraph and sometimes within the same sentence. Take pity on your readers. Don’t do that.

Basically, the rule governing delineation of various points of view is that there should always be some separation between one person’s POV and another’s. At the very least the writer should start a new paragraph before changing perspective. Better still, add an extra blank line to make it obvious some new aspect of the story is about to begin. The best way of all is to start a whole new chapter. Why? Because the last thing you want to do as a writer is to confuse your readers. This is especially true when you’re talking about big action sequences.

The best advice on writing I’ve ever been given came from a literary agent I met a couple decades ago, who said that I should tell the story as if I’m watching it in a movie. There are differing schools of thought on this subject, mainly split between those who agree and those who object by saying it’s two different mediums and they should, therefore, be treated differently. As with most things in the writing game, you should go with what works for you. I love movies – some might say obsessively – and so I write as if I’m watching it on the big screen. I shall now demonstrate this by discussing the final battle scene of the movie King Arthur, starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley.

The story is about Arthur, obviously; hence, the title. If I were to tell the story of the final confrontation between Arthur and his Knights and the Danes (led by Stellan Skarsgard) from one single point of view, it would be all Arthur all the time. This is do-able, of course, but by this point in the story the reader has been introduced to a number of cool characters they naturally want to root for and going from the viewpoint of a single character cuts the rest of them out, leaving the reader wishing for more.

In a movie, however, it’s natural to start with the main guy, then cut to check out what Lancelot’s doing with his twin swords, then maybe back to Arthur, then to Guenevere in all her scantily clad screaming Celtic glory, then onto another and another and another, each coming faster as the climax draws near. In filmmaking, this is done with quick cutting in the editing room. In fiction (or, at least, my fiction) it’s done by using short chapters, each one written from a different point of view, and all from the third person perspective. If you’re writing in first person, you’re stuck with whoever that first person is. As for second person , , , I don’t like it, so I don’t use it – except I did use it in Scream Bloody Cheerleader, but we won’t talk about that.

The single most important thing about point of view (in whatever way you choose to express it) is to remain consistent throughout. When readers begin to expect things to be a certain way, they stop thinking about it. Forcing them to think about it by mixing and matching POVs all willy nilly with no consistency, and changing perspective (and sometime tense – which drives me straight up a tree, but we won’t go there today) yanks them out of the story, and that’s the absolute last thing you want to do.

As always, I encourage my fellow scribes to chime in with their thoughts.