POV, for Wrath, for Ruin and for the Red Dawn
Somehow, this became a pep talk of sorts, which makes me think of King Theoden, because I’m a nerd. So we’re going with it.
It’s time to talk about Point of View…or, POV as it will be called from here on out in the post because I’m nursing sore wrists.
I’ve seen a lot of commenting in various and sundry place on POV recently and I wanted to throw in my two cents.
With POV there are preferences. There are a lot more PREFERENCES than there are rules. In my debut book, His Virgin Acquisition, I changed POV within the first page. Would I do that now? Maybe not. But it sold. And my editor never once complained about it. I’ve also never heard a reader complaint about it.
POV is much talked about among writers, not readers quite so much. For a reader, things need to flow, and changes need to be clear.
I do not put in line breaks/scene breaks/***/chapter breaks to change POV. When I was starting our writing, I observed what other writers in the line I wanted to write for did, and I decided I preferred it when things changed without a break. This wasn’t something I really noticed before I decided I wanted to write seriously. I only really started thinking about it when it was something I needed to do.
As you can see, I have a liberal POV view. Whatever works for the book.
My PERSONAL rules that I hold myself to are:
1.Only hero and heroine POV for category
2. When switching POV midscene, signify the change by using character name as SOON as possible. First word if I can.
Those are my rules. The ones that I hold only myself to. Otherwise, I change whenever I feel I need to. I follow what I feel has the biggest emotional impact.
As for hard and fast rules? I think there are only a few. And if I’m overstepping in calling these rules, please correct me. Show me someone who breaks them successfully. 🙂 Nothing better than successfully broken rules!
1. Don’t change in a paragraph. It’s muddled. It’s confusing. You don’t want your reader thinking too hard about whose head they’re in. Which is really the point of all of these rules!
2. Your hero can’t admire his own bicep, your heroine doesn’t know her eyes flashed with anger. POV means you’re in that character’s head. In your own head, what can you see/feel/observe? That’s all your character can see/feel/observe. (if it’s paranormal, fine, you can break that rule WITH PURPOSE if they’re an empath or something.)
3. Be reasonable. Don’t change every paragraph.
4. Whatever you do, do with purpose and control. Which means, you probably could break some of these rules. Because most of these baddies are mistakes made unconsciously. (and I’ve made them) Know what you’re doing, know why you’re doing it. Know whose POV you’re in and why.
I pass the POV sword onto you. Wield it well. With purpose and honor. For the betterment of your MS and not to its detriment.
Comments
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Ummm thought provoking Maisey – thanks for sharing! I need to “revisit” my MS and have a look-see to see what my POV’s are doing I think! Caroline x
Caroline, I hope it was thought provoking in a good way! LOL. 😉
Maisey, you mention changing POV when you need to for emotional impact. That’s tough when scenes in romance have emotional consequences for both MCs (as they usually do). I try to look at who has the most to lose in a scene when choosing the POV. Still tricky, sometimes.
Kate, I mean changing to what has the most impact for the reader. Which can certainly be (and typically is) about who has the highest stakes.
Thanks for this Maisey. I worry lots about POV so this was very helpful.
On the advice of a wonderful contest judge (if by any chance you are reading this – THANK YOU) I have started highlighting my heroines POV in pink and my heros in blue which allows me to make sure that I’m not changing within a paragraph and am hopefully only changing POV when its the ‘right’ thing for me to do and not jarring the reader.
Nina x
PS I love you changed POV on page 1 and it worked!
A much appreciated post Maisey! Thank you.
From MY point of view, well defined changes can dramatically strengthen the telling of a story.
I hope some of the New Voices Entrants will take heart hearing from a published author that there aren’t as many rules as the POV-wrist-slap brigade would have them believe!
Thanks again for your post.
Timely, and well — good common writing sense really!
Annie.
Nina, I love the idea of highlighting! That’s really brilliant.
Annie, It’s all about execution. I do see a lot of people taking preferences as law, and that’s just not the case! 🙂