When I wrote my first novel, I barely thought about POV. Honestly, I hadn’t even planned on writing a novel in the first place. "Cecilia: The Last Croilar Tier" started as a ballet story that completely took on a life of its own. Images would pop into my head and I’d just write them. I had no idea what I was doing.

It wasn’t until I handed the manuscript to beta readers that I started getting notes like: “How does she know this?” “How did he know that?”

That was when I realized I’d accidentally written in omniscient POV. Very badly. After researching POV, I learned omniscient is probably one of the hardest styles to pull off well. If you’re constantly jumping between heads, readers can get confused or emotionally disconnected from the story.

So I rewrote the book in third person limited past, staying in Cecilia’s POV. And I feel like it changed the story for the better. Suddenly I couldn’t just dump information onto the reader whenever I wanted. If Cecilia didn’t know something, neither did the audience. Information had to travel naturally through the story. It forced me to become more creative as a writer.

Then I moved onto "Making Friends with Monsters" and immediately knew I wanted first person present. I still can’t fully explain why. The urgency of that POV just felt right for the story. It pulled the reader directly into the character’s emotional state in a way that felt intimate and immediate.

After finishing that book, I became attached to first person present. So when I started my current fantasy WIP, I was convinced I’d write it the same way. But it didn't work. For some reason, I felt like I couldn't capture my main character's voice. What worked for one Monsters completely suffocated this one.

I eventually returned to third person limited past and the story finally started to come alive. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned about POV. There’s no “best” choice. It's what "feels" right for the story.

The wrong POV can make a book feel impossible to write. Before I blame a story for being the story to tell, I will check and make sure I'm actually telling it the best way possible.

posted by Sandra L. Rostirolla on May, 31