The Writer's Handbook - Write & Publish Like Industry Professionals

POINT OF VIEW & HEAD HOPPING

One of the first things a writer needs to decide when writing a story is how they want to tell it, meaning from whose perspective are they recounting the events as they unfold? 

For aspiring authors, understanding the nuances of this part of the craft will help enormously in staving off massive edits later on, especially when it comes to head hopping (more on that below).

But first, there are four main categories of POV in narrative: first-person, second-person and third-person, of which third-person is divided further into two subcategories of subjective and objective. There is one further third-person subcategory, omniscient, considered to be more or less redundant in today's market, although it can still be used with success, however it should be noted that this is extremely rare.

First-person POV

With the first-person point of view, a story is revealed through a narrator who is also explicitly a character within his or her own story. Therefore, the narrator reveals the plot by referring to this viewpoint character with forms of "I" (i.e., the narrator is a person who openly acknowledges his or her own existence) or, when part of a larger group, "we". Frequently, the narrator is the protagonist, whose inner thoughts are expressed to the audience, even if not to any of the other characters. A conscious narrator, as a human participant of past events, is an incomplete witness by definition, unable to fully see and comprehend events in their entirety as they unfurl, not necessarily objective in their inner thoughts or sharing them fully, and furthermore may be pursuing some hidden agenda. 

First person point of view is one of the most common POVs in fiction. What makes this point of view interesting, and challenging, is that all of the events in the story are filtered through the narrator and explained in his or her own unique voice. This means first person narrative is both biased and incomplete.

First person narrators cannot be everywhere at once and thus cannot get all sides of the story. They are telling their story, not necessarily the story. In first person novels, the reader almost always sympathizes with a first person narrator, even if the narrator is an anti-hero with major flaws.

Unreliable narrators. Some novelists use the limitations of first person narrative to surprise the reader, a technique called unreliable narrator, in which the audience discovers the narrator's version of events can't be trusted. 

Of course, this is why we love first person narrative, because it's imbued with the character's personality, their unique perspective on the world.

When writing in first person, there are two major mistakes writers make:

1. The narrator isn't likable. Your protagonist doesn't have to be a cliché hero. She doesn't even need to be good. However, she must be interesting. The audience will not stick around for 300 pages listening to a character they don't enjoy. This is one reason why anti-heroes make great first person narrators. They may not be morally perfect, but they're almost always interesting.

2. The narrator tells but doesn't show. The danger with first person is that you could spend too much time in your character's head, explaining what he's thinking and how he feels about the situation. You're allowed to mention the character's mood, but don't forget that your readers trust and attention relies on what your character does, not what he thinks about doing.

Second-person POV

The story is told to "you." While this POV is not used often in fiction—it is used regularly in nonfiction, song lyrics, and even video games—second person POV is still good helpful to understand.