It seems there\u2019s been a heated debate surrounding point of view (POV) in novels lately. What\u2019s better: First person or third person? What do readers enjoy more? What is most effective? The questions are endless, just as the arguments for and against each avenue. Even as you read this, I can hear people shouting , \u201cFirst!\u201d and others yelling, \u201cThird!\u201d in support of their favorite outlet. I\u2019ve written this to end the squabble. So here it is. The version that is the optimum choice. The answer to all questions about POV:<\/p>\n
It depends.<\/p>\n
Sorry, but that\u2019s the truth. It depends. You can write any story from the first person point of view of the main character or from a limited \u201cover the shoulder\u201d third person perspective. You could even use the omniscient third if you so desire.<\/p>\n
Before you decide, you should ask yourself about the plot delivery and how you want it to sound and be portrayed. But I believe the most important question is \u201cHow do I want my readers to relate to my protagonist (and the other main characters)?\u201d If you\u2019re not sure, here\u2019s a pro and con comparison of POV to help facilitate your decision:<\/p>\n
First Person<\/strong> Third Person<\/strong> As you can see, there are good and bad aspects of each POV. Personally, I\u2019m a fan of third person limited. Although I bend the rules a bit and keep it limited to whoever I\u2019ve chosen to write about (for my series: protag, other MCs and antag). Once you decide what fits best with your goals for your story and its readers, you\u2019ll be able to choose a perspective with a well informed decision.<\/p>\n Share your own pros and cons of these perspectives by leaving a comment!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It seems there\u2019s been a heated debate surrounding point of view (POV) in novels lately. What\u2019s better: First person or third person? What do readers enjoy more? What is most effective? The questions are endless, just as the arguments for and against each avenue. Even as you read this, I can hear people shouting , […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,52,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-characters","category-structure","category-writing-tips"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YHlB-1m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPros<\/em>: Know thoughts and emotions. Easily relatable. Live the story. Consistent narration.
\nCons:<\/em> Limited knowledge. Unreliable. Biased portrayal of events. Diary-like.<\/p>\n
\nPros:<\/em> Unlimited Knowledge. Reader privy to events before MC. Sneak peeks of other characters. Open-ended questions.
\nCons<\/em>: Other characters may become more interesting. Too many POVs. Lack of mystery. Too much info.<\/p>\n