If you’re part of a writing community, you’ll probably have seen point of view (POV) mentioned. Which POV is “best” often comes up (with people arguing for or against a particular one according to their, wait for it, point of view), but that’s not what this post is about. Instead, it’s about staying consistent once you have chosen one.
Let’s imagine someone’s writing a story with a third person limited POV. This means they’ll be using pronouns like he, she and they. It also means the reader shouldn’t see or find out anything that’s not known to the POV character(s). Read the following scene with this in mind.
The Scar
Alex checked his arm again; the scar had spread. It writhed along his arm as he flexed his hand, up into his tattered shirt sleeve. It had already reached his shoulders, though he didn’t know it yet, and even now it was claiming his spine.
He quickened his pace.
A trader approached with his wares, but Alex shooed him off with a wave. The angry red lines circling his fingers made the man shrink back. The merchant gazed after him until he was lost from view.
He heard the whispers by the next street, over and over, as if the speaker were right behind him. Cursed, cursed, cursed. Set me free or your heart will burst. And then, the itching came.
What started as a tingling soon became a burning, anywhere the scar had reached. He stumbled against a cart and lunged back and forth, raking his arm while his shoulders scraped on the rough wood. It was an unfortunate situation.
Set me free or your heart will burst. The exorcist wasn’t far. Alex staggered on, jaw clamped on his tongue. He focused on the taste of copper as his teeth broke the skin, but still shuddered at the ceaseless, pulsing itch. Cursed, cursed, cursed. The whispering masked the jingle from his coin purse as it hit the cobbled ground. Now, obliviously penniless, he pushed himself on, on towards the only help in the city.
Help which came at a premium.
Did you notice any issues? There were a few places where the reader is told something that Alex doesn’t know. I’ve underlined them below for easy reference:
Alex checked his arm again; the scar had spread. It writhed along his arm as he flexed his hand, up into his tattered shirt sleeve. It had already reached his shoulders, though he didn’t know it yet, and even now it was claiming his spine.
He quickened his pace.
A trader approached with his wares, but Alex shooed him off with a wave. The angry red lines circling his fingers made the man shrink back. The merchant gazed after him until he was lost from view.
He heard the whispers by the next street, over and over, as if the speaker were right behind him. Cursed, cursed, cursed. Set me free or your heart will burst. And then, the itching came.
What started as a tingling soon became a burning, anywhere the scar had reached. He stumbled against a cart and lunged back and forth, raking his arm while his shoulders scraped on the rough wood. It was an unfortunate situation.
Set me free or your heart will burst. The exorcist wasn’t far. Alex staggered on, jaw clamped on his tongue. He focused on the taste of copper as his teeth broke the skin, but still shuddered at the ceaseless, pulsing itch. Cursed, cursed, cursed. The whispering masked the jingle from his coin purse as it hit the cobbled ground. Now, obliviously penniless, he pushed himself on, on towards the only help in the city.
Help which came at a premium.
The underlined sections move from third person limited to third person objective. This means the story feels more like it’s being watched via a camera than through a character’s eyes. That camera might move around and see what’s going on away from the protagonist(s). Is that a problem? Not if the author chose to use that POV. However, it can feel jarring if third person objective just sneaks in occasionally. I mention this because it’s extremely easy to do by accident. It’s also not as obvious as accidentally slipping from third to first person (or vice versa) when you come to edit your work.
It’s worth keeping a particular eye out for phrases like It was an unfortunate situation. What’s wrong with that? Alex would know that, wouldn’t he? Well, yes, but would he be thinking those exact words right then? Probably not, so the sentence is really an aside from the narrator. (You could also argue that the final line falls into this category. I haven’t underlined it because my writer and editor sides had a disagreement, and the writer side won. You don’t have to accept every suggestion from your editor, folks!)
The advice above isn’t the law, especially as plenty of successful authors have ignored it. (E.g. Adrian Tchaikovsky changes POV and tense in Children of Ruin, the sequel to his award-winning book Children of Time.) However, they have usually had good reasons, and have done so deliberately. If you’re fairly new to writing, picking one POV and sticking with it will likely be the best bet.
Do you have a favourite POV to read or write with? Get in touch and let me know!
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