By Eddie Jones, @EddieJonesTweet

• How do you write a story with multiple points of view without confusing your readers?
• Which POV places the reader closer to the emotions and action?
• How do you create three-dimensional and believable characters with different camera angels?

Let’s examine the three most widely accepted points of view.

1^st Person POV

The most intimate is first person. Here the character in the story delivers the narration. In 1^st Person POV we feel, see, taste, hear, and think what the narrator tells us he / she is experiencing. 1^st Person POV puts the reader inside the character and close to the thoughts and feelings of the Lead.

1^st Person POV Rules

• Narrator is personally involved in the story
• Camera is fixed inside the narrator’s head. It never shifts
• Camera records emotions, sensations, thoughts
• Narrator cannot see his or her self except by self reflection (mirror or memory)
• Reader bonds with the narrator
• Narrator projects his / her thoughts, opinions, philosophies onto the reader
• Narrator never dies (unless the story is told from the grave / heaven / hell)
• Narrator can only report what he / she saw, not what another character saw or felt (unless another character reports this information to the Narrator).
• No scene can be described that the narrator has not witnessed—although you can have another character tell the narrator what happened in an “off-screen scene.”

1^st Person POV Tense

You can use past or present tense with first-person POV. The traditional is past tense, where the narrator looks back and tells his story. Presumably, he / she could report on things that could he / she not have perceived at the time but recalls now.

1^st Person POV Present – Example

Our Camry swerves as we turn into Lakeview Estates. Three-story homes span the landscaping that stretches for acres along the lake. Families visit here every year for summer vacation. The majestic mountain peaks that outline the water of Lake Lure offer a refuge of seclusion to escape the stress of hectic lifestyles. No words describe the beauty of this place. Purple Moon

1^st Person POV Past – Example

Death found me on a hot June morning in Walt Disney World’s Tower of Terror. Minutes before I heard about the vampire in Transylvania, North Carolina, I pulled the seat belt across my waist and showed my hands to the bellhop. Behind me buckles snapped shut; arms shot up. The smiling service attendant in his maroon and gold cap bid us a pleasant stay at the Hollywood Hotel and retreated into the boiler room. Service doors sealed us inside, and the elevator yanked us up. Skull Creek Stakeout

Omniscient POV

Omniscient is the least intimate POV. While the omniscient narrator can roam freely and go into any character’s head, that very freedom prevents the close focus on one character.

However, Omniscient POV allows for increased tension to be built into a scene since the charters in the story cannot see what the reader sees.

Omniscient POV Markets

Omniscient POV appears in the general market, or what is called the “secular market.” Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, Carl Hiaasen will sometimes write in Omniscient point of view.

Omniscient POV Pluses / Minuses

With omniscient POV, you are free to float above the story, describe things the characters may not see, tells the reader what’s going on in any character’s head or heart at any time – and within the same scene. When the omniscient narrator tells us what a character is feeling, intimacy is diminished. We do not feel what the character feels – we are told what she feels.

Omniscient POV

Seth shined the flashlight back and forth, a sick feeling growing in his gut.

“Do you think they’d use the same code?” Cyndi asked.

“Let’s hope.” Seth punched the code into the keypad, heard a click. “Yes.” He turned the latch and pushed. The door swung open. Seth reached down to the side of the doorway and pulled out a thick clump of grass. He wedged it between the door and the frame to keep the door from closing and latching shut behind him. Then he stepped inside the cage. Cyndi followed, not happy about going inside but not wanting to stay outside alone. Insane City, Dave Barry

3^rd Person POV

In limited 3^rd person, you stay with one character throughout the scene. You never assume another character’s POV. With unlimited 3^rd person, you switch between characters, exploring the emotions and thoughts of multiple characters while in the same scene. The biggest risk in writing unlimited 3^rd person is keeping the POV consistent throughout a scene: in other words, without head hopping. Once you hop heads once, you’re in Omniscient POV.

3rd Person POV Rules

• No apparent narrator
• Camera moves from head to head recording thoughts, sensations, and feelings
• Reader must be placed into the head of a character by the narrator

3rd Person POV Limitations

With unlimited 3^rd person you spend less time in the head of a single character. You still have multiple major characters (2, 3 or more) but ONLY one main character. With unlimited 3^rd person you spread the intimacy around.

How to Maintain & Establish 3^rd Person POV

• Invite the reader into a character’s head
• Keep the invitation alive with sensations, thoughts, emotions
• Renew invitation after dialogue or long sections of prose
• Create a scene or chapter break when you need to switch camera angles and enter another character’s head

POV Magic Paragraph

“To signal which head to enter twang an emotion, sense or thought. Show an appropriate reaction to the emotion, sense (touch, smell, sound, sight), or thought. Repeat as frequently as necessary.” Paraphrased from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Christian Fiction.

Magic Paragraph Example

Kate steered her Miata over the Wright Memorial Bridge, and joined the stream of tourists and locals motoring south through Nags Head. With the top down she felt the afternoon sun warm her face and soon found herself drumming her fingers on the steering wheel to a Zack Brown song. Kate wished she’d remembered to pack her bathing suit, but in a hurry to get on the road, she’d forgotten to open the bottom drawer of the dresser in the guest room. Not that it matters, she thought. I doubt I could fit into it, anyway.

Get into the head of your character and readers may get into your story.

Eddie is an award-winning author of middle-grade fiction with Harper Collins. He is also Senior Acquisitions Editor and CEO of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (lpcbooks.com) and co-founder of Christian Devotions Ministries (christiandevotions.us). Eddie teaches writing workshops and Amazon marketing at novel retreats, writing conferences, and to small groups. If you would like to book Eddie for your group contact him at eddie@eddiejones.org.