I have a point-of-view issue. What's your POV?
I'm rather new to writing, and my initial fledgling efforts were from a third person omniscient POV. In my debut novel With Good Behavior, I do a bit of "head hopping" from character to character. As a psychologist, I'm fascinated by the motivations of each perspective, so third person omniscient worked well for me.
Reader feedback is always varied and interesting. Some readers loved hearing from each character, believing it enriched the story. Other readers (like author Darcia Helle) commented that the constant change in POV was confusing at first, and suggested trying third person limited POV in which I represent one character's perspective at a time (by section or chapter). Darcia shared how an agent asked her "Whose story is this?"--a tough question to answer when using third person omniscient POV.
I shared this feedback with my amazing Omnific Publishing editor Jessica Royer Ocken, and we discussed the pros and cons of omniscient vs. limited. We're currently editing my first Young Adult novel, Against the Tide, and we decided to try third person limited. That created a LOT of work, I tell you! Whew. It's been a challenge to view the scene from only one character's perspective at times, but the advantage is a tighter, easier to follow story (I hope).
Last summer was my first attempt at first person POV for my short story Swim Recruit in the anthology Summer Breeze. First person writing was so fun! I found it a bit easier than writing in the third person.
What's your POV? Do you prefer reading and/or writing in the third person omniscient or limited, or the first person POV?
Time for the Thursday Blog Bounce hosted by Omnific Publishing.
I'm rather new to writing, and my initial fledgling efforts were from a third person omniscient POV. In my debut novel With Good Behavior, I do a bit of "head hopping" from character to character. As a psychologist, I'm fascinated by the motivations of each perspective, so third person omniscient worked well for me.
Reader feedback is always varied and interesting. Some readers loved hearing from each character, believing it enriched the story. Other readers (like author Darcia Helle) commented that the constant change in POV was confusing at first, and suggested trying third person limited POV in which I represent one character's perspective at a time (by section or chapter). Darcia shared how an agent asked her "Whose story is this?"--a tough question to answer when using third person omniscient POV.
I shared this feedback with my amazing Omnific Publishing editor Jessica Royer Ocken, and we discussed the pros and cons of omniscient vs. limited. We're currently editing my first Young Adult novel, Against the Tide, and we decided to try third person limited. That created a LOT of work, I tell you! Whew. It's been a challenge to view the scene from only one character's perspective at times, but the advantage is a tighter, easier to follow story (I hope).
Last summer was my first attempt at first person POV for my short story Swim Recruit in the anthology Summer Breeze. First person writing was so fun! I found it a bit easier than writing in the third person.
What's your POV? Do you prefer reading and/or writing in the third person omniscient or limited, or the first person POV?
Time for the Thursday Blog Bounce hosted by Omnific Publishing.
Comments
The story's compelling because we see clearly how both Grant and Sophie feel about each other, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to skip off into a happy ever after wonderland. And I like getting the glimpses into the other characters' thoughts - especially Logan (I've got a thing for Logan - what's wrong with me?)
But I've enjoyed (and mostly write) many a 3rd limited story, so I'm sure that'll be great for your next one - and probably fun as a writer to challenge yourself to something new, huh?
Kitty, we do seem to take first person perspectives a bit less seriously, don't we? But I think they can be very deep and I'm interested in writing more with first person POV. I'm sneaking in more italicized observations from my characters using third person, so that feels like the best of both worlds.
Thanks for your comments, ladies!
As a reader, I'm not a huge fan of first person to be perfectly honest, but if the story is good and grabs me in the first chapter I can deal with it :)
Karen, I must admit I rarely notice POV unless it's in first person. Most of the novels I read are in third person limited, I guess.