When I started writing my first contemporary romance novel,
Little White Lies, I chose to write in first person POV, present tense, and
entirely from the perspective of the protagonist, Madalyn Russell. The first
half of the book is set on a cruise ship, and using first person POV and
present tense often gives the reader the sense of experiencing events
simultaneously with the protagonist. It seemed like a no brainer. I mean, who
doesn’t want to go on a cruise and have fun?
At about the halfway mark, I decided to ask my sisters to
beta read the manuscript, and one of my sisters suggested the story would be
much better in third person POV and past tense. UGH! I wanted to scream “Are
you kidding me?” Okay, in all honestly, I probably did scream something like
that but with several choice words splashed in there. However, in my desire to
write the best story possible, I took her advice and rewrote the first chapter
in third person POV and past tense. Just to test out her theory. And darn it
all – my sister was absolutely right! So I rewrote nearly 150 pages from first
person to third person and changed the tense from present to past.
So when I started my second novel, Date Night, I learned
from my mistake and wrote the entire book in third person POV, past tense, but
this time I used alternating viewpoints between the hero and heroine. Imagine
my horror when the feedback my niece shared was that I should try to write the
story from first person POV! After screaming more choice words, I sat down and
rewrote the first chapter in first person POV and it was so much better!
AAARRRGGG – another 150 pages rewritten but this time from third person POV to
first person POV!
Experience taught me a valuable lesson! One of the most
important decisions an author faces at the onset of a book is which POV to
write from: first person, second person, third person or omniscient. It is rare
to find books written in second person and omniscient POV, however, it is
trendy these days for authors to write in first person POV. But third person
POV is still a popular choice.
So how does an author decide the best POV for their novel?
That’s an excellent question which doesn’t have a straight forward answer. But
before I start any novel, there are several factors that influence my choice of
POV including, but not limited to:
·
Genre / Subgenre – most young adult and new
adult novels are in first person POV
·
Intended audience (both reader and publisher) –
some publishers have a stated preference for first or third person POV so pay
attention if you’re targeting a specific publisher, and many young readers
today prefer first person POV
·
Plot – first person POV can give a reader the
sense of experiencing the events in the story first hand so action packed story
lines can be thrilling in first person POV
·
Personal preference – this is probably the
biggest factor for most readers – my own opinion is that you can never go wrong
with third person POV, but sometimes first person POV works even better
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer. Personally,
I enjoy first person POV in stories that have a protagonist under the age of
twenty five and / or there is a lot of action [Twilight Series is 1st
person, past tense / Fifty Shades of Grey Series is 1st person,
present tense].
What is the best point of view? It's a book by book decision. But now when I write a novel, I write the first chapter in both first person POV and third person POV to determine which reads better! See - you can teach an old dog new tricks. :-)
