POV Pet Peeves

We all have things that annoy us in books. One of my biggest issues is with POVs, or point of views. So today we're going to talk about problems with POVs and how they can be fixed.

What is a point of view?

A point of view in a book is the perspective of the character telling it. For example, Percy Jackson is told in first person by Percy himself, whereas the Chronicles of Narnia are told in omniscient point of view by an unseen narrator.

Problems

First we're going to talk about my biggest problems with points of view. Then in the next section, we'll discuss how they can be fixed. Finally I'll end with talking about some of my favorite points of view. Remember, not all of these are bad things, but they can be used wrong.

• Multiple first person POVs. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time when a story is told by multiple people in first person. I never remember to look at who's speaking and then I get confused.

• Too many POVs. When you start having POVs from people that don't seem to matter to the story, then you have too many. The Red Queen series for example, or Wonder. They each include points of view that could have been done without.

• Head-hopping. This is when one paragraph is from one person's perspective, then the next one is someone else's. No page break, no warning. Just bam, a different person is speaking, or thinking, to be technical.

• Bland, similar personalities. This goes with the first point. If all the characters sound the same, then it will be hard to tell them apart and boring for the reader. People don't all sound the same, so why should characters?

• Knowing information they shouldn't. Points of view, especially limited ones (meaning not a narrator that knows everything) are only able to talk about what they know. So it can be really disruptive if they talk about something sounding like a gunshot when they don't have guns, or mention something happening elsewhere when they couldn't know that, then it upsets the whole story.

Solutions

• Give your characters strong personalities. I have read books with first person POVs that were very easy to tell who was speaking because the characters all sounded different. If you're going to write from multiple points of view, make sure that each one has a unique sound and way of speaking and thinking.

• Page breaks=no confusion. Any time you switch points of view, either use a page break (a space between paragraphs) or a chapter break. This will help prevent reader confusion. My preference is chapter breaks, because I think they work best, but you can decide for yourself. Also, don't change POVs willy-nilly. Have a reason for doing so.

• Consistency. You need to be consistent with your narrative style. Don't switch tenses or suddenly talk to the reader if you haven't done that the whole book. And don't make the character say things they couldn't know, like talking about sewing if they're a blacksmith (without good reason of course).

• Stick to the important people. When you decide on multiple points of view, make sure they are all needed first. Who cares what the random person that you met once has to say? Stick to important characters like the hero, the villain, the sidekick, or other characters that go throughout the plot.

Favorite POVs

• First person. I love first person. I love getting inside the head of the person and knowing their thoughts. I've also written it a lot.

• Deep point of view. This is when you go deep inside the character and their thoughts. It can be done in either first or third person.

• First and third point of view. I've seen a few books with two different POVs where one is first person and the other is third and I'm kind of fascinated with it. It just reads so interestingly.

• Narrative point of view. The kind where the person is telling you, the reader, the story. There's something so friendly about that kind.

What are some of your least favorite POV problems? What are some of your favorites? Tell me in the comments.

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