Jessica Steiner (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jessicasteiner) wrote2013-04-11 08:26 pm
jessicasteiner) wrote2013-04-11 08:26 pm
Entry tags:
J is for Jumping Heads #atozchallenge
Today's tip is about Point of View.
There are lots of different POVs. The main ones that people use are First Person, Third Person Limited, and Omniscient.
A lot of urban fantasy uses first person POV. Harry Potter is written in third person omniscient. The majority of fiction is written in third person limited. If you don't what understand the different types are, go here, because I'm not going to explain it further in this particular article.
Third person limited is by far the easiest to write. The reason why is that you have the most freedom. You can write one scene from the point of view of the best character to tell it, and the next scene can be from another character's point of view entirely, while the other character isn't present at all.
Omniscient, on the other hand, is far more difficult. You have to be careful not to confuse the reader when you shift from head to head. Because readers are used to limited, you have to be very smooth when you're shifting within the same scene. It took me three reads to realize that J.K. Rowling wasn't staying in one particular character's head throughout a scene, though I thought at first she was writing in third person limited.
First person is pretty easy to write, but has its own limitations. You can't really have multiple characters in a single book all refer to themselves as "I", so if you're going to write first person, you have to set up the book basically so everything important happens in the presence of the main character.
If you write Homestuck fanfiction or are Andrew Hussie, then you can use Second Person. Otherwise, don't do this.
And the tip?
Don't Forget Whose Head You're In.
Whether you're writing in third person limited or in first person, you want to keep in mind the character's unique voice. Remember D for Dialogue? The character's inner world influences the way they see the world, just as it influences their word choice and sentence structure.
You should be mindful of your character's biases, their world view, what they think of as important and what they don't. All of this should come through in adjective choices as you describe the world around them, because the reader is seeing it through their eyes.
There are lots of different POVs. The main ones that people use are First Person, Third Person Limited, and Omniscient.
A lot of urban fantasy uses first person POV. Harry Potter is written in third person omniscient. The majority of fiction is written in third person limited. If you don't what understand the different types are, go here, because I'm not going to explain it further in this particular article.
Third person limited is by far the easiest to write. The reason why is that you have the most freedom. You can write one scene from the point of view of the best character to tell it, and the next scene can be from another character's point of view entirely, while the other character isn't present at all.
Omniscient, on the other hand, is far more difficult. You have to be careful not to confuse the reader when you shift from head to head. Because readers are used to limited, you have to be very smooth when you're shifting within the same scene. It took me three reads to realize that J.K. Rowling wasn't staying in one particular character's head throughout a scene, though I thought at first she was writing in third person limited.
First person is pretty easy to write, but has its own limitations. You can't really have multiple characters in a single book all refer to themselves as "I", so if you're going to write first person, you have to set up the book basically so everything important happens in the presence of the main character.
If you write Homestuck fanfiction or are Andrew Hussie, then you can use Second Person. Otherwise, don't do this.
And the tip?
Don't Forget Whose Head You're In.
Whether you're writing in third person limited or in first person, you want to keep in mind the character's unique voice. Remember D for Dialogue? The character's inner world influences the way they see the world, just as it influences their word choice and sentence structure.
You should be mindful of your character's biases, their world view, what they think of as important and what they don't. All of this should come through in adjective choices as you describe the world around them, because the reader is seeing it through their eyes.