I am notoriously indecisive when it comes to deciding on a Point of View (POV) for my writings, especially longer pieces. This includes both choosing which characters will get to be narrators and if I will be writing in 1st or 3rd person. (I usually don’t do much more than this. I’m not into 2nd person or 3rd person omnipotent.)
Weeks can be wasted as I him-haw around, debating the merits of each option. And then I finally decide, usually based on what is popular in the genre I’m writing in.
Then after I get about a fourth of the way through the project I’m working on, I start second guessing myself.
So here’s the not-so-fool-proof plan to decide on a POV for your project.
1. Look at what’s popular in the genre you’re writing in.
Most of my writing that I’m currently working on will end up in either romance or cozy mystery when placed in a specific genre. The most popular POVs for writing in these genres are 3rd person, which is what a majority of the books I’ve read are written in, or in 1st person.
2. What feels most natural to you?
Find a POV that feels normal to you. Writing in 2nd person doesn’t feel quite as natural to me, but that’s possibly because I don’t write or read in it often. Honestly, who does?
3. How many characters do you want as POV characters?
In most romance novels, there are two POV character, the two people in the relationship (unless you’re reading a romance with more than two people in the relationship).
Or are you going to do more of a Game of Thrones style where there are millions of characters (okay, not millions). How many of them are going to get to tell their story?
4. Who’s talking to you?
The most important thing for me is to figure out who’s talking to me. In one of my current WIPs, a pararomance/fantasy romance, my hero and heroine are two totally different characters. While I love my hero, he doesn’t have as strong of an inner monologue as the heroine does. She’s constantly word vomiting in her head and outside of her head.
So what I did when I started my WIP was follow the first three steps to this. I had some super cute scenes I wanted to see with my Hero and his friends. I also know that most romances are told in 3rd person from both the hero and heroine’s points of view.
However, I am now into the writing about a fourth of the way through and have started re-thinking everything.
My hero isn’t talking to me as much. At least, not as a narrator.
My heroine; now she’s chatty and amusing and just has an amazing running monologue. She grows and changes and doubts and makes bad decisions. She’s interesting. (This is not to say that my hero isn’t interesting. He just isn’t as forthcoming.)
Originally, my heroine was talking to me the most. I should have stuck with my gut and used her as my solo narrator. I love writing in 1st person, and I let the idea of the traditional 3rd person romance novel get into my head.
All in all, I’ve written this post to simply tell you one thing.
Go with your gut.