Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Point of View: How to Use the Different Point of View Types, Avoid Head-Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book
    Point of View: How to Use the Different Point of View Types, Avoid Head-Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book
    Point of View: How to Use the Different Point of View Types, Avoid Head-Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book
    Ebook133 pages1 hour

    Point of View: How to Use the Different Point of View Types, Avoid Head-Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book

    By Sandra Gerth

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Point of view (POV) is one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s kit, but it’s also one of the hardest to understand and master.

    In this book, Sandra Gerth draws on her experience as an editor and a best-selling author to teach you how to handle point of view in a way that will make your readers identify with your main character, draw them into the story, and keep them captivated until the very last page.

    The book provides concrete examples and exercises that will hone your writing skills.

    Whether you’re a novice writer working on her first story or an established author, this book will help you to:

    - Discover what point of view is and why it’s so important.
    - Understand the different types of point of view such as first-person, third-person, omniscient, and deep POV.
    - Choose the point of view that works best for your story.
    - Write a novel from multiple viewpoints without confusing your readers.
    - Avoid head-hopping and other POV violations that would throw your readers out of the story.
    - Write internal monologue and take your readers deeply into your character’s mind.
    - Create suspense and tension by using POV techniques.
    - Let your readers experience events through your main character’s eyes to get them emotionally involved in your story.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherYlva Publishing
    Release dateOct 19, 2016
    ISBN9783955337520
    Point of View: How to Use the Different Point of View Types, Avoid Head-Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book

    Read more from Sandra Gerth

    Related to Point of View

    Related ebooks

    Reference For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Set the Hook With Great Beginnings

      Oct 18, 2021

      As a novice fisher, I’ve only caught a few fish, but I’m already thinking about better ways to hook more. Likewise, as a writer, I think a lot about how to write beginnings that will hook readers. Just as fishing advice abounds, so too does writing a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Managing Point of View (Part 1 of 3): Myth Busting

      Feb 14, 2022

      Let’s imagine, for a moment, that we’re meeting at an icecream shop. And let’s say I ask you, “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” Whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, your answer is your point of view, and it’s assimilated from every a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Subplots Aren’t Secondary

      Jun 19, 2019

      Subplots Aren’t Secondary
      6 min read

    • Article

      Trope: My Favorite Dirty Word

      Oct 18, 2021

      Trope: My Favorite Dirty Word
      7 min read

    • Article

      The First Five Pages

      Jan 7, 2021

      The First Five Pages
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Time Is Now Writing Prompts and Exercises

      Oct 10, 2018

      Suggested Reading:The Story Cure: A Book Doctor’s Pain-Free Guide to Finishing Your Novel or Memoir (Ten Speed Press, May 2017) by Dinty W. Moore The director of creative writing at Ohio State University and author of a number of books of literary no

      2 min read

    • Article

      Beat Sheet Or Cheat Sheet?

      May 5, 2022

      If you’ve not yet encountered the Save the Cat! books you will, because the original book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need (2005) proved so successful it led to a franchise which now includes at least seven volumes, inclu

      8 min read

    • Article

      Character, Know Thyself: The Essentials Of Character Awareness

      May 8, 2019

      Early drafts are an exercise in getting to know your character and her story—you are, in essence, telling the story to yourself first so that you can figure out what to add or omit when fine-tuning the story for readers. I encourage you to pen more p

      8 min read

    • Article

      Getting Creative With Reality

      Oct 1, 2020

      What do H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, Notes on a Small Island by Bill Bryson and Tall Stories and Wee Tales by Billy Connolly have in common? They all belong to the increasingly popular genre of creative non-fiction writing. When creative non-fic

      6 min read

    • Article

      What Physics Can Teach Us About Writing Fiction

      Mar 6, 2018

      Sometimes writing fiction feels to me like that oft-used image of a godlike creator: the man pulling the strings of the marionette, orchestrating each fine movement from above the stage. One string might be character, another plot, a third setting, a

      6 min read

    • Article

      How To Write A Bestseller

      Oct 5, 2018

      I have a friend—call him Tom—who, like me, is a writer. Tom has written many novels over a long and enviable publishing career, and his novel-writing philosophy, related to me over various drinks at various bars, can be summarized as follows: Write w

      6 min read

    • Article

      A New Approach To Outlining

      Oct 29, 2022

      WHEN I WAS ABOUT 12, I PLAYED baseball in the street with a group of neighborhood kids. None of us knew how to play; the point was to have fun. One day while we were playing, a girl who lived in a big house on the corner – Jenny, I distinctly remembe

      5 min read

    • Article

      Opportunities

      Jan 28, 2023

      Categories: Art, poetry, prose Description: Editors seek U.S. entries from emerging and established writers and artists for the 47th issue. Deadline: March 20 http://sandhillslitmag.com/submit/ Categories: Poetry, craft essays, fiction, hybrid, nonfi

      1 min read

    • Article

      Bookish

      May 21, 2019

      There’s no one right way to live a writing life (unless, of course, you never write a word). But how does one start being a writer? Who’s allowed to call themselves a “writer,” anyway? And beyond grammar and syntax, what does a person need to know be

      1 min read

    • Article

      Better writing NOW

      May 6, 2021

      Better writing NOW
      5 min read

    • Article

      Everything I Don’t Know About Swords: On Teaching Creative Writing

      Mar 19, 2018

      1. One evening in grad school, half-drunk and Googling my own name, I found a blog run by one of my fiction students. I shouldn’t have read it, but of course I read it. “I already hate this class,” she wrote. “My teacher is a stuck-up snob who won’t

      7 min read

    • Article

      Building The Bildungsroman

      Nov 4, 2021

      Building The Bildungsroman
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nonfiction Book Proposals

      Oct 13, 2021

      FOR years journalist Chloé Cooper Jones, who was born with a rare congenital disorder called sacral agenesis that affected the development of her hips and legs, had been filling free moments between assignments by writing journal entries on how stran

      8 min read

    • Article

      75 Writing prompts

      Dec 14, 2020

      75 Writing prompts
      8 min read

    • Article

      Free Writing Contests

      Apr 14, 2021

      FOR those looking to dip a toe into the deep waters of writing contests, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Every year we list hundreds of opportunities in the Grants & Awards section of this magazine, ranging from small local contests offer

      19 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of PLOTTING

      Jul 9, 2022

      Writing a novel is a huge challenge. Not only must you create relatable, compelling characters who grab readers, but you also need to nail down a storyline that does the same thing. Readers want adept storytelling, with scenes that move, lives that c

      8 min read

    • Article

      Romance Writing Academy

      Dec 18, 2021

      Romance Writing Academy
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Point of View

    5/5

    7 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Point of View - Sandra Gerth

      Books in the

      Writers’ Guide Series

      Goal Setting for Writers

      How to set and achieve your writing goals, write a book, and become a successful author

      Time Management for Writers

      How to write faster, find the time to write your book, and be a more prolific writer

      Show, Don’t Tell

      How to write vivid descriptions, handle backstory, and describe your characters’ emotions

      Point of View

      How to use the different POV types, avoid head-hopping, and choose the best point of view for your book

      Table of Contents

      Books in the Writers' Guide Series

      Title Page

      1. Introduction — What this book will teach you

      2. Definition — What point of view is and why it’s so important

      3. Types of POV — What the most commonly used points of view are

      4. First-person POV

      5. Second-person POV

      6. Third-person objective POV

      7. Third-person omniscient POV

      8. Third-person limited POV

      9. Deep third-person POV

      10. Third-person multiple POV

      11. Mixing POV types — How to mix first- and third-person POV

      12. Narrative distance — Why POV is really a continuum

      13. Make a choice — How to pick the best POV for your book

      14. Head-hopping — How to avoid it and why you should

      15. Common POV problems — How to avoid violating POV

      16. Internal monologue — How to portray character thoughts

      17. Conclusion — What to do now

      About Sandra Gerth

      Other books from Ylva Publishing

      Goal Setting for Writers

      Time Management for Writers

      Show, Don’t Tell

      1. Introduction —

      What this book will teach you

      Point of view (POV) is probably the most powerful tool in a writer’s tool kit, but it’s also one of the hardest to understand and master.

      As the senior editor of a publishing house, I encounter POV violations in submitted manuscripts from new writers—and even from more experienced authors—every day. Often, we end up rejecting these manuscripts because point of view has such a strong impact on every aspect of the story that fixing fundamental point of view mistakes would take too much time.

      The manuscripts we accept for publication, however, are often written by authors who clearly know how to handle point of view. If you as a writer have a good grasp on POV, you can make readers identify with your main character, draw them into the story, and keep them captivated from the beginning until the very last page.

      If that is what you are aiming for with your writing, this is the book for you.

      Whether you’re a novice writer working on her first story or an established author who has already published multiple novels, this book will help you to:

      discover what point of view is and why it’s so important;

      understand the different types of point of view as well as their advantages and disadvantages;

      choose the point of view that works best for your story;

      write a novel from multiple viewpoints and shift between different POVs without confusing your readers;

      avoid head-hopping and other POV violations that would throw your readers out of the story;

      write a story from a deep, intimate point of view that will draw your readers into the story;

      find solutions to common point of view problems such as describing your POV character;

      write internal monologue and take your readers deeply into your character’s mind;

      create suspense and tension by using POV techniques;

      make your readers experience events through your character’s eyes to get them emotionally involved in your story.

      HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS BOOK

      Each section of this book ends with an exercise that invites you to reflect on your own opinions and experiences or that will help you improve your POV skills. Many of the exercises will also have you work on your own story, either a work in progress or one that you have written in the past. If you haven’t started writing a novel yet, there are exercises that will guide you through choosing the best point of view for your story.

      I suggest that you get a notebook or several sheets of paper and a pen. While you’re reading this book, stop after every chapter and do the exercises. By the time you finish this book, you’ll know which point of view you will use for your story if you haven’t started writing it yet or, if you have already written the first draft, which POV violations you need to correct.

      By the way, a few of the examples I use throughout this book are from my own novels, written under my pen name, Jae (jae-fiction.com). I do that strictly for legal reasons, to make sure I’m not violating anyone’s copyright. A few of the examples are based on manuscripts I edited, rewritten to protect the innocent.

      Happy reading and writing!

      Sandra Gerth

      2. Definition —

      What point of view is and why it’s so important

      Have you ever watched a movie that was based on a novel that you had read? If you did, which did you like better—the novel or the movie?

      If you are anything like me and most other people, you probably prefer the book over the movie most of the time. The reason for that preference is point of view. I’ll explain that in a second, but let’s define what point of view is first.

      DEFINITION OF POV

      The narrative point of view—often shortened to POV—is the perspective from which a story or at least a section of the story is told. It’s like a lens through which readers view the events.

      Here’s why POV is the reason most people prefer the book to the movie based on the book:

      POV makes reading a book a more intimate experience compared to other forms of storytelling such as movies and TV shows. In novels and short stories, readers aren’t limited to seeing just the outer actions and hearing the dialogue. They get to dip into the minds of the characters, see the events through their eyes, and experience their emotions. They are becoming the protagonist and living the story instead of just watching it. That’s why as readers, we’re often much more emotionally involved in books than movies.

      THE IMPORTANCE OF POV

      POV isn’t just another element of the writing craft; it’s the foundation that will help you write a great book and avoid problems with the other core elements of fiction:

      Point of view determines how readers will view your characters, how close they feel to them, and with whom they will identify.

      Point of view helps you create tension and suspense by controlling how much information you give your readers about what’s going on in the story. Readers will keep turning the pages if they get to discover what will happen next along with the POV character.

      A close point of view encourages you to show instead of tell—which basically means bringing the story to life instead of delivering a secondhand report. If you want to find out more about showing and telling, take a look at my nonfiction book Show, Don’t Tell. How to write vivid

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1