POV or How I Stopped Worrying About Myself and Started Using an Effective Persona

The counter to omniscient is third person objective. In this challenging point of view, none of the characters’ thoughts are revealed. Instead, the reader must try to understand the motivations of the characters through their actions or through what they say. The narrator must be strictly objective in the telling of the story, so it’s similar to a camera being strapped to the narrator’s head and allowing the reader to see what is happening without any additional commentary. Perhaps the best author to use this technique was an obscure writer by the name of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway wanted the reader to ferret out why a character did or did not do something based upon his/her actions in the story and not by the narrator spoon-feeding reasons and motivations to the readers. That obviously puts more pressure on readers to make their own judgments regarding the characters’ intentions. This is a good technique to attempt if you are over zealous in giving too much information to your readers. As I say, it’s challenging, but it can also be very rewarding when done right.

The last point of view I want to cover here is third person limited. This narration falls somewhere in between all of the others that have been mentioned. As with first person, third person limited allows the reader to view the thoughts of one character, usually, but not always, the main character. Unlike omniscient, no other character’s thoughts are revealed, only the one character’s. This sets up an intimate relationship with the reader because the reader can relate to this one character, his/her thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. However, the narrator can also step back from this one character and describe the action that’s going on elsewhere in the story. The narrator can physically describe all the other characters in the story. He or she just can’t delve into their thoughts. The drawback? As with first person, readers are usually limited in their perspectives of where the action is taking place and why other characters do what they do. And because it utilizes a third person narrator, there is less subjectivity and a bit more objectivity involved with the character. Still, if you’re looking for a point of view that gives you the most freedom in creating a well rounded character without the artificiality of an omniscient perspective, then third person limited is the one for you.

In the end, deciding what point of view to use is a little like buying a car. Do you want one that says, “I’m rich, and I can buy whatever I want,” or one that says, “I care about the environment, so I’ll buy an eco-friendly vehicle,” or one that says, “I love to travel places.” You need to have point of view be useful to <em>you</em> and <em>your story</em> <em>telling</em>, and that’s why your story will be even better if you think about what to use before you write, so you don’t have to rewrite the whole story in a different pov in a rewrite. As an author, you will create a persona to tell your story. Just make sure it’s the one that can tell it better than any other one you might have created.