Which Point Of View Is Best?

What point of view should I write my novel in, you ask? The answer depends on how you want your readers to connect with your characters. Each POV has its benefits. Let’s talk about the kinds of POV and how they can help you achieve your narrative vision.

First-Person POV

Do you want your readers to be deep inside the head of the protagonist? Then first-person POV is one of your best options. Allowing readers access to the narrator’s innermost thoughts and feelings and the reasoning behind each of their choices creates a truly intimate reading experience. You can think of it as a POV for stories centered around the protagonist’s internal growth.

First-person POV is also a great choice for a newer writer. Having just one character perspective to focus on makes the writing process easier, and many say it’s the most natural way to write a story, because the narration sounds much like regular conversation. As such, you want to capture the narrator’s unique personality in their inner monologue and dialogue with other characters. In my opinion, this is what makes writing in first-person POV so fun! I love the process of character building and being able to let the one-of-a-kind voice I craft for my character to ring out boldly.

Can you have more than one first-person POV in a story? Yes, you can pull this off by alternating between character perspectives with each new chapter.

Second-Person POV

Second-person POV is quite uncommon and not recommended for a novel, because readers don’t often like being spoken to as if they’re a character for the entirety of a book. For instance:

You were walking down the street, and you saw a stray dog—or what you thought to be a stray dog—run into someone’s backyard. You followed it.

Second-person POV is better to try in a short story or flash fiction piece, especially if it’s meant to seem experimental or mind-bending.

POV Characteristics Cheat Sheet

Third-Person POV

Third-person POV has four sub-types. We’ll discuss each one, beginning with third-person objective.

1. Third-Person Objective

This point of view is often called camera-eye POV, as it reveals only what a movie or TV show typically would. That is, the writer doesn’t tell us what’s going on in the characters’ minds, and their writing voice remains unopinionated and emotionally neutral. For these reasons, many readers favor third-person objective POV; they like being able to decide for themselves what to think about specific characters and situations.

However, those who want a more emotional reading experience or something distinctly different than what their streaming services provide might not be the biggest fans of this writing style. You just have to know what your genre’s audience prefers.

It’s possible to mix this POV with other types of third-person POV throughout your novel for broader appeal. If you’re going to go that route, keep in mind that third-person objective is particularly useful for suspense scenes since it hides what’s going on internally with your characters.

2. Third-Person Omniscient

A third-person omniscient narrator is an all-knowing outside viewer, meaning they can see into the mind, past, and future of every character. Though they’re not a character themselves, this kind of narrator has their own distinct, opinionated voice, like any other well-developed character does, and their voice should be maintained throughout the entire novel.

Third-person omniscient had its heyday during the Victorian era and isn’t too common now, but I think there are stories just waiting to be written with a clever, modern take on it.

3. Third-Person Limited

Simply put, third-person limited POV is when you are limited to one character’s perspective at a time. You can carry one character’s perspective throughout the entire novel or have multiple character perspectives, so long as you don’t head hop. Personally, I think the easiest way to execute the multiple character POV approach without breaking conventions is to alternate character perspective chapter by chapter, but you can also alternate scene by scene.

What is head hopping? It’s when you jump from one character’s mind to another’s suddenly and jarringly. To maintain the right spacing between characters’ points of view, it helps if you set a guideline to stick to one POV per paragraph, scene, or chapter.

Though this type of POV reveals the character’s thoughts and feelings, the narrator is neither the character nor has their own distinct voice; they are a neutral, unopinionated outsider. Because third-person limited gives readers a more intimate experience without telling them what to think about the characters and their circumstances, it has wide appeal and is, unsuprisingly, the most commonly-used POV in modern literature.

4. Close Third-Person Limited

Like third-person limited POV, close third-person limited POV, also called deep third-person limited POV, limits you to one character’s perspective at a time. What makes close third-person limited different from third-person limited it that the character IS the narrator. Therefore, you’d write in the voice of the character rather than a neutral voice. Next to first-person, this POV provides the deepest look at the character’s inner world, since everything is experienced through their eyes.

Close third-person limited is increasingly popular in contemporary literature, and it’s not hard to see why. With a well-crafted character voice, this POV is quite entertaining, both to read and to write. I’m currently writing a novel using close third-person with an ensemble cast.

But, here’s the thing: if readers dislike the character voice, the story is basically ruined for them, so this POV is definitely riskier than its sister POV, third-person limited.

To give you a better idea of the difference between third-person limited and close third-person limited, I’ve written out a passage both ways:

Third-Person Limited POV

Regret bubbled in her stomach as she watched him drive away. She had the panicked thought to call him and ask him to come back.

Close Third-Person Limited POV

It was already starting to hurt as he drove away. Maybe this was a mistake. Damnit. Should she call him and ask him to come back?

Still have questions about which point of view is best for your novel? Feel free to email me. I’m happy to be of assistance. 

MJ Biggs is a freelance book editor and the author of A Wonderful Place To Die.