Choosing the Right Point of View for Your Novel
I recently finished reading Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (watch this space for a more extensive review!), and one of the things that struck me was how clearly Stein explains the fundamentals of craft. Concepts that can sometimes feel hard to grasp—such as showing versus telling or finding the best title for your book—seem manageable with his guidance.
Because a couple of my recent clients have had questions about point of view (POV), I thought I’d take this chance to explore the subject, guided by Stein’s insights. As he defines it, point of view is simply “the character whose eyes are observing what happens.” Simple as that sounds, getting it right is essential.
Why Does POV Matter?
Stein warns that even one slip in POV “can hurt a story badly, and several slips can be fatal.” This is true even though readers may not consciously notice POV problems. Instead, they’re left with the vague impression that something is off—the story feels messy or poorly written.
That said, readers do sometimes call out POV issues directly. I’ve seen numerous Amazon or Goodreads reviews complaining about “head-hopping” or confusing perspectives. It’s one of the most common craft issues that readers specifically criticize.
The Most Common POVs
Most novels today are written in one of three perspectives:
First person: Told with “I” and “me.” The reader experiences the story entirely through this character’s eyes.
Third person limited: Similar to first person, except that “I” becomes “he” or “she” (usually!). The limitation is the same: The reader knows only what one character knows. A useful test is to swap out pronouns. If a sentence works in first person, it fits limited third person. If it doesn’t, you’ve slipped. For example:
Limited: Kelsey banged on the door, shouting to be let in.
Not limited: Kelsey banged on the door, shouting to be let in, while behind her, Lucas shook his head, thinking, Come on, just open up!
Switch the pronouns to “I” and “me,” and suddenly it makes no sense—how would “I” know what Lucas is thinking?
A story can be told with more than one third-person limited point of view, but only one character’s POV can be used at once—not Kelsey’s and Lucas’s together.
Omniscient: The “god mode” of POV, where the narrator can reveal any character’s thoughts, background details, even future events.
Why “Less Is More” with POV
Stein advises less experienced writers not to mix POVs within a book, and certainly not within a scene or chapter. I’d hedge that advice: Many new authors I’ve worked with have managed multiple POVs well. But it’s true that the more perspectives you include, the harder it becomes to balance them in a way that feels intentional rather than scattershot.
If, for example, two characters’ POVs take up two-thirds of a book’s pages but three or four others are crammed into the remaining third, the result feels unbalanced. And too many point of view characters can be dizzying or make it harder to engage the reader in any single character’s story. In fact, one of the most common pieces of advice I give in developmental edits is to reduce the number of POV characters to no more than two or three.
This ties directly into the issue of “head-hopping.” Although Stein doesn’t use that term, he cautions against it strongly. Head-hopping happens when the narrative slips abruptly from one character’s perspective to another within a scene:
Diego ran his hand along the brick. It was rough beneath his fingertips. Melissa watched him, tingles of anxiety running through her body.
Here, only Diego can feel the brick, and only Melissa can feel anxiety. By giving us both sensations, the narrative hops heads, leaving us confused about which character we’re meant to identify with in this scene.
True omniscient POV can move between characters’ minds at will, but that’s different: Omniscient POV is a deliberate, all-knowing stance. What I see more often in drafts is a muddied third-person limited, where the POV isn’t clear or consistent.
And while omniscient POV can be powerful, Stein highlights its pitfalls. A story about everybody tends to feel like a story about nobody, he argues—and readers want to know whose story they’re following. Unlimited choices can also paralyze the writer, making it hard to determine which creative choice will be most effective. By contrast, the constraints of limited POVs can actually help focus the storytelling.
Choosing the Right POV
So how do you decide which POV to use? A few guidelines:
Go with comfort. If one POV feels natural, start there. You can always change the POV later. This might sound overwhelming, but it’s a common revision!
Keep it simple. Fewer POV characters almost always make for a stronger, more cohesive novel. Can you tell this story effectively without a certain character’s POV? If so, don’t use it.
Consider voice. In many ways, first person and limited third are interchangeable. The main difference is voice: If you choose first person, you need to sustain an engaging, authentic character voice throughout. Is your character someone whose voice you’re confident you can inhabit for an entire book? Or if you plan to have multiple first-person narrators, can you differentiate their voices clearly enough that they don’t blend together?
Think about your character. If your narrator is witty, observant, and articulate, first person may work beautifully. If your character is, for instance, very young, unobservant, or difficult to capture convincingly, third person may give you more flexibility (and fewer pitfalls). Of course, there are great books written from challenging first-person POVs (Emma Donoghue’s Room, narrated by a five-year-old, is one!), but they stand out in part because the feat is so difficult.
Study your genre. Thrillers, for example, are often written in third person. Among other things, a first-person narrator automatically signals survival—we assume they’re alive to tell the tale. Checking the POV used in popular books like your own can help guide your choice.
Use omniscient POV with care. It’s best reserved for writers with a strong, distinctive authorial voice—and for stories that truly need it. For most writers, most of the time, third-person limited is a safer and more effective choice.
Point of view might seem like a dull technical detail, but it shapes every aspect of how readers experience your story. As Stein reminds us, readers don’t just want to know what happens—they want to know, and truly feel, whose story it is. Choosing the right POV, and handling it with care, helps engage your readers from the first page to the last.
And if you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy my posts on dialogue tips and the best writing craft books.
