 Romance/Love: April 03, 2024 Issue [#12484] |
This week: Point of View Edited by: Annette  
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| "The recommended POV is third person with some first person thoughts included as well, usually in key moments." ~ Kathryn Lye about the best point of view in a romance novel. |
| ASIN: B083RZ2C5F |
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Point of View
As you plan out (or even just think about) writing a romance story, you have to begin by deciding whose story you're telling. You have to figure out how to let your readers know about your character's thoughts and feelings. This leads you to have to come up with a point of view.
First person point of view. The narrator speaks of herself in I and me statements. This allows you to dive deep into her mind. However, as this point of view is limited to the things she can see and know, it means readers have to rely on her to be very perceptive about everything so that they can participate in the story. And you will have to get over that awkward moment when she has to describe what she looks like.
Second person point of view. The main character is you. As you goes through the story, you is looked at from a disconnected vantage point, but it's still very close to first person as everything is told through the eyes of the second person character.
Third person point of view. The narrator can either talk about her and him or they and describe their actions as if looking from the outside in. This third person narrative can be limited to one character who carries this point of view almost as narrowly as a first person. Third person point of view can also be omniscient in which the storyteller gives details and events from different places and different people who may not be aware of one another.
Harlequin editor Kathryn Lye recommends using the third person point of view, but allows for some first person thoughts.
While it's easier to keep track of only one point of view character, it makes the story more lively to give more than one person the ability to have thoughts, feelings, and actions away from the main character. Especially if there is a villain in the story, it helps to let that character act on her/his own behalf.
Won't a third person narrative that is told from more than one single person's vantage point make the reader dizzy with head hopping?
It can, but only if you don't edit your story. It's hard to have multiple point of view characters in one scene without jostling the reader around. Readers can, however, follow a story with multiple points of view when there is a paragraph break to help the reader enter into another character's experience.
Whichever point of view you choose, stay consistent throughout the story. This means that if you use the omniscient point of view in which different characters get to be the driver of the plot, ensure that each of them has their own voice and that stays consistent from scene to scene. Ticks, preferred vocabulary, personality traits and mannerisms as well as slag or catch phrases have to come up often enough to make a character unique, but not be so overbearing that characters become caricatures. Unless you intend for that to be the case.
Which one is your favorite point of view when writing romance or love stories?
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Replies to my last Romance / Love newsletter "Valentine's Day Is Upon Us" that asked What would be the best other genre besides Romance / Love to mix with a Valentine's Day story?
Monty  wrote: I am waiting some on new writes after losing my wife about a year ago. Did one for The Heart Throb Contest, May be doing more.
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