Choosing the Right Point of View

Point of view is one of the most influential and important decisions we make when we come to write our stories and novels. It determines not just who tells the story, but how that story is experienced. It tells the reader what is seen, what is hidden, and what is felt.
 
It’s tempting to choose a familiar perspective, but it’s worth asking who is the best person to tell this story? Often, the answer isn’t the most obvious character, even to you, but the one with the most at stake, or the one who misunderstands events in a revealing way.
 
Point of view also shapes distance. A close perspective can pull us tightly into a character’s thoughts and emotions, creating intimacy. A more distant one allows for space, reflection, and a broader view of events. Neither is better; each offers different possibilities.
 
What matters is consistency and clarity. When a point of view slips unintentionally, it can break the reader’s immersion in the story – and there is nothing worse than being “pulled out of” a story. I hear and see people say that all the time in book reviews. But when a point of view shift is controlled, it becomes a powerful filter. Everything - the setting, the dialogue, even the smallest detail - is shaped by the perspective through which it’s seen.
 
But it is also true that limitation can be a strength. What a narrator doesn’t know, or chooses not to reveal, can create tension and depth. Sometimes, what’s left unsaid carries as much weight as what’s on the page.
 
Have you ever changed the point of view in a piece of writing? What difference did it make?
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Try this exercise: Rewrite a scene you are working on from a different point of view. Notice how not just the details change, but the tone, the emphasis, even the meaning of the scene itself.
 
Let me know in the comments on this post what you think, and what happened when you did the exercise.
 
Until next time
 
Happy scribbling!