POV vs Deep POV: What’s It All About?
Have you heard people talk about POV? What about deep POV? If you’re an aspiring fiction writer, then the ins and outs of point of view are crucial to understand.
POV: As a writer you can choose the best point of view for your story. The most popular POVs in fiction currently are first person and third person limited. You may want to choose the first person point of view, so you can immerse your reader in a character’s thoughts and experiences through the use of “I” and “me” and “myself.” Other authors may choose a third person point of view that is still from a character’s perspective but maintains the limited third person POV. Still others choose to do the third person narrative with a multiple POV story, utilizing two or more characters to convey the story.
POV Tips: Whichever route you pursue in your story-telling, the trick is to be consistent with your POV in the novel. Make sure you are only telling the story from the eyes of the selected character, which means you are limited to only conveying what that character would know and experience in the moment. Lastly, watch out for “head hopping.” You need to stay in a character’s head for the entirety of a chapter before switching to another point of view if possible. If you really need to switch before a chapter is complete, make a clear scene break before switching heads in a multiple POV novel.
Deep POV: Deep Point of View is a deep (pun intended!) dive in your chosen POV to fully absorb your reader in the narrative. The strongest writers and most successful stories make the most of Deep POV. This immersive form of writing steers clear of words and language that pulls the reader out of the character’s head and experiences. Words to avoid when writing in deep POV: Feel or felt, heard or hear, see, watch, thought, think, realize, and more. Words like those narrate the character’s actions and tell the reader how to interpret the scene rather than allowing the reader to stay immersed in the story and experience the narrative along with the character.
Resources for POV work:
Point of View: How to use the Different POV Types, Avoid Head-Hopping, and Choose the Best Point of View for Your Book by Sandra Gerth Get it here!
Writing Deep Point of View: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors by Rayne Hall Get it here!
Happy writing!
