All things writing Novel POV?

[TMSellers]

As my querying journey for my fantasy trilogy continues, I've actually not received much in the way of personal feedback. But I did recently receive one note that said third-person omniscient narrator is a dated writing style that isn't very common anymore. I admittedly tend to read older literature more than recent titles. But most of my favorite books use a third person omniscient narrator. Is this really a mostly dead practice for novels these days? Should I be writing in present third person or first person instead?

 

[Leslie]

As my querying journey for my fantasy trilogy continues, I've actually not received much in the way of personal feedback. But I did recently receive one note that said third-person omniscient narrator is a dated writing style that isn't very common anymore. I admittedly tend to read older literature more than recent titles. But most of my favorite books use a third person omniscient narrator. Is this really a mostly dead practice for novels these days? Should I be writing in present third person or first person instead?

Wow. I'm not sure I would call it dated (not that my opinion matters) but a lot of the younger writing out there particularly that in the new romantasy genre is first person. @RJ Garside What are you hearing on the pub pro? Do you PP colleagues think that third is dated? I write sexy romance in third but my sociopath mystery that I am working on is in first. I think this is a great topic for discussion and would love to hear what some of our instructors think as well. @Angela Knight What are your thoughts on this? @Dawn_McClure and yours?
~Leslie

 

[RJ Garside]

As my querying journey for my fantasy trilogy continues, I've actually not received much in the way of personal feedback. But I did recently receive one note that said third-person omniscient narrator is a dated writing style that isn't very common anymore. I admittedly tend to read older literature more than recent titles. But most of my favorite books use a third person omniscient narrator. Is this really a mostly dead practice for novels these days? Should I be writing in present third person or first person instead?

Hi @TMSellers,

What a great question! So I've heard that readers are less interested in omniscient narration because they want to be able to experience the character in third and first person point of view deeply. Readers are looking for that deep connection with the character, almost like crawling into their heads to experience their journey that feels like it's harder to accomplish with omniscient narration. Omniscient narration was widely accepted in older fiction, but it feels like newer books are third or first person deep.

That's just my two cents! I am also a fan of either third or first deep point of view.

RJ

 

[pljwriter]

As my querying journey for my fantasy trilogy continues, I've actually not received much in the way of personal feedback. But I did recently receive one note that said third-person omniscient narrator is a dated writing style that isn't very common anymore. I admittedly tend to read older literature more than recent titles. But most of my favorite books use a third person omniscient narrator. Is this really a mostly dead practice for novels these days? Should I be writing in present third person or first person instead?

This is an opinion among writers not readers. POV trends change from time to time. If you do it well it doesn't matter.
The trend these days is first person Present tense and I hate it. It's difficult to do well.
Stick to what is comfortable to you and your writing will be better.

 

[TMSellers]

As I've thought about this more, I've been toying around with doing a first or third person present narrator or possibly multiple narrators for my next project. It's a magical realism story that follows an immortal who is on the run from a government agency that has discovered his true identity and powers. There are things about it that I think could work really well in first person of third, but many of the action sequences feel like they'd be best in omniscient third person. I'll have to toy around with it more in the outlining process, before I make a final decision.

 

[Colin Ward]

I tend to find whenever anyone says: "Well, actually [this] is [like that] now and no one likes [this] any more..." tend to be talking nonsense. POV is simply different.
The default position of story telling tends to be past tense and most often 3rd person, but increasingly 1st person. What's more common is multiple POV. Back in caveman days Mr UG would often retell his successful hunt to the rest of the family - probably with elaborate embellishments to accentuate his prowess and bravery - and would no doubt tell it in 1st person. Meanwhile, the family 2 caves down, the Og's, would retell that same story in 3rd Person about Mr UG, in past tense. They might use similar embellishments, or downplay his heroism, depending on how much they liked Mr UG. The way the Og's tell the story allowed them to narrate from a wider angle, as their narration had the 3rd person distance to do so, whereas UG is restricted to only speak through his eyes.

Mr UG cannot say "Meanwhile, the family of wild boar were..." unless he'd been there. But the Ogs CAN say that.

My advice would be to read more and more using different POV. 1st POV absolutely does NOT afford you automatically greater death into the protagonist. That's nonsense. The depth of character is a factor in the quality of the author and not something which can be guaranteed by the form. I read a lot of Crime Fiction - almost 300 books over the past 6 years - and most are 3rd person/past. But I've read 1st person done well, and badly. I have also read dual first person (2 characters) done really well. One author who writes brilliant legal thrillers had a debut which could be described as 2nd POV in a way, since it positions the reader as "one of the Jury" asking you to consider the evidence of the protagonist. (Imran Mahmood, "You Don't Know Me" also made into a TV short series. His latest book "Finding Sophie" is a brilliant dual POV.)

Also consider reading books like "Stone Cold" by Robert Swindells - a short novel for middle graders, with dual POV, some of it in 1st Person. And what about "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - the novel is written from the POV of the old Indian character, but the brilliant film is adapted to be more 3rd POV to draw the focus more on Jack Nicholson's character.

Balancing content and form is not always easy. But there are no hard and fast "rules." Whatever you do decide, do so early, establish the convention with your reader, and remain consistent to it throughout, and maybe it will become clear WHY you used the POV you did. But most of all, tell the story. That's what the reader wants, regardless of the genre, length, or POV.