Point of View

Point of View or POV for short.

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I wrote my first manuscript in a hap-dash style with very little rhyme or reason, meaning that I wrote it with very little structure.  As a result, my POV was--well, you guessed it--all willy nilly. Part of the manuscript was limited omniscient, which means the narrator and you, dear gentle reader, had access to a limited number of the characters' internal thoughts and feelings. (Instead of omniscient, which you may recall from your 8th grade English class, is when the narrator and you, the reader, have access to every single character's POV.)

Given that the manuscript is a contemporary romance set in Portland, Oregon, my two main characters are Chase and Alexandra (although she prefers to be called Alex.)  If you were to read the manuscript in its early phase, you would have had access to both Chase and Alex's POV, but to two sub-characters as well: Chase's cousin Garrett and Alex's best friend Lindsey. 

At least, that's how the manuscript started out.  During the revision process, however, I noticed that my POV was actually all over the place. I jumped from Chase's POV to Alex's POV paragraph by paragraph.  Some people call that "head hopping," because as the reader, you are hopping from one character's internal thoughts to another's paragraph by paragraph.  A lot of romance fiction is written like this. 

Here's the thing: I don't like it, because as the reader, I feel like you don't get to spend enough time with the character to really learn and know about the character the way you do a friend of 15 years. And that's what I want from you, reader.

I've done my job as a writer if, by mid-way through the novel, you can anticipate how Alex or Chase will respond to a given situation because you know them so well.  When Alex is fraught with anxiety about her relationship with Chase, struggling mightily with trusting him and her own judgement, you understand her motivation because you know her background. She had a reason for second guessing herself and Chase because of something that happened to her in her past. That way, nothing seems "out of character" for Alex (or Chase, as the case may be.)  And yes, she needs to learn to overcome that if she and Chase want to live happily ever after.

During one of my revisions, I adjusted the POV to be either from Chase or Alex's POV, minus the "head-hopping." But then, I had the POV of the sub characters, Garrett and Lindsey, to contend with. Include them or not? Ultimately,  I felt their POVs were an intrusion.  A diversion.  As a way to set up a spin off or novel #2. 

A lot of romance writers do that and that's okay.  As an author, you get to fashion a world as you like with as many or as little characters as you like and if you want to include the POV of all or some of them--that's your choice as the author.  However, I don't like that either.  If my manuscript is about how Chase and Alex learn to trust one another and fall in love, then I want them to be the sole focus of the story without Garrett and Lindsey butting in to get attention too. 

During yet another round of revisions, I deleted the POV of both Garrett and Lindsey.  They still function as sub-characters, mind you. It's just as the reader, I don't allow you to have access to their internal workings.  You only learn about their thoughts and feelings during dialogue.

Don't worry, they will have their turn in novel #2, which I'm working on right now. For now, you will have to be content with Alex and Chase's love story.