The dreaded POV: What is it?

POV stand for Point of View. As with many things you’ll encounter in the wacky world of writing, POV can have many different meanings. There are in fact five different Points of View

Objective Point of View
In objective point of view, the writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer. Writing an objective point of view story would be very much like watching a movie. We see what the characters are doing, but we can only infer from their actions how they are feeling.

Third Person Point of View
In this POV there is no narrator for the story. The writer lets us know exactly how the characters feel, what they see, hear, taste, touch and smell. We learn about the characters by being inside their heads. This is the most common point of view used in literature today.

First Person Point of View
In the first person point of view, the narrator of the story is generally the main character. We see the whole book and everything in it from their eyes. We can’t see what anyone else is thinking. It’s like real life. I can only assume that you are bored to tears at this point in my blog. I can’t hear you thinking about how you’d like to click over to something more fun. Like Spider Solitaire or Word Whomp. I know but please bear with me.

Omniscient Points of View
In this type of writing the story narrator knows everything about all the characters. He or she is all knowing, or omniscient and can relay what each character thinks or feels.
A narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, has a limited omniscient point of view.

Blah, blah, blah. Okay now to the stuff you wanted to know. How to use POV in your writing.

Okay, Character POV.
Most romance novels today use only two character points of view. The hero’s and the heroine’s. Sometimes the writer takes us inside the head of a secondary character, but the visit is usually short. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand to be in the villain’s mind for long. Too creepy.

It’s very tempting for a new writer to want to let us know what everyone in the room is thinking. They may not even realize they are doing it. Georgette Heyer, one of my favorite authors, slips into the head of the butler, the dressmaker, even the urchin passing by on the street. It was a common way to write in her day and she does it well.
Nora Roberts does it, too, and no one can argue that she isn’t successful, but new writers beware. Most editors today only want to see through the eyes of the two main characters. Ask yourself when you are writing, who has the most to gain or lose in this scene. That’s whose point of view you should be in. That’s whose head you need to be inside.

There's a lot more to POV, how to use it, how to switch it. Other WARA members can tackle some of those issues later. Right now, I have a game of Spider Solitaire to get back to.
Pat