Playing with POV
Why do some stories work better in one point of view than another? Why do you choose first over third, or vice-versa? It can be difficult sometimes to know in which point of view you should write a story. Sometimes you’ve just got to try it out – write the first few chapters in one point of view, then switch and rewrite them in another. See which feels better. But there are conventions for different genres, so the big question is, do you follow them?
If you’re writing YA, you’re probably going to be writing in first person. YA books tend to have a really strong voice, and it’s easier to get thoroughly involved in a story – really live it – if it’s written in first person. But it’s also limiting.
Which is why thrillers and mysteries are usually written in first person. You don’t want to give away too much information. You want your protagonist to, essentially, be standing in the dark and have no idea who is attacking her. If she knows who the antagonist is, it would spoil the mystery. The same goes for the reader – it’s so much more fun if they don’t know who the antagonist is either. They want the challenge of trying to figure out the mystery along with the protagonist, ergo, the story is written in the first person. The reader only knows as much as the protagonist does and the thrill and the mystery are sustained.
On the other hand, Regency romances are always written in the third person – and yet, I’ve written one in the first person which, I think is really different and fun. The heroine has a really strong voice and we live the story entirely through her eyes. It helps that there’s a bit of a mystery in it that I didn’t want my reader to be clued in to until the heroine had figured it out on her own. This book, is, unfortunately, one of those that are sitting on my shelf awaiting deep editing and rewriting and probably won’t see the light of day for another year or so. But it’s there, waiting for me oh-so patiently until I have the time to work on it that it deserves.
So, what do you think about books written in a non-standard POV? Is a mystery or thriller still as much fun if you write it in third person? If you write it in multiple third where the antagonist is one of the points of view, can it work?
