Writers Tricks of the Trade May-June 2015 | Page 15

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BALANCING POINT OF VIEW

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In the case of the story I edited, that’s exactly the case. Though most chapters are
driven by specific characters, there are a few scenes that are blatantly omniscient.
You know what? They work. They work well. They drive the story, they convey
everything they need to, and they do it well.
The thing that makes them work is that these omniscient scenes are separated by
being their own, they’re well-written, they’re relatively short, they’re funny and
they have no internal thoughts or feelings from any one character to cement them
to a POV or break the omniscient viewpoint. They’re pure. This is a case where no
internal thoughts or emotions actually works.
Some agents and editors hate omniscient, even a little bit of it. However, when it
works, it works. I personally am no fan of an entire story in omniscient. However,
omniscient scenes can be great tools for your story. I use them in my Gold series. I
even use them in my icky bug stories. Just don’t overdo them or mix them with a
character driven scene. Also, keep them short!

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FIRST-PERSON
Why should the rules be any different for first-person? I’ve seen authors mix POVs
just as much with first as with third-person. However, you need to be more careful
with a first-person narrative. Since the majority of the story is inside the main
character’s head, when you shift to third or omniscient, it can be jarring since
you’re taking the personal stakes out of his or her head into another realm. You’re
taking it out of their eyes and into la-la land. To make it even more challenging,
when you have multiple first-person point of view, that can either make or break a
story if not done carefully and with great skill. Balance is just as important there as
with third-person. A few authors have made it work.

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Happy writing!

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WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE

PAGE 5

MAY-JUNE 2015