How to Select a Point of View for a Romance Novel

"Early romances contained only the heroine's point of view. Today readers are privileged to see what makes the hero tick as well. My second novel, 'Under One Roof,' starts in the hero's point of view. This doesn't mean that the book is only his story, though. When the heroine comes on scene, the reader gets inside her head, too," says romance writer Sheri McGregor.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Antiglare Computer Screens
• Computer Desks
• Desk Chairs
• Desk Lamps
• Subscription To A Writers Magazines
• Spiral Notebooks
• Laptop Computer

First-Person

1. Tell your story as the narrator within the romance novel. Understand that a narrator of a story told in the first-person point of view can only know the thoughts and feelings of other characters as they are revealed.

2. Use the pronoun "I" when using first-person point of view.

3. Think of yourself as a participant in your novel if you choose first-person point of view. You have entered the novel as a character and can know, see or do only what that character knows, sees or does.

4. Speak to your readers as a character in your romance novel.

5. Be warned that first-person point of view can lead you into passive writing. Entrancing fiction is shown to the reader in mind-pictures rather than told as a narrative.

Third-Person

6. Stand outside your story when you use the third-person point of view.

7. Decide whether your third-person point of view will be omniscient or limited as you tell your story. In a limited point of view, you can reveal only what a character knows. In an omniscient point of view, you have godlike perceptions, knowing all that is in each character's mind.

8. Use commentary and make judgments about thoughts and motivations using a third-person omniscient, or intrusive, point of view.

9. Isolate yourself from the unfolding when writing from the third-person limited point of view.

Tips & Warnings

• "Careful you don't just switch for convenience in storytelling. It'll jar the reader right out of your story." - author Sheri McGregor