Choosing and Staying in a POV

Okay, you’ve got a story in your head and it’s time to fucking GO. Do it. Most of the time, if you wait it’ll either haunt you until you write it or the idea thread will disappear, never to be found again. Keep point of view in the back of your mind though, and I’m not talking about first, second, or third person pov.

Whose story is it? Who goes through more drama, has to make more decisions to get to or away from an outcome and grows as a person? Maybe the point of view you’ve chosen isn’t really the star of the story. Remember, no matter how attached you might be to that character, the reader wants to follow a journey—they want to experience a story through the eyes of the star, not a side character.

So how to have a tight point of view? Think of the eyes as a camera lens. You can only describe what that character sees, feels, hears, tastes, smells, and thinks. If you find yourself describing a female orgasm and your character is male, you’re in the wrong headspace. If you’re writing what another character is thinking, wrong headspace. If a main character is telling the reader what they look like (“I brushed the hair from my blue eyes”), unless they’re looking looking in the mirror to see their own blue eyes it’s the wrong headspace.

Choosing the right POV is critical to keeping your audience engaged and also may help you even pass a story here. For instance, say the narration is from a man and it's describing a woman's thoughts, feelings, wants, etc. Nothing written about her dialogue or body language etc is confirming or not confirming. He can't read her mind. So if he just leaps into sex, consent is questionable and the story will likely need an edit. It doesn't mean the writer was intentionally writing outside Lush rules, but to the reader it's murky. If it's in her POV it's more easily solved because the reader feels what she does and she's giving them thoughts. If it's in his POV and he shows what he sees her do or hears her say to show her consent, it's a go.

Hope all that makes sense!

Great points that I needed, too. Thanks for sharing! ❤️

Spot on! Thank you so much for this!

Staying in POV is sometimes my challenge rather than choosing. I choose the one that makes sense for the story and works most comfortably for me (meaning fewer with female POV being as I am cis male). But I also make sure to develop the non-POV character(s) in dialogue and description which deals with the consent issue. But, damn it, I have sometimes started out writing from A's point of view and the somewhere along the line, slipped into B's. Sometimes it's because I got confused writing dialogue (or wrote dialogue spoken by B and then kept going in that POV after the dialogue ended) but others I am less sure of. I just suddenly realize that I am writing B when I should be writing A.

Quote by Seeker4

Staying in POV is sometimes my challenge rather than choosing. I choose the one that makes sense for the story and works most comfortably for me (meaning fewer with female POV being as I am cis male). But I also make sure to develop the non-POV character(s) in dialogue and description which deals with the consent issue. But, damn it, I have sometimes started out writing from A's point of view and the somewhere along the line, slipped into B's. Sometimes it's because I got confused writing dialogue (or wrote dialogue spoken by B and then kept going in that POV after the dialogue ended) but others I am less sure of. I just suddenly realize that I am writing B when I should be writing A.

I’ve been mid-story when I’ve figured out I love the character I’m writing but they shouldn’t be the pov. It’s SO annoying but on the bright side, you learn and relearn how deeply it elevates the story to have other characters so fully developed. 🥂

Quote by Katherine

I’ve been mid-story when I’ve figured out I love the character I’m writing but they shouldn’t be the pov. It’s SO annoying but on the bright side, you learn and relearn how deeply it elevates the story to have other characters so fully developed. 🥂

I bet I have done this but I can't think of an example just now.

I once had fun with a (now long gone) duo of stories about a "runaway bride" situation. One was from the groom's PoV as he picks up the pieces after being left at (or at least close to) the altar; the other was the bride's PoV about why she failed to show. Both involved them having sex with other people, not each other, so it wasn't two sides of the same encounter. That would also be fun.

(the groom was "consoled" by an old friend who was trans, the bride left because a hookup with a pair of guys she and her bridesmaid picked up at a club made her realize she wasn't ready to settle yet)

I almost always write in the third person, and if I go first person, It's a thought for POV; it depends. I often switch. In Take My Breath Away, the first part is all Emily, but when she gets to the hotel, it shifts to Elena's perspective. for me First person is a royal b*tch to write, unless it's based on a true event.

Quote by Mandapanda2025

I almost always write in the third person, and if I go first person ... for me First person is a royal b*tch to write, unless it's based on a true event.

Interesting! It seems to be the opposite for me (and you do a great job with your third-person stories).

I first came to Lush to publish the sexual fantasies I'd been writing for myself for years. Being my fantasies, they were all first person, and I seem to have stuck with that as I come up with new ideas. Even the Sci-Fi story I'm writing, set in the 22nd century, somehow features the first-person me as the protagonist. Should I rethink that? I'm not sure.

It's only the past few months, as I've started writing MLM fiction, that I've finally started writing in the third person. As far as I'm aware, Succumbing to Temptation and Steam Mates are my only third-person stories so far, but I'm planning several more for next year.

Quote by Katherine

I’ve been mid-story when I’ve figured out I love the character I’m writing but they shouldn’t be the pov. It’s SO annoying but on the bright side, you learn and relearn how deeply it elevates the story to have other characters so fully developed. 🥂

I have too but I don't think I've ever found that problem annoying; if I ever come across it I know it's because the story the way I'm writing it is a slow-moving ball of sludge. And the only way I realise it will work from another perspective is by getting exciting ideas in that voice, so it's all positive.

Well, as positive as I ever get, anyway.

I guess I'm fortunate that I don't have trouble maintaining a POV or verb tense. (Don't hate me; I have other flaws. 😁) Looking back at my stories, I find that I default to a third person POV that tends to follow one character around, like a movie camera is mounted over their shoulder. The story is told in third person by a nameless, faceless narrator, but there is usually one character whose thoughts are also shared with the reader. I've realized that in some of my weaker chapters, I jump into different characters' heads instead of staying consistent. But again, I wasn't consciously doing this "camera over the shoulder" style; it's just how my stories flow out of my head. (I also don't do a lot of big rewrites; I generally start from the beginning and keep writing, allowing the characters or situations to dictate what develops. Hey, just like this forum post, which is starting to get off topic!)

As joe71 says, my first person stories always star a guy like me, named Chet or Chad, with my own personal characteristics and quirks. Writing in first person with a character who isn't a math teacher in his fifties could be an interesting challenge.