On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [90]
• Second person turns the reader into the character. This POV is seldom used in fiction, appearing in the occasional literary novel. It's almost never found in romance novels.
As you walk up the hill, you realize that the atmosphere's just too quiet. There's no sound from the cardinal you know is almost always singing from the top of the maple tree. You think you see a shadow move high up on the slope, but when you look again it's gone. You shudder as you feel a silent threat pass over you. You feel cold, like a cloud just passed over the sun.
• Third-person selective/singular includes the thoughts and perspective of just one main character, but unlike in first person, that character is not telling her own story. The pronouns referring to the POV character are not I and me and my, but she and her. This POV is often used in romance, though it is
less common now than before the 1980s to have just one character's thoughts revealed over an entire story.
As she walked up the hill, she realized that the atmosphere was just too quiet. There was no sound from the cardinal she so often heard singing from the top of the maple tree. She thought she saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when she looked again it was gone. Nevertheless, she shuddered as she felt a silent threat pass over her. It felt like a cloud creeping over the sun.
• Third-person selective/multiple includes the thoughts of more than one main character, but presents only one POV at a time. This is the most widely used POV in romance novels. A scene break (a blank line, or crosshatches or asterisks placed on an otherwise blank line) indicates a change from one POV to the other; in a romance, the scenes would likely be much longer and more fully developed than in this example:
As she walked up the hill, she realized that the atmosphere was just too quiet. There was no sound from the cardinal she so often heard singing from the top of the maple tree. She thought she saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when she looked again it was gone. Nevertheless, she shuddered as she felt a silent threat pass over
her. It felt like a cloud creeping over the sun.
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He saw her start up the hill, and he moved quickly behind the shelter of the huge old maple tree. If she saw him now, everything would be ruined, but if he could stay hidden until she came within range—well, then she'd have to talk to him. Wouldn't she?
• Third-person dual includes the thoughts of two or more main characters, and switches back and forth within the scene. It's also widely used in romance, though it's most effective when the switch between the points of view happens only occasionally—every few pages, at most—rather than with every paragraph, as in this example:
As she walked up the hill, she realized that the atmosphere was just too quiet. There was no sound from the cardinal she so often heard singing from the top of the maple tree.
He saw her start up the hill, and he moved quickly behind the shelter of the huge old maple tree. If she saw him now, everything would be ruined.
She thought she saw a shadow move high up on the slope, but when she looked again it was gone.
If he could just stay hidden until she came within range, he thought, then she'd have to talk to him. Wouldn't she?
She shuddered as she felt a silent threat pass over her. It felt like a cloud creeping over the sun.
• Third-person omniscient includes an all-knowing narrator who can relay the thoughts and perspective of all characters, as well as general comments about the story. It's rare that the thoughts of every character are included, but in omniscient, they can be. It's frequently used in literary fiction, but rarely in romance.
As the girl walked up the hill, she realized that the atmosphere was