Writing an Effective Point-of-View Character

The point-of-view character (or characters) is more often than not the most important character in your story, and for good reason. This character is the lens through which your reader experiences the story - the telling is colored by this character’s worldview, opinions, fears, and motivations.

To write an effective point-of-view character, therefore, it’s a good idea to take a different approach to character development. In this post, I’ll be giving tips on how to write an effective point-of-view character, with a focus on two main aspects of development: empathy and consistency.

The Importance of Empathy

Perhaps the most important aspect of your point-of-view character is that they’re someone your reader can empathize with. Even if your readers don’t agree with this character’s thoughts or actions, a compelling narrative involves something your readers can relate to. (Think Suzanne Collins’ work in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; Coriolanus Snow is a known antagonist in this original trilogy, but through his development we are able to empathize with at least part of his story.)

Some tools you can use to create this feeling of empathy include:

• Backstory.

• Wants, goals, desires.

• Fears.

• Motivations.

As you dive into these tools, I want to emphasize the conceptual part of these tools. Using my own narrating character as an example: Amaya is a mage apprentice, living on a floating island held up by magic crystals. Readers won’t be able to relate to these things because they don’t exist in the real world. However, readers might be able to relate to her feeling overlooked by her family, or to her not wanting to be treated like a child. It’s important to look past the plain text and into the concepts behind your character’s experience; this is where that empathy comes more naturally.

The Importance of Consistency

A strong point-of-view character is also a consistent one. You’ll want to make sure that you have these core aspects of your character developed, and that they are consistent throughout the story. If they change, the changes happen for reasons your readers can understand; they don’t come out of nowhere.

Note: “Consistency” is not the same as “reliability.” You can have a consistent point-of-view character who is still unreliable. What I mean in this section is that you want your readers to have a clear, consistent idea of who your point-of-view character is.

In my experience, achieving this consistency is difficult if you haven’t taken the time to develop your character. (Or if you’re someone like me, who gets easily distracted by new ideas.) Once you’ve developed your character and begin to put them on the page, it will become more clear which core aspects you want to continually emphasize, and which ones might undergo some changes throughout the story.

To summarize this section: you want your readers to know who your character is, but you also want them to understand why the character might change.

Of course, a lot goes into writing an effective point-of-view character, and to telling your story through the lens of their perspective. It’s almost like telling a different story from your actual plot - difficult, but rewarding when you feel you’ve nailed it!

Happy Tuesday, and happy writing!