POV

Paul Guyot started a very interesting discussion on point-of-view over on Murderati. It's even got Laura Lippman and Lee Child, among other notables, chiming in.

I'm glad Paul wrote that up, because I was planning to post something about POV, but couldn't quite nail what I wanted to say. I think the discussion that's going on over there is insightful, and others have expressed many of the points I wanted to make.

My main thoughts on POV are that authors should keep it simple and be consistent. Figure out what POV you're writing from, and make sure you're doing it for a good reason. Don't change POV without a reason, and be clear when you're doing it.

Remember, your goal is to tell a good story in the clearest way possible. The more writers mess around with the POV, the more likely it is for the writing (the nuts and bolts) to show. When that happens, the story gets lost.