Use Deep Point of View to Engage Readers

Use a deep point of view to add depth to scenes and connect with readers’ emotions.

What Is Deep Point of View?

Authors immerse readers into their stories by using a deep point of view, which leverages the Third-Person Limited point of view.

• This writing style limits the point of view of the character controlling the scene and refers to that person in the third person.
• Readers perceive the scene primarily through a single character’s thoughts, feelings, and sensations, deepening the experience.
• Near the beginning of the scene, the author refers to the narrator as he or she, or by the character’s name, and that lets readers know the viewpoint limits to how that single person interprets the world mentally, emotionally, and physically.

You’ll often see the Deep POV style used in mysteries and thrillers, but you will find it in several other genres, too.

Deep Point of View Questions

Use these questions to assess whether the story revealed to readers came through the perceptions of the scene-controlling character.

• Has the scene unfolded organically from the point-of-view of the scene-controlling character?
• Are there any author intrusions and opinions, or any shifts from the controlling character’s POV to another cast member (aka Head Hopping, where two or more points of view appear within a single scene)?
• Does the scene connect readers to the character’s thoughts, emotions, and senses?
• Are readers immersed in the character’s actions, sufferings, victories, and defeats?
• Has the scene limited the descriptions of people, environment, and events to the controlling character’s perceptions, thoughts, foreknowledge, emotions, and senses (i.e., sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch)?
• Has the author eliminated filtering words that tell rather than show, such as saw, heard, knew, thought, believed, realized, felt, and more?
• Does the controlling character’s actions show how the person feels instead of naming or describing the emotions?
• Have you made the audience privy to the controlling POV character’s deepest thoughts and reactions, letting readers feel as if they are that person?

Third-Person Compared to Third-Person Limited

Deep Point of View Example One

Deep Point of View Example Two

Deep Point of View Author and Book Examples

Here are a handful of the many examples* of Deep Point of View used by bestselling authors.

• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
• To Die For by David Baldacci
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
• Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
• Final Days (Series) by Jasper T. Scott and Nathan Hystad

Check out the samples at Amazon to evaluate the styles of these authors.

Other Issues to Consider with Deep Point of View

As with any writing principle, you have pros and cons, including the use of Deep Point of View.

For example:

• Psychic Distance: Deep Point of View using a Third-Person Limited format can close the distance between the audience and a single character. The style makes readers feel the emotions of that person. However, this closeness restricts views into the internal and external insights of that single controlling character. That’s why authors make clear who controls the POV near the beginning of the scene.
• First Person POV: Authors who prefer to write in First Person strive to immerse readers in the lead character’s thoughts, choices, words, and actions. However, if you try multiple POV with First Person, it can become a writing chore and confusing to readers. Switching POV between characters throughout the novel can be done, but the use of First Person pronouns instead references to the character’s name increases the difficulty.

Summary of How to Use Deep Point of View

Here’s a quick recap of how to use Deep POV.

1. POV Character: Stay with one POV character controlling the scene.
2. POV Identity: Name the POV character near the start of the scene.
3. POV Voice: Make the POV character’s voice (i.e., thoughts and speech) unique yet natural (i.e., the content aligns with this person’s story role).
4. Head Hopping: Stay within the controlling POV character’s senses and perceptions.
5. Information: Limit the information flow to crucial details (i.e., no information dumps).
6. Emotions: Show emotions via body language, eliminating telling words (e.g., saw, felt, and more).
7. Awareness: Base the controlling POV Character’s reactions to natural senses (e.g., sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch).
8. Thoughts: Show controlling POV character’s brief and emphatic thoughts with italics.
9. Cast Member References: Refer to other cast members using the controlling POV character’s voice and style.
10. Inner (Reflections): The controlling POV character refers to self using inner (i.e., first-person) terms, not outer (i.e., third-person) terms.
11. Dialogue Tags: Use said, ask, and action beats for dialog instead of descriptive tags.
12. Author: Eliminate the writer’s presence and opinions from the narrative.

Download this infographic as your handy one-page reference.

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