First Person, Third Person, Omniscient—Which POV Wins

The Decision That Shapes Everything

Before you write a single scene, you must answer one question: Who is telling this story? The answer—your choice of point of view—will shape every sentence you write, determining what readers can know, how intimately they connect with characters, and what kind of story is possible.

Point of view isn’t just a technical decision. It’s a philosophical one: What is the relationship between the reader and the story? Whose truth are we experiencing?

The Main Options

First Person: “I”

The narrator is a character in the story, telling their own experience:

“I didn’t see the car until it was too late. The headlights caught me frozen, a deer in more than metaphor, and I remember thinking: this is how it ends.”

Advantages:

• Immediate intimacy—readers live inside the narrator’s head
• Distinctive voice—the narrator’s personality shapes every sentence
• Natural limitation—readers accept not knowing what the narrator doesn’t know
• Unreliability—the narrator can deceive or be deceived, creating dramatic irony

Challenges:

• Limited perspective—you can only show what the narrator witnesses or learns
• Voice maintenance—every word must sound like this specific character
• The “I” problem—too many sentences starting with “I” becomes monotonous
• Information control—getting necessary information to readers can feel contrived

Best for: Coming-of-age stories, voice-driven narratives, mysteries where the detective is the protagonist, stories about self-discovery or self-deception.

Third Person Limited: “He/She”

The narrator isn’t a character but closely follows one character’s perspective:

“She didn’t see the car until it was too late. The headlights caught her frozen, and she thought: this is how it ends.”

Advantages:

• Close interiority while maintaining some narrative distance
• Flexibility in language—the narrator’s voice can differ slightly from the character’s
• Multiple POVs possible—different chapters can follow different characters
• Easier to describe the POV character physically

Challenges:

• Same information limitations as first person
• Managing psychic distance—how deep into the character’s head are we?
• Consistency in what the character notices and knows

Best for: Most modern fiction. Extremely versatile. The default choice for good reason.

Third Person Omniscient: The God Narrator

The narrator knows everything—all characters’ thoughts, all events, past and future:

“Neither of them saw the car until too late. Sarah froze in the headlights while Mark, watching from across the street, began to run—though he would later wish he had stayed frozen too.”

Advantages:

• Complete freedom of information
• Access to all characters’ interiority
• Ability to provide historical context, flash forward, or comment on events
• A narrator with its own personality and perspective on events

Challenges:

• Harder to create suspense when the narrator knows everything
• Risk of distant, uninvolved narration
• Must manage head-hopping carefully—transitions between perspectives need clarity
• Less common in contemporary fiction; can feel old-fashioned

Best for: Epic stories with large casts, historical fiction, comic novels where the narrator’s voice is part of the entertainment.

Second Person: “You”

The narrator addresses the reader as the main character:

“You don’t see the car until it’s too late. The headlights catch you frozen, and you think: this is how it ends.”

Advantages:

• Immediate, unusual, immersive
• Forces reader identification with the protagonist
• Creates dreamlike or directive quality

Challenges:

• Can feel gimmicky over novel length
• Readers may resist being told what “they” do
• Difficult to sustain without becoming exhausting

Best for: Short stories, experimental fiction, choose-your-own-adventure formats, stories about dissociation or trauma.

Psychic Distance: The Zoom Lens

Within third person (and to some extent first), you control how deep inside the character’s head readers go. John Gardner identified five levels of psychic distance:

1. “It was winter of the year 1853. A large man stepped out of a doorway.” (Far—almost cinematic)
2. “Henry J. Warburton had never much cared for strangers.” (Closer—general characterization)
3. “Henry hated the way the stranger looked at him.” (Closer—specific feeling)
4. “Damn that eyepatch. What was he supposed to say?” (Very close—internal thought)
5. “Damn, damn. Cold sweat. That black eyepatch.” (Extremely close—stream of consciousness)

Most stories move fluidly between these levels. You pull back for scene-setting, push close for emotional moments. The key is intentionality—knowing how close you are and why.

Choosing Your POV

Questions to Guide Your Choice

• Whose story is this? That character is usually your POV character.
• What information do readers need? If readers need access to multiple perspectives, consider omniscient or multiple limited POVs.
• How important is voice? First person foregrounds voice; third person allows more flexibility.
• What’s at stake emotionally? Closer POVs (first person, deep third) create more intimacy.
• What shouldn’t readers know? Limited POVs help maintain secrets and suspense.

When to Use Multiple POVs

Multiple points of view can enrich a novel—but they also risk fragmenting reader engagement. Consider multiple POVs when:

• Your story requires information no single character can possess
• Contrasting perspectives on the same events creates meaning
• Each POV character has a distinct voice and compelling arc

Avoid multiple POVs when:

• You’re using them to avoid commitment to one protagonist
• The POVs don’t all serve the central story
• The voices aren’t distinct enough to justify switching

Common POV Mistakes

Accidental Head-Hopping

In limited POV, suddenly accessing another character’s thoughts:

“Sarah watched John walk away. She wondered if he’d call. John, meanwhile, was already forgetting her name.”

If we’re in Sarah’s POV, we can’t know what John is thinking. Stay in one head per scene (at minimum).

Telling What the Character Can’t Know

“He looked attractive today, his blue eyes catching the light in a way that made his entire face seem to glow.”

If he’s our POV character, he can’t see his own eyes catching light. Watch for descriptions that require an external viewpoint.

Forgetting the Character’s Limitations

Your POV character can’t know technical information they wouldn’t know, can’t notice things outside their perception, can’t use vocabulary beyond their education. Every sentence must pass through the filter of this specific consciousness.

POV and Genre

Literary fiction: Often uses first person or close third, prioritizing interiority and voice. May experiment with unusual POVs.

Thriller: Often uses multiple third-person limited POVs, including antagonist perspectives for tension.

Romance: Typically alternates between both romantic leads, usually in third person.

Mystery: Usually single first person or third limited—keeping information controlled.

Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Often multiple third-person limited to show different aspects of complex worlds.

Exercises for POV Mastery

The same scene, three ways: Write a key scene in first person, third limited, and omniscient. Notice what you gain and lose in each.

The witness: Write a dramatic event from the perspective of a minor character who doesn’t understand what’s happening. Practice controlling information through limited perspective.

Psychic distance scales: Write a single paragraph that moves through all five levels of psychic distance, from most distant to most close.

The POV audit: Take a scene from your work-in-progress. Highlight every phrase that violates POV discipline—places where your character couldn’t know or see what’s described.

The Right Choice Is the One That Serves the Story

There’s no objectively “best” point of view—only the best choice for your particular story. The right POV feels invisible; readers don’t notice it because they’re too absorbed in the narrative it enables.

When in doubt, try different approaches. Write your opening chapter in multiple POVs. The right one will feel natural—will allow you to tell the story you need to tell without fighting the form.

The POV choice you make will echo through every page. Make it deliberately, and make it well.