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09/30/2004: "Opening POV"

Recently I noticed that my novels always begin with dialog instead of narrative. Then yesterday I realized for the first time that my novels almost always start in the heroine's POV. The one contemporary exception is Flat Line, in which I start in the hero's POV because the novel is a sequel, and he's the returning character from Vital Signs.

It kind of surprises me that I start novels in the heroine's POV, because generally I prefer writing in the hero's. And when I pick up a book, I tend to get into it more quickly if it starts off in the hero's POV. So why do I start with the heroine? I have no idea. Maybe because when I'm plotting the novel I see it as "the heroine's story." Again, the exception is Flat Line, which I've always pictured as Nate's story more so than the heroine's.

Hmm. Must think on this...

Replies: 2 brave souls responded

on Thursday, September 30th, Ellen Fisher said

Typically, romance is MOSTLY about the heroine, so it's likely to start in her POV. That seems to be changing to a certain extent now-- lots of authors split the POV more or less 50-50. I notice that I tend to write from the male POV a lot-- possibly more than 50% of the time, generally speaking-- and I usually open my books from the hero's POV. Not sure why... I just do .

on Thursday, September 30th, Wendywoo said

I always used to begin my romance type novels with the heroine's POV, but the last couple of times, in the book that's with the eds now, and the one I'm just beginning, I've experimented with a hero POV opening. The line I'm targeting is described as very much 'the hero's story', so it seems important to connect with him first. Feels right to me too.