Point of view and tense

Point of view and tense are set before writing and held consistently across the whole manuscript. They are worth a minute of thought, because they are the two settings a reader notices without being able to name.

Point of view

First person puts the reader inside one head. Everything is filtered through that character, including what they are wrong about — which is a feature, and the reason unreliable narrators exist. It creates intimacy fast and limits you to what one person can know.

Third limited follows one character closely but from outside — the most common choice in modern fiction, and the most flexible. You keep most of the intimacy and gain the ability to describe the character from the outside.

Third omniscient moves freely between characters and can comment on all of them. It suits large casts and long timescales, and it costs intimacy: a reader who is everywhere is nowhere in particular.

Tense

Past tense is the default of storytelling and effectively invisible — readers stop noticing it by the second page. Present tense feels immediate and slightly breathless, which is why thrillers and young-adult fiction use it, and why it can become tiring across a very long book.

What each genre tends to expect

• 01Romance: first person or third limited, often alternating between both leads.
• 02Mystery: third limited on the detective, or first person for hardboiled and cozy.
• 03Fantasy: third limited is standard; omniscient for epic scope.
• 04Thriller: third limited, frequently present tense for immediacy.
• 05Literary fiction: anything, deliberately — this is where the choice is most expressive.
• 06Horror: first person or close third, because vulnerability needs proximity.

These are conventions, not rules. Breaking one on purpose is a legitimate choice; breaking one by accident reads as a mistake.