In editing stories I wrote ages ago, I can’t help noticing how my writing style has changed. I’m worse than neurotic when it comes to editing, so it takes me longer that most to feel that process is complete. Sometimes it happens that I have to adjust the point of view depending on the story. There's one particular novel that I wrote in third person omniscient because of the unorthodox way in which it is told.
Some things had to be revealed from the perspective of adults and I wanted readers to have an up-close and personal experience, no matter which character was on stage. I think I eventually did a decent job of that in going for deep point of view. The filters between reader and character/s were removed, which created a rich reading experience.
An aside here—every time I edit a book written ages ago, I regret not learning the craft properly before I started writing novels. It would have saved me a lot of time and energy as it pertains to editing.
By changing the set-up in the novel I mentioned, I was able to tidy things up nicely for publication. That said, have you ever had to overhaul a novel and switch up the point of view? What’s your take on having different points-of-view—including that of an adult—in a YA novel? Which point of view do you prefer writing in?
