What’s “point of view” (POV)?

It’s the angle from which your story is seen, and it can be single, coming from a single character, or you can have an omniscient third-person narrator that sees and hears all. There is a second-person POV, but it’s pretty tough to accomplish because everything would be seen from the eyes of “you.”

But when writing for kids, single POV works best especially when you’re writing for the little ones because it’s much easier to understand. You have one character that tells the story. It’s easier to follow.

Here’s how single POV works:

“Mom, I want some chocolate,” said Timmy. “It’s almost Easter.”

His mother looked at him and shook her head. “No, Timmy. You know the Easter Bunny hasn’t come yet. You can wait one more day.”

Hmm…. Maybe I can’t and maybe I can’t, Timmy thought. What difference does one more day make? We can buy some today.  He just couldn’t get that out of his mind, until he gave up.

Ok, now watch what happens when we have an omnicient narrator:

The boy looked up at his mother and said, “Mom, I’d like to have some chocolate. It’s almost Easter.”

Timmy’s mother was apt to spoil him, but she didn’t want to ruin Easter for him, either. “No, Timmy. You know the Easter Bunny hasn’t come yet. You can wait one more day.”

Timmy wasn’t very happy with the answer, but there was no getting around Mom when she said, “No,” to anything. Timmy didn’t understand what the big deal was. It was only one more day. He just kept thinking about it, and finally, gave up.

So, notice in the first set how you don’t know what Timmy’s mother is thinking. You only know what Timmy is thinking.  That’s single POV.

Try writing your story in different ways and see what works best. Just keep in mind that when writing for young kids, easy is better.