I liken strict limited POV to the Hindu proverb of the blind men and the elephant. One man touched the trunk and thought the elephant must be built like a snake. Another touched a leg and declared an elephant was built like a tree. A third felt the side and said elephants are built like walls. Another felt the tail and said elephants are like ropes. Each interpreted the world according to his limited exposure.

Our characters do the same. They, unlike the author, don’t know what the other person is thinking, or what’s going on in the other room or behind curtain number one.

The reader will invest a bigger stake in the book if they don’t know it all either and must discover it along with the characters.

Yay for strict POV!

Jennifer, I think you’ve got something there. The way you explain the difference between POV and viewpoint took me all the way back to junior high English class. Makes perfect sense, and I agree that a lot of folks confuse the two. More clarity on this issue would help a lot of folks, including myself.

I always argue with people the difference between Viewpoint and POV. To me they’re different.

To me:
Definition of Point of View (POV): HOW the narrator is telling the story. Your basic POVs (that I believe everyone is familiar with) First Person and Third Person. (as you explained)

Definition of Viewpoint: WHO is telling the story.

Therein lies the difference between the two. POV tells us HOW the story is being told, first person, third person… Whereas Viewpoint tells us WHOSE head we are in. You can have multiple POVs but typically you only find one POV in a book (It’s either in 3rd person or 1st person, but not both–typically).

However you almost always (with the exclusion of children’s books) find multiple viewpoints. Typically there are at least two in most novels. The Heroine and Hero’s. There could also be the Villain’s…and so on.

When we’re in critique sessions though everyone calls viewpoint –> POV and it drives me nuts. They say you switched POVs in this paragraph…they didn’t switch from 3rd person to 1st person. They switched from one characters thoughts to another…that’s viewpoint.

Okay sorry to go ranting. I just got back from a session were everyone talked about head hoping and referred to it as changing POVs drove me nuts.

Love your post You actually describe POV as i think it should be described

There was nothing in the typesetting to indicate a new POV, no italics (my method of choice for recognizing thoughts) or in textual clues or double carriage returns.

Certainly motivates me to be very clear at all times who’s talking/thinking. It totally changed the way I perceived something to hear another character say the same words.