My POV and Writing Style—Declassified.
As we gear up for Camp Chronicles II, let’s discuss my POV… which is slightly less common nowadays.
I write in third-person omniscient with roving focalization and a cinematic narrative style.
I do this purposely. I had a long time to write Camp and, outside any mistakes that are just human error, this is a deliberate choice I make in my narrative. It’s also my favorite way to write! The quote above says “You become a writer by writing” and not every writer looks the same. Thank goodness!
In my books, the narrator isn't confined to one character's consciousness. The narrative lens can move between characters, pull back into external observation, or shift locations depending on where the action is happening. Ronan is the primary focal character, but the narrator is intentionally independent of her and occasionally gives access to other characters' perceptions, knowledge, or reactions.
This is what it looks like in practice:
Here's Ronan.
Here's what Ronan thinks.
Meanwhile...
Here's Apollo.
Here's what Apollo discovers.
And meanwhile something else is happening somewhere else.
This is part of the engine I’m using to tell a sprawling, multi-thread adventure story.
That isn't accidental head-hopping or my attempt at third-person limited. It's an intentional omniscient narrative structure.
The goal is for the reader to experience the story more like a moving camera: following one character or group, shifting when another part of the action becomes important, and then returning to the primary character when appropriate.
Part of that choice comes from my love of old-world adventure storytelling. I enjoy books in which the narrator feels like a storyteller rather than a camera permanently mounted on one character's shoulder—stories that can sweep across a setting, follow different groups of characters, pull close when something matters, and then zoom back out to show the larger adventure unfolding. I wanted Camp Chronicles to retain some of that older, expansive feeling rather than conform completely to the close third-person style that dominates much contemporary fiction.
This kind of narrative freedom has a long history in fiction. C.S. Lewis uses an independent, mobile narrator throughout The Chronicles of Narnia; Tolkien changes narrative distance and focalization throughout The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; Frank Herbert moves between characters' perceptions—even within scenes—in Dune; Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels employ a highly mobile omniscient narrator who can move between characters, external observation, and the narrator's own commentary. Lemony Snicket takes the independent storyteller narrator much further in A Series of Unfortunate Events, while authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Leo Tolstoy, and Louisa May Alcott are part of the much older tradition of omniscient narration and shifting focalization.
Am I saying I am as good as them? No. I am just comparing writers who have a similar style.
More contemporary fiction often favors close third-person limited, so writers are frequently taught rules such as "stay in one character's head" or "never change POV within a scene." Those are useful rules for writing third-person limited, but they aren't universal rules governing third-person narration.
The distinction is intentionality and control. In third-person limited, unexpectedly entering another character's consciousness can constitute a POV break. In omniscient narration, the narrator possesses the story and can decide whose experience to focalize through. The craft question isn't whether the focalization ever changes; it's whether those movements are deliberate, comprehensible, and consistent with the established narrative voice.
I hope it’s a fun departure from the norm for my readers and offers some clarity for anyone curious about why I write this way.
xx RJ
