Tag: Point of View

Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Love by the Book by Jessica George: A heartwarming story about friendship, growth, and unexpected connections

Mandy Webster

I’ll admit, when I first opened Love by the Book by Jessica George on my tablet, I paused. “Ew, a romance novel—why did I sign up for that?” I thought. Not that there’s anything wrong with romance, but it isn’t usually my cup of tea. I read the summary again and saw that it was about friendship—better, but still, what? Long story short, I was hesitant going in. But by the end, I was so glad I had given it a chance. There is so much more to this story than what the cover summary hints at, and once I got into it, I was fully invested.

Get your copy of Love By the Book from my independent online bookstore today!

The novel follows Remy and Simone, two women at very different points in their lives. Remy, fresh off the success of her debut novel, finds herself suddenly adrift as her closest friends move away, start families, or return to toxic relationships. Her creative spark is gone, and with it, her sense of belonging. Simone, meanwhile, has long relied on her independence, enjoying her well-paying side gig and a close relationship with her family. But when a hidden aspect of her life comes to light, she faces isolation for the first time. When these two women collide in a bookstore, neither is expecting the connection that follows—but both may find the friendship they didn’t know they were missing.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Murder Will Out by Jennifer K. Breedlove: A cozy gothic mystery where the ghosts are watching

Mandy Webster

Murder Will Out by Jennifer K. Breedlove, releasing February 17, 2026, is the kind of mystery that invites you in with salt air, creaking floorboards, and the promise that something is very wrong behind the prettiest postcard façade. Set on Little North Island off the coast of Maine, this lighter, modern gothic mystery follows Willow Stone, an organist returning to the island she once loved after the sudden death of her godmother, Sue—and it doesn’t take long for memory, grief, and suspicion to start tangling together.

Get your copy of Murder Will Out from my independent online bookstore today!

Breedlove excels at atmosphere. Little North Island feels like the sort of place where everyone knows everyone else’s business and still manages to hide secrets in plain sight. The town’s cast of characters would fit right in at Stars Hollow: the super brainy librarian, the attorney-turned-café owner, the pottery shop proprietor, the crotchety church organ player, and the young woman married to the island’s elderly rich man, who is himself a near-parody of greed and indulgence. Willow is very much the Outsider—with a capital O—returning after years Away (also capitalized, as islanders do), and that social tension quietly fuels the mystery.

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Writers on Writing

Writing adult novels with a young adult point of view: Challenges, opportunities, and why it matters

Mandy Webster

There’s something uniquely compelling—and uniquely tricky—about writing an adult novel through the eyes of a young adult protagonist. You want the story to resonate with adult readers, but the voice will inevitably feel youthful, immediate, and shaped by the character’s limited experience. That tension can be powerful, but it can also trip up both writers and readers if it isn’t handled thoughtfully.

It’s difficult to write an adult novel when telling the story from a young adult point of view.

Take Casey Dunn’s The Wind Witch Murders, for example. The novel is marketed as adult fiction, but its protagonist, Raven, is young, searching, and emotionally raw. The book is written in first-person point of view, which makes it even more difficult to escape the natural YA headspace. Every detail, every observation, every emotional beat is filtered through Raven’s young adult perspective.

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Author Interview

Author interview with fantasy writer Kristin D. Jackson

Mandy Webster

Fantasy author Kristin D. Jackson knows the power of a good story—not just to entertain, but to evoke real, visceral emotion. From late-night Stephen King marathons as a teenager to building rich, immersive worlds of her own, Kristin’s path to becoming a writer is one paved with curiosity, creativity, and a deep love for connection. In this interview, she opens up about her writing journey, the themes that guide her work, and the messy, magical process behind crafting stories that resonate. Whether you’re a fellow writer or an avid reader, Kristin’s thoughtful reflections are sure to inspire.

In Lost Souls: The Caves of Oriana, a mismatched group of outcasts—including a godless cleric, a shamed ranger, a haunted rogue, an elderly sorceress, and a nameless bard—unites to face the darkness stirring beneath a quiet village. As they descend into danger, they discover that the greatest quest may be finding a sense of belonging in one another.

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Q: What’s a memory of a story or book that made you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: Over the summer of my sophomore to junior year of high school, I was up until about 2:30 AM most nights reading a Stephen King novel called, It. My twin sister and I had to share a room growing up, so it wasn’t unusual for one of us to be up when the other went to sleep. One specific night, though, I was so scared out of my mind, even with my reading light on, that I had to wake her up so I didn’t feel alone. (She was actually nice about it, too!) I was surprised by the visceral reactions and deep emotions I’ve experienced while reading a good story. I remember that night, just as a passing thought, wondering if I would ever be able to create something that evokes emotion the way I’ve experienced from other writers.

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Finish Writing Your Novel Now!

How to fix point of view problems in your novel | Revise and Refine

Mandy Webster

Once you’ve learned how to spot POV shifts in your writing, it’s time to fix them. Let’s look at this short fictional story, courtesy of Chat GPT, that demonstrates how shifting the point of view (POV) too often can lead to confusion and disrupt the reader’s experience:

It can be difficult to spot POV shifts in your own novel manuscript!

The Picnic by the Lake

It was a beautiful day, and Emma spread the blanket on the grass by the lake. She smiled, looking at the calm water, imagining how perfect the afternoon would be with her friends. (At this point, the story appears to focus on Emma. Because we have insight into her imagination, we feel like we are seeing the story from her point of view).

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How to spot POV shifts when revising and refining your novel

Mandy Webster

Shifting points of view (POV) too frequently in a novel can be confusing and disorienting for the reader, making it difficult for them to engage with the story. However, it may be difficult for you to spot this problem on your own since you yourself are so fully immersed in the story. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to get outside feedback on your novel manuscript during the evaluation stage of the writing process.

It can be difficult to spot POV shifts in your own novel manuscript!

The first step you should take when revising and refining your manuscript with your attention turned to POV is to review the outside feedback that you have received to identify specific places in the story where your reviewer(s) noted that they were confused or where the story lost their attention. The following is a list of signs that the point of view in your story is shifting too much:

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Finish Writing Your Novel Now!

The problem with inconsistent point of view | Revise and Refine

Mandy Webster

Inconsistent point of view (POV) in fiction can significantly affect the reader’s experience, often in a negative way if not handled with care. For example, readers often find William Faulkner’s novel, The Sound and the Fury, difficult to read because of its inconsistency in POV. Readers are forced to actively engage with the text, filling in gaps and reconciling differing perspectives.

Inconsistent point of view in a novel can disrupt the reader’s experience of the story as well as causing reader fatigue.

While this lack of consistency isn’t necessarily “wrong” when done with purpose, it is important for the writer to consider just how hard they want their reader to have to work to understand what they have written. You must consider your intended audience: do your readers prefer to read a novel that makes them work to tease out its meaning? Or does your target audience consist of readers who want to be fully immersed in a story without having to pause regularly to think outside of the story?

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The importance of maintaining a consistent point of view in fiction

Mandy Webster

Maintaining a consistent point of view (POV) is important in novel writing because it helps create a clear and immersive narrative for the reader. When a story’s POV changes frequently or unexpectedly, it can be jarring for the reader and disrupt their engagement with the story. POV is such an important element to tackle during the revise and refine stage of the novel writing process, you may find it useful to do a complete read-through of your manuscript with your attention focused solely on spotting POV shifts.

Revising for point of view is one of the most important tasks that you will complete when revising and refining your novel manuscript.

Below are a few reasons why it is so important to maintain consistent POV(s) in your novel:

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What is point of view in fiction? | Revise and Refine

Mandy Webster

Point of view (POV) refers to the perspective from which a story is told in fiction writing. It determines whose thoughts, feelings, and experiences are being shared with the reader. Consistent POV in fiction plays a crucial role in shaping the reader’s experience by providing clarity and enhancing immersion in the story.

In third person limited point of view, the reader only knows what the POV character knows. The reader is, in a sense, inside that character’s head and is able to see the view through the character’s eyes. In third person omniscient, the view is more like this one where the reader experiences the character — and everything else in the story — from outside of the character’s head.

On the other hand, inconsistent point of view in fiction can significantly affect the reader’s experience, often in a negative way if not handled with care. It may cause confusion for the reader or create a break in the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Inconsistent POV can also dilute the emotional impact of the story and undermine the reader’s trust in the narrative.

I’ll discuss the importance of maintaining a consistent point of view in your writing in more depth in the next few posts, but for today, let’s talk about what it is. First, there are three primary types of point of view in fiction:

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Finish Writing Your Novel Now!

What to focus on when revising your novel draft

Mandy Webster

Up to this point, your novel manuscript is still in what we call the “rough draft” stage, which means that if you feel like your manuscript is still crap, you’re probably right (and that’s ok!) Once you have conducted a thorough evaluation of your first draft, it is time to get down to the work of revising it to address the issues you discovered during the evaluation stage of the writing process.

Revising and refining a novel manuscript often requires a great deal of paper– and coffee!

Revising a novel manuscript often requires the author to make significant changes to the content, structure, and style of the story to improve its overall quality and effectiveness. This stage of the writing process typically comes after the first draft of the novel has been completed and may involve multiple rounds of revisions.

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