The biggest of the viewpoint choices you will need to make is the one between first person and third person point of view. Well, for most of you, anyway.
Statistically, a small percentage of writers reading this page will opt for one of the less common viewpoint choices available, such as omniscient point of view and second person.
But whether you go for "standard" 3rd person or 1st person, or something more avant garde, this stage of the novel writing process is where you need to make your viewpoint choices and stick to them.
When I talked about "road-testing" your idea earlier, I asked you to give some thought to which of the characters might be viewpoint characters.
What are viewpoint characters? They are the characters in a novel whose eyes we witness the events through and whose thoughts we can hear.
I also asked you to think about whether you intend to write in the first person or third person point of view.
Where was I? Oh, yes...
Earlier, I asked you to think about which characters might be viewpoint characters and whether you plan to write in first person or third person.
In this step of the writing process, you need to finalize your thinking on these matters.
Yes, I know these are big decisions to make, but without deciding on a principal character and whether to write your novel in the "I" of 1st person or the "he/she" of 3rd person, your novel will never get written.
How do you decide which of your fictional character(s) should be in the spotlight and which point of view to use?
You will discover all the help and information you need to make these viewpoint choices in the Point of View Section.
In all, there are three other things you need to decide on here. But don't worry - they are all quite simple decisions.
The first of the extra viewpoint choices you need to make is whether to use Past Tense or Present Tense.
Actually, this isn't much of a decision at all because, as explained in the dedicated article on it, past tense will be your best bet nine times out of ten.
Present tense is an acceptable alternative.
And if you find yourself considering using the plu-perfect tense or the conditional future tense (or one of those other tenses that no sane person really understands), you have my permission to shoot yourself.
The second choice you need to make is whether you are going to have one viewpoint character all the way through, or whether you will use several (with chapter one seen through Emily's eyes, chapter two through Charlie's, and so on).
If in doubt, stick to using just one viewpoint character (it's simpler). But writing a Multiple Viewpoint Novel really isn't rocket science, so it's certainly something to consider.
The third decision to make here is whether to shake things up a little by taking a mix'n'match approach to point of view. You could, for example...
If you are in any doubt about any of the above, keep it simple. But whether you keep things simple or not, you don't want to sign-off on this stage of the novel writing process until you have made your viewpoint choices and you feel that they are the right ones.
Again, you will find loads of help on these matters in the Point of View section here on the website and, in a lot more depth, in my downloadable writing guide.
Next up, it is time to look at the next of the story elements to work on: Fictional Characters...