We Need to Have A Talk About Writing...

Do you mean what Point of View or POV you should write the book in?

Tense refers only to an expression of time especially in regard to grammar (I wrote as opposed to I write). Writing in the past tense (I was right there when it happened) is the accepted method for most publications by editors, especially for novels and genre fiction. Writing in the present tense (I am right there when it happens) is usually reserved for what is referred to as literary fiction which would include flash fiction and the like. Most articles will say you can use whichever tense you like, and while this is technically true, most actual editors will say that you should be using past tense as that is what the majority of their readers expect.

Back to Point of View, it largely depends on the audience that you are writing for and the type of book you are writing. Lot's of young adult books use first person. Lots of science fiction and fantasy genre fiction uses 3rd person omniscient.

There are actually two types of 3rd person POV. 3rd person omniscient and 3rd person limited.

I would suggest you use the second of these, which is quite popular in smaller novels and romance or thriller novels. It is effectively the same as 1st person in that you are only showing the world through one characters head, but you use their name instead of pronouns. Another, massive, advantage to using this method is that you can easily edit and change to 1st person after another draft.

My advice would be to write in 3rd person Limited first. Then see if you, or editors, prefer your story in 1st person.

Hope this helps.

Any other opinions on this are welcome!

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Johny Thundersbeard
Editor, Mentor & Member.
"The Steampunk Authors' Guild " 
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WDC Author of the Month May 2012
30DBC Administrator, Judge & Rejigger 2012.
Forum Master "Invalid Item"  2016.