In working on my novel, I’ve discovered one of the less talked-about differences between screenwriting and novel writing: point of view.

I never realized what a luxury it was to be able to write without having to worry about which character’s point of view should be used for a particular scene. In screenwriting, the point of view belongs to the audience. Even if the main character is present in every scene, the story still unfolds from the audience’s point of view as they watch that character in action. In a movie, all the characters could be on-screen together in a single scene, but the screenwriter doesn't have to consider which of those characters' points of view should be used in the script.

With a novel, the reader is your audience, but the story is told from one or more points of view. If several characters are present in a single scene, the author needs to decide which of those characters should be the POV character, and the author needs to determine whether that character should be granted the POV for that scene alone, for several scenes or chapters, or even for the entire novel. Screenwriters never have to wonder if a scene should be written from the hero’s point of view or the villain’s. Novelists do. (Of course, screenwriters have plenty of challenges of their own to deal with, but that's a post for another day.)

Deciding which point-of-view style to use is tougher than it sounds. Each narrative form has its own benefits and drawbacks. But before I get to that, let’s quickly go over the most common POV styles.

First-person POV – The story is told from the inner perspective of a single character. (as in, “I slammed the door.”)

Second-person POV – The story is portrayed from the reader’s point of view. (as in, “You slammed the door.”) This format isn’t common, except in choose your own adventure novels.

Third person limited POV – The story is portrayed from one character’s perspective, but viewed from outside the character, as opposed to the inner narrative used in first-person POV. (as in, “He slammed the door.”) Some authors write the entire novel from only one character’s point of view. Other authors rotate between several different characters, but only when shifting to a new chapter or a new scene. Only one character’s point of view is used per scene.

Third person omniscient POV – The story is portrayed from the point of view of an omniscient narrator who has knowledge of all characters and their thoughts and actions at any time and place.

I’m going to weigh the pros and cons of first-person POV and third-person limited POV. I’m not going to cover second-person POV because it’s usually not practical to use that form in a mainstream novel. I’m not going to cover third-person omniscient POV because I loathe it. It inevitably results in “head hopping”, where the perspective shifts from one character’s to another’s in mid-scene, sometimes even in mid-paragraph. I don’t enjoy reading novels written in that form, so I’m not going to write my own novels in that form.

The Pros and Cons of First-Person POV

One of the biggest benefits of first-person POV is the opportunity to fully embody a single character, to give the audience a glimpse at the character’s innermost thoughts and feelings, even when those thoughts and feelings are hidden from other characters. It also allows you to develop the character’s personality not just through his actions but also through his voice, his storytelling style.

At the same time, first-person POV suffers from a few drawbacks. If readers don’t love your character’s voice and storytelling style, they might be turned off. They might not empathize with your character as much as they would have if they’d been offered the distance that comes with third-person limited POV instead.

Readers might not get to know your other characters as well because the story is told from only one character’s point of view. Each character will be perceived through the lens of the POV character, with the POV character’s personal opinions affecting how those other characters appear to the reader.

If you’re writing a mystery or suspense novel, your main character won’t know the details your villain knows, meaning you’ll have to structure the story so those details unfold as the main character discovers them. This can be tricky in a suspense novel. Often, the source of the suspense comes from the reader knowing a specific something awful is going to happen if the hero doesn’t somehow manage to save the day. If the hero isn’t yet aware of the something awful that’s going to occur at some point in the near future, the audience also isn’t aware of it and that source of suspense is removed. But, many authors are easily able to develop suspense through other means. Several of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels are written in first-person POV and they’re filled with suspense. Barry Eisler's John Rain novels use first-person POV and they're also full of suspense.

The first-person POV is limiting but also liberating. You are restricted to only one character’s perspective, but you can explore that character’s perspective more fully and in much more depth.

The Pros and Cons of Third-Person Limited POV

Third-person limited POV offers its own benefits. It works well in suspense novels because you can write one chapter from the hero’s point of view and the next chapter from the villain’s point of view, giving readers a peek at what the villain is planning. If you have several characters working toward the same goal but those characters are in different locations, you can write one chapter from one character’s point of view and write the next chapter from a different character’s point of view, and then return to the first character’s point of view in the third chapter. As long as you use only one character’s point of view per scene, and as long as you make it clear right away which character has the point of view for a scene or chapter, readers will have no trouble keeping up with the shifts in POV.

Third-person limited POV offers you the opportunity to develop more than one character’s personality to a greater extent. You might even have more than one main character. Many novels feature two or more heroes, all of whom fit the role of “main character”. Another benefit of multiple points of view is if readers don’t like the character whose POV appears in one chapter, they won’t have to worry for long because a different character’s POV comes along shortly after.

The tough part of using third-person limited POV is making sure your main character (or characters) get the right amount of face-time. You don’t want to end up with a novel where the villain’s chapters comprise 70% of the book and the hero’s chapters comprise only 30%. (And if you end up with a novel like that, you might want to reconsider whose story you’re telling and whether the story might be better served with the villain in the main role.)

If you’re writing in third-person limited POV, you might also choose to stick with only one character’s perspective. This is similar to writing in first-person POV because you can develop that character’s personality more than those of other characters. You are still inside that character’s head, but the third-person POV gives a bit more distance than first-person POV. This is simultaneously a benefit and a drawback. You don’t get to write in the main character’s voice, but sometimes that extra distance is a bonus because readers are more easily able to step into the character’s shoes and take on his/her role in the story. With that tiny bit of distance, they can more easily envision themselves as that character.

As you can see, there are clear pros and cons to each POV style. For each project, you’ll need to consider those pros and cons and decide which style best suits your story. I’m using third-person limited POV for my novel-in-progress but I’m experimenting with first-person POV for a different project, and I've found both styles equally challenging and rewarding.

There's something exciting about getting a gun for your birthday. Cold, hard steel molded into a sleek and deadly form. What's not to like?

Some women prefer clothes and jewelry. I am not one of those women.

For my birthday, Larry hooked me up with the perfect gun for concealed carrying — a Ruger LCP, ultra-light and compact enough to slip into a pocket.

I already own an H&K USP Compact .40 pistol, which I love and would recommend to anyone, but it's a bit too heavy to carry every day. It's also too bulky to conceal easily, especially here in hot, sunny Florida where a jacket or overcoat would look conspicuous. I wanted something smaller and lighter, and the LCP is a perfect fit.

I'm not a weapons fanatic and not a violent person by any means, but the time I've spent practicing at the firing range has helped me gain a better understanding of firearm safety and usage, which in turn gives me a stronger foundation for writing stories with gun-toting characters.

Over the past couple of years, Larry and I have unintentionally established a tradition of giving weapons to each other for every holiday. On Valentine's Day, ASP expandable batons. On our anniversary, Urban Pal knives. For Christmas for him two years ago, a Rock River Arms LAR-15 rifle. For my birthday last week, the Ruger LCP.

I was dreading my birthday but it turned out rather nice. We held two separate birthday gatherings, one with his family and one with mine. My sister indulged my Lost obsession with the gift of a Dharma Initiative t-shirt. (If you don't know what the Dharma Initiative is, rent the first season of Lost on DVD and start watching now. You won't regret it.)

By the end of the second gathering, I had landed $150 in Barnes & Noble and Amazon gift cards, all of which I've already cashed in for a hefty stack of books to keep myself occupied during the holiday weekend.

Clustering is a simple brainstorming method you can use in a variety of ways. Its biggest benefit is that it helps you push past your analytical mind and reach into your subconscious mind for ideas that resonate on a deeper level. A single clustering session can produce dozens of great ideas.

In The New Diary, where I first encountered the technique a few years ago, author Tristine Rainer presents clustering as a journaling method for personal transformation. In the How To Think Sideways course, we used clustering to explore ourselves via a process that generated a wealth of material to mine later for story ideas.

The potential applications for clustering are numerous, but today I'm going to describe how I've been using the technique to develop realistic characters with depth.

Clustering is similar to mind-mapping. You begin with a central theme or a single idea and write it in the middle of the page. Then you branch outward, adding related words or phrases as they pop into your mind, and drawing lines to connect any related items.

How to Use This Technique for Character Development

I'll explain the process first, and then I'll walk through an example with images to demonstrate how the character cluster evolves.

I've found clustering works best if I already have a general idea of my character's occupation or have at least one or two basic personality traits in mind before I begin the exercise.

I start by placing the character's name or initials in the center of the page, and then I add branches related to any personality traits I've already decided the character should have. I also add branches related to the character's occupation or important events from his/her past.

For each item I add to the cluster, I ask myself questions: Why does the character have this trait? What event prompted him/her to be this way? How did the character end up in this occupation? How did this event from the character's past affect him/her? How did it change him/her?

As you answer your own questions, you'll add new ideas to the cluster. What you'll quickly notice is how important events from the character's past give rise to personality traits. It works in reverse as well. You'll find yourself adding new personality traits and then creating a backstory to explain how the character acquired those traits.

Let's say you've decided your character is a workaholic. Ask yourself why she's a workaholic, and add the answers to your cluster.

- Is she a workaholic because she loves her job so much she wants to spend every waking moment involved in that field? (And if so, what aspect of the field most interests her? Why? How did she get involved in it?)

- Is she a workaholic because she has difficulty making friends and turns to her job to fill her spare time instead? (And if that's the case, why does she have difficulty making friends? What events in her past prompted this difficulty?)

- Is she a workaholic because she's trying to make a name for herself in her field? (And if so, why is success so important to her? Does she have to work harder than others for recognition? Why?)

If you don't already have a few personality traits in mind, start with the basics. Is your character shy, outgoing, stubborn, patient, impatient, happy, sad, intelligent, dull, witty, lonely, needy, nurturing, loyal, protective, jealous, confident?

Add a few traits to the cluster, and then ask yourself how and why the character acquired those traits. Be sure to ask yourself whether the character is aware that he possesses a particular trait. The answer to that question can have a big impact on your character's personality.

What are your character's biggest fears? Strengths? Weaknesses?

What are your character's hobbies? How did he become interested or involved in a particular hobby? Why does he enjoy it? What does it offer him?

Does your character have any unique or unusual skills? How did he acquire them? How do they affect his daily life and his behavior?

What do you know about your character's past? His childhood? His family? His culture? Add those details to your cluster, and then ask yourself how your character's past contributed to who he is today.

With each new detail you add to your cluster, consider how that information connects to the rest of the information. You'll begin to see how your character's personality and background are tightly interwoven.

You may end up with words or concepts that don't seem at all related to the central theme. Allow one word to lead to another and let your mind follow the path those words create, regardless of where that path takes you. It doesn't matter whether or not your logical mind thinks a particular word is relevant to the character. Write it down anyway. It might become relevant later.

Character Cluster Example

Here is an example of the beginnings of a character cluster. We'll start with a character's name in the center. I'll use "Jack Smith" for this example. We'll make our character a doctor. We don't need to know yet what kind of doctor Jack is. For now, we'll just keep things simple and explore our options. Something else in our cluster might lead to ideas about a specific field of medicine.

I'll add a couple of personality traits: Jack is a workaholic, likes challenges, and has trouble connecting with women. He's also lonely. We'll throw in a hobby — hiking/backpacking — and then we're ready to start asking some questions about Jack.

Here's what our cluster looks like so far*:

This is where things get interesting. Pick an item from the cluster and ask yourself questions about why that item is there.

Let's take "doctor" for starters. What motivated Jack to become a doctor? Maybe his mother died of a terminal illness when he was young and he decided someday he would find the cure for whatever killed her. Now we have even more to work with, because that detail resonates with some of the other items in our cluster. Perhaps Jack has trouble connecting with women because he had no mother around during his childhood, or maybe it's because he's afraid of making a connection and then losing another woman he loves.

We can tie his loneliness to his trouble connecting with women, and to the fact that he is a workaholic and spends most of his time alone in a lab. Let's assume he hasn't found the cure yet and is still desperately searching for it even though his mother passed away long ago.

Let's add those items to our cluster and make the connections*:

Now we can take a look at some of the other items in our cluster. Jack's hobby is hiking/backpacking, and since we also know Jack likes challenges, let's assume he prefers to hike in exotic or even dangerous locales and enjoys tackling rough trails most people wouldn't dare attempt. He probably likes to push himself, to overachieve. We can use all those details to explore other aspects of Jack's life — aspects that could potentially generate story ideas.

Maybe during his trips to other countries he also spends time volunteering his medical services as part of a program like Doctors Without Borders. Perhaps he took up backpacking as a hobby because he heard a rumor about a rare plant curing the disease that killed his mother and the plant can only be found deep in the jungle. Or maybe he simply enjoys exploring the quiet woods on his own, a hobby prompted by his difficulty connecting with other people.

The important thing is to dig deep, to delve below the surface and discover what makes him tick. Keep asking yourself those questions. You'll discover new layers of your character's personality, and in the end you'll have a realistic, three-dimensional character instead of a cardboard cutout.

* The cluster maps shown in these images were created with a free mind-mapping software program called Cayra.

I have an addiction. I've tried to overcome it, but my efforts have been met with an amazing level of resistance. My body fights me. My mind fights me. I often wonder if I'll be addicted to this stuff forever. So many times I've tried and failed to quit, by this point it is hardly more than a joke. What am I addicted to, you ask? Well, I'll get to that detail later in this article, and I'll even fill you in on how I used my own personal addiction as inspiration when developing one of the main characters in my current writing project.

Why do characters need flaws? Perfect characters are boring, and sometimes even annoying. Perfect characters don't have to struggle as hard to achieve their goals. After all, they're perfect. Things come easily to perfect people. If there's no struggle, there's no conflict, and conflict is what makes good writing. Character flaws provide sources of conflict. They can be sources of conflict with other characters, conflict with the environment, and, in many instances, conflict with self.

In most cases, you want a character who isn't perfect but is in some way better than average, or at least a character who has the potential to be better than average. Fulfilling that potential — overcoming obstacles and growing into that better-than-average self — will become part of the conflict that drives your story. You want a hero, someone willing to take action, not a passive wimp. Readers are living vicariously through your characters. They want to feel special, and for that you need special characters. At the same time, a character who is too special, too perfect, seems unrealistic and comes across as a cardboard cut-out. Give your character some flaws in one area to compensate for his above average skills in other areas.

Why do we love flawed characters so much? Because we feel like we could be them, we could walk in their shoes, we could — with the right kind of skill and motivation — overcome the same obstacles they overcame. We can immerse ourselves more fully in the story because we can step into the character's shoes, see things from his perspective, and believe in the reality of it. If they're heroes with flaws, we can aspire to be like them and actually have some hope of succeeding in that endeavor. They give us hope. They give us, imperfect and flawed beings that we are, a glimpse of what we could be. If they're perfect, we dismiss any hope of ever reaching such glorious heights. We can't relate to them. We can't empathize with them.

Make your character's flaws intriguing and interesting, not tedious and irritating. You want someone readers will enjoy spending time with, preferably so much they reread your novel or screenplay until the pages are worn and tattered. You don't want a character whose qualities grate on the reader's nerves. Give your character enough flaws to be interesting but not so many as to be overwhelming. It's a delicate balance. Unless done right, characters who are too flawed are almost as annoying as characters who are too perfect.

Ask yourself: How does this flaw affect my character's behavior, his attitude, his reactions? Take, for example, Tony Shalhoub's character on the television series Monk. He is obsessive-compulsive about germs, cleanliness, and order. That flaw is a factor in each storyline. It affects how Monk acts and reacts in every situation. How do your character's flaws affect her actions? How do they affect the storyline?

If you can't come up with any flaws for your character, look around. Think about your friends, your family, your next-door neighbors, your boss and coworkers. Contemplate what it is about each of them that irritates you. Is your neighbor a nosy gossip? Is your brother too impatient? Does your boss have a temper? Does a friend have a tendency to act first and analyze the situation later, usually after his impulsive actions trigger unpleasant consequences? Voila! You've pinpointed flaws you can incorporate into your characters.

If all else fails, draw on your own personal flaws for inspiration. (What's that you say? You have no flaws? Think again.)

Consider how those flaws impact the person's personality and behavior. How do the flaws manifest in his actions? Is he aware of these flaws, either consciously or subconsciously, or is he blissfully ignorant? Does he take steps to compensate for the flaws? Does he unconsciously compensate for them? How do other people respond or react to the person when these flaws are on display?

To illustrate this point, let's go back to my personal addiction. Two weeks ago, I tried to quit. It was agonizing. I struggled. I swore. I lasted thirteen days, until I simply couldn't stand it anymore. I caved, and it was off to the 7-11 to get my fix… Mt. Dew Code Red.

Caffeine. Sugar. Deliciously sweet cherry flavor. Pure bliss in a bottle.

Not to mention, hundreds of calories and enough chemicals to preserve an elephant.

It may seem silly, but it's an addiction nonetheless. I can't stop, and I hate myself for my weakness. I detest my lack of willpower. I despise the fact that when I take that first swig, my mind and body sigh in unison with complete and utter contentment. When I don't have it, when I try to stay away from it, it's all I can think about. It intrudes on every waking thought. Its power over me becomes painfully obvious. I can hear it calling my name from every convenience store within a twenty-mile radius.

All I can do, I finally decided, is find a way to use this in my writing, to turn this misery into something productive. Something good had to come out of all this suffering and self-loathing.

I gave one of my characters an addiction — not to Mt. Dew Code Red, but to something far more interesting instead — and was able to write about his struggle with powerful emotion, intensity, and insight. Not only that, but his addiction gave me an idea for a new spin on the story and I was able to tie it into the storyline in ways I hadn't even expected.

Flaws can generate new story ideas, or they can simply flesh out characters and make them more realistic and lifelike. Flaws give a character depth and move him from a two-dimensional page into a vivid, three-dimensional reality, even if that reality exists solely within the mind of your reader.