I tend to write my stories moving from one PoV to another as a means of describing my characters, without necessarily going to deeply into their thoughts.

Is it necessary when doing PoV of a character to give their thoughts?

Example. Dark Empyrean chapter 1 part 1 my MC is about to jump off a roof and commit suicide. I explain in the first couple of paragraphs that he is serving a life sentence, and the past 10 years that he has served have not been kind and he feels forgotten by everyone else. However when it comes to the point of him actually falling off the building is it necessary to explain his thoughts then in more detail?

I'm a little conflicted as to what is necessary and what is up to the writer to give.

Thanks,

http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum1/HTML/006234.html

So you might want to read that.

As for how much you have to get inside the a character's head that is completely up to you. You can show the character's actions and make the reader infer the character's mindset. It is up to you and what works.

From what you wrote, I would suggest keeping out of the character's head because he sounds whiny and it might be hard not to have him REALLY sound whiny when you write his inner thoughts.

I wish you luck, and hope this helps (or if not, that someone is able to give you some advice that does!)

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If one is writing a narrative story, does it always have to be from one characters Point of View? Are their any rules to writing this way? Does the PoV have to be one of the characters or can it be from an outside point of view, say the writer or reader?
I tend to write my stories moving from one PoV to another as a means of describing my characters, without necessarily going to deeply into their thoughts.

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My first suggestion is to get yourself a copy of OSC's CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT. Might as well get this from a master.

To answer your questions:

No, it doesn't always have to be from the POV of a character. You can use third omniscient POV. If that's what really works for your story, do it. But realize that that story may be harder to sell and you're giving up some of what the written word does best.

It's okay to use multiple POV's, especially in a novel. However, for most genre (romance can be an exception), it is customary to help the reader out by flagging the change in POV. This is usually accomplished by a scene break and then starting the next scene with a clear indication of the new POV. For a good discussion of this, pick up a copy of Browne and King, SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS.

You don't necessarily have to go deeply into your characters' thoughts all the time, depending on the story. However, at the critical moments, you might find that you do need to. It takes practice, but you will get better at it if you keep working on it. Voice of experience.

If the reader can't tell who the narrator is, then the reader has no reason to believe/trust the narrator.

The only narrator that can remain anonymous is the camera-eye 3rd person narrator which doesn't get into anyone's head at all (and that kind of narrator defeats one of the advantages written fiction has over filmed fiction: getting the reader into a character's head to show motivation, which is crucial to most written fiction).

Also, if the reader can't tell who the narrator is, there is a risk of failure to provide an answer to another question OSC says writers need to answer for their readers: "so what?" (Also known as "why should I care?")

I hope this makes sense.

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And I second Meredith's recommendation of OSC's CHARACTER AND VIEWPOINT

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My biggest question with pov is just that. What use of pov will best serve to tell this story? How close or distant do I want the reader to be to a character? Is this drama, action or comedy? Because all have different uses of pov that might benefit them.

So you may ask yourself, 'whose story is this?' and 'what am I trying to convey to the reader or make the reader feel?' Hopefully those answers will lead you to the answer of how to handle the pov. If they don't, your story might not be focused enough or you may not have a clear picture of what the story is truly about.

I think it’s my critique on your 13 lines which probably inspired this thread, so I should offer my two cents.

Firstly, I’ll back up everyone else’s recommendation that OSC’s book is a great guide to effectively utilizing POV. Another book I found interesting (though it’s not an instructional) is How fiction works by James Woods. In this book, Mr. Woods gives really interesting examples of when the benefits of breaking or violating POV (and emphasizing the gap between authorial voice and POV character voice) outweigh the costs.

In my opinion, every POV has its benefits and costs and those benefits and costs also depend on what you’re good at doing and what you want the story to achieve. Like everyone else said, how close you get to your characters and their thoughts depends on what you want to do with the story.

For my style of writing, the POVs that give me the most benefits with the smallest costs is writing in 1st person or deep 3rd with a conscious attempt to narrow the gap between character voice and my authorial voice. It’s also the most commercial approach at the moment. As Robert said, you can find bestsellers/classics which break all kinds of “rules”, but I think the rule breaking is conscious and delivers benefits which outweigh the costs. If you know what the benefits and costs of dipping between POVs within a single scene and it fits what you’re trying to do, then do it (personally, I think the costs are really high, but that's my opinion).

When I started all I knew about POV and any of that stuff was that theres 1st person and 3rd person. The rest of it I never really even heard of, such as all the millions of different degrees of 3rd person or the idea some hold that a story should be told from one persons perspective and the narrative not dip into anyone else's thoughts.

As a reader I still, for the most part, don't even notice these things. And as a writer, I continue to see them as simply tools...and tools that can be used in any way that suits the story. You wanna use 3rd omni? Great! You wanna do 3rd omni so that you can dip into everybody's thoughts as needed? I don't see a problem with that. Certainly as genevive says, having a story told from two or more POVs in different scene/sections really shouldn't be a problem. Honestly, I don't even see why, in a single POV story, one can't still present thoughts and feelings of non-POV characters, if its done smoothly (this is putting aside the fact that certain specific editors, such as those at BCS, may catagorically dislike a certain thing, or want a certain specific thing such as constant close POV.)

My advice is this. When starting out, just listen to the voices in your head and write what they tell you to, how they tell you to, regardless of "rules", guidlines or whatever. Eventually, over time, you will learn to direct the voices, but for now just let them be in charge.