Welcome to my corner of the ancient world. I'm Jay Penner — bestselling author of historical fiction set in ancient Egypt, Rome, Mesopotamia, and India.
THE POV CHEATSHEET
Getting the POV (Point-of-View) right can be a challenge if you are a new writer. When I started experimenting with writing, I had no clue about the POVs at all. While I read hundreds of books, I never consciously thought about the “point of view,” it all seemed natural. But it was only when I started writing that I realized how important it is to get the POV right—otherwise the reader is bound to get confused and frustrated.
This graphic should somewhat alleviate the difficulties in understanding POVs and how you can decide what you want to go with. Once you’re familiar with this matrix, you can look at any book you have and decide your style. I am not one for rigid rules. My current book, The Atlantis Papyrus has both Limited 1st person and Limited 3rd person in past and present styles.
The second person narrative is not shown here. It is extremely unusual for fiction to be written with “You” where the narrator is referring to the reader.
This is meant to be a living document made better by your feedback and improvement ideas. It is by no means perfect—I am a learner just as you are.
You can also check this reddit thread with readers’ comments
Further Reading
- Discipline Beats Inspiration: A Writer's Mindset — Waiting for inspiration keeps books unwritten. A visual breakdown of how disciplined daily writing outproduces even the best inspirational bursts.
- The Lost Army of Cambyses: 50,000 Soldiers Who Vanished — In 524 B.C., Persian King Cambyses sent 50,000 men into the Egyptian desert toward Siwa—and they were never seen again. Herodotus's ancient mystery examined.
- Writing Novels with VS Code: A 1M-Word Author's Guide — How I've written over 1 million words across 16 novels using Visual Studio Code and Markdown—30–40% faster than Word or Scrivener. With QuillDrop for formatting.
- Wait, What? — Bust some wild social-media claims about the ancient world.
Whispers of Atlantis ● Also in paperback
Lost cities. Buried armies. Ancient secrets. Seven thrilling tales where fact meets fiction.
Wait, What? ★★★★★
Let's bust those Facebook fantasies!
In a world clogged with historical half-truths, this volume takes on fourteen persistent myths, using ancient texts and maps to separate established fact from viral fiction and reveal the ancient world as it truly was.
About the Author
Jay Penner's highly-rated books regularly feature Amazon's category bestseller lists. Try his Spartacus, Cleopatra, Whispers of Atlantis, Hannibal or Dark Shadows books.
