P is for POV

The very first decision of every author of every genre of fiction is to decide from whose Point of View (POV) the story will be told.

By far, the two most popular POVs are first person, singular ("I picked up the cane and gave it a test swish") and third person, usually singular ("She picked up the cane and gave it a test swish.").    Occasionally I have come across a work in second person singular ("You picked up the cane to give it a test swish.") but, for me, that comes across a bit awkward.   The narrator is telling us what happened by addressing some third party, or is trying to put us into the tale ourselves.   Either way, we the reader may feel disconnected from the action.

First person plural would make little sense, unless we were writing as Queen Victoria over some household incident ("We were not amused at the news from Prussia, so we ordered a cane to be brought to us so that we could give it a test swish.")    Possible, I suppose, but so unlikely a scenario that it is one that I have yet to come across.   Third person plural happens all the time, but is very temporary before we get back to third person singular ("They all shivered at the swish the cane made.")  And second person plural is hard to distinguish from second person singular "You all picked up your canes to give them a swish.")   Drop the "all" and make cane singular and the sentence is identical to second person singular - unless you happen to be writing in Spanish, Texan or some other argot that has a distinct term for plural "you".

Rarely, very rarely, the POV is from some inanimate object that is central to the story,   An account, say, as seen by a paddle used in some school over a period of several years.   This tactic does allow the writer to explore the moment of impact from a fresh angle:  but, I think, the author has paid a very high price for that single moment of novelty.   Furthermore, it has cropped up enough times to make it difficult for you to bring a fresh angle to this particular gimmick.

So - in all normal circumstances, the choice is between "I did it." and "He did it." from the perspective of a human being taking part in the action,   The advantage of "I did it" is that, as the writer, I can sidetrack off all over the place to explain nuances of the plot:  such sidetracks can read awkwardly when simply telling the reader what actually happened.    The advantage of "He did it" is that you can describe scenes not observed by the I in "I did it."   If you are in first person, and your characters go off and do stuff you never saw, it might be difficult for you to describe those activities.

One of the really neat techniques available to the spanking author is that, done properly, you can change the POV from time to time to advance the tale from the perspective of different participants.   A very mundane piece ("Abuse of Power" in the Free Stories section) started as routine pot boiler of the class "Schoolgirl caught smoking gets the paddle".   By switching the POV between the three main protagonists, the tale was lifted from its somewhat dire fate into a tale rated as OK - which is about all you can hope for when using a plot that hackneyed..

But it does have to be done properly.   The different sections should be separated by any filigree you use to show a change in time, place or - in this case - a POV.    (A filigree:  something like ---oo0oo--- stuck in the middle of the page as a section breaker.    If you don't use one, you risk confusing the reader about what is going on if the scene completely changes without warning).

The second thing is to put some very clear verbal clues that the switch has happened.   The trap of having speakers name the listener as a device to tell the reader who is talking to whom has been discussed before.   But a similar device on the switch of POV is fair game.

An example:   I took the cane, gave it a practice swish and put it down on Jack's desk.

 ---oo0oo---   

 I picked up the cane that Jane had placed on my desk, and used thumb and forefinger to feel how sharp and mean it was.

The text prior to that  ---oo0oo--- was from Jane's POV, and that after it was from Jack's.   The switch in POV has been made, and the reader should have accepted the change without pausing in their mad-cap chase to get to the end of your epic.

Finally, a quick segue - in the preceding piece I used the term "pot boiler".   It originally meant a work so good, people got totally enraptured in it, allowing untended pots to boil over.   Over time, the meaning has deteriorated so that today, it is used to describe a mediocre work churned out purely to make some quick cash.    A few years ago, calling 50 Shades a potboiler would have been seen as high praise, but, in the main, nowadays the identical term would be quite derogatory.    (Just another gem from my stockpile of useless trivia).