In Whose Head? Hers? His? Theirs? All of the above?

Maybe you notice it, maybe you don't, but point of view (POV) affects writing in significant ways. Honestly, before I sneaked into the WD Sci-Fi/Fantasy Forum, I didn't really think about POV. It just happened naturally. I would start out in one POV and then blithely switch to another's or do both, or whatever, without regard to how it was affecting what was being said/going on.

Now that I'm smarter/more experienced/brainwashed, I can look back on works that I did pre-POV and examine them critically. Is that POV working? What does it take away? What would happen if I switched it to the other person's POV. And, my favorite: Whoa, just went from third-person limited to omniscient. Goody.

In the genre I'm being sucked into like a pink vortex with red heart confetti (i.e., romance), it might surprise you to realize that omniscient is used. A lot. Now, when I gained my POV knowledge, I learned that omniscient is one of the hardest POVs to write because even though the reader knows every thought of every character, they are, in the end, distanced from them. There are so many jolts between characters that you get to the point where you're not sure who's head you're in.

I have also seen in romance novels the use of limited third spattered with bits of omniscient. For example, you're in Lord What's-His-Face head and he's admiring Lady So-and-So's assets and then we switch to having her admire his assets. Bam! Just like that. ::snaps fingers::

I'm not sure if this was intentional on the author's part or accidental, but it (surprisingly) can work.

How does this tie into what I'm working on? Well, I've decided to pick up Last of the Elves again and finish it. (This project was started BEFORE Fury was even a gleam in my eye.) The first chapter (and much of the second) is in Minalea's POV. But then it switches to omniscient. And then it's in Lial's POV. Whoa, there, POV horsey. Too much galloping around.

Now, FURY began in omniscient. But I realized that it would get more out of third-limited POV, so I changed it, creating pretty little white spaces between head jumps. I think it gives the characters and the circumstances a complexity that wasn't present before because the reader knew everything, so it was like the characters knew everything. Now, it will go a whole chapter/scene without switching to the other character's POV, so the reader is having to guess how the other character is reacting based on what the POV character is observing/thinking.

But with LOTE I'm not sure if that limited POV will work. Hmm. I'll just have to go by trial and error, I suppose.

What are your POV preferences?