A technique that eliminates the narrator entirely, putting the reader directly inside the character's consciousness with zero separation.
Deep point of view (deep POV) is an intensified form of close third person where every trace of the narrator as a separate entity disappears. There are no 'she thought,' 'he noticed,' or 'she felt' constructions - instead, the character's perceptions, emotions, and thoughts simply become the narrative. Instead of 'She noticed the room smelled like cinnamon,' you write 'Cinnamon. The whole room reeked of it.' The reader doesn't observe the character experiencing the world - the reader experiences the world as the character. It's the difference between watching someone swim and being underwater yourself.
Deep POV is one of the most powerful tools for creating reader immersion. When done well, the reader forgets they're reading and feels like they're living the scene. It's also a fantastic training exercise even if you don't write entire novels in deep POV, because it teaches you to eliminate lazy narration habits like filter words, to ground every observation in the character's specific perspective, and to trust your reader to infer emotions from behavior rather than being told about them.
Though technically first person, Collins' technique mirrors deep POV - Katniss's narration is pure in-the-moment experience with minimal reflection or distance.
The deep immersion in Bella's perspective - every heightened sensation, every hyper-focused observation of Edward - is a textbook example of deep POV creating intense reader identification.
Jemisin uses second person deep POV to put the reader even more directly into the character's skin, making the technique feel fresh and urgent.
Deep POV should still be readable and paced. It's about eliminating the narrator, not abandoning sentence structure or scene craft.
You can still work in exposition through what the character notices and reacts to - just make it feel organic to their in-the-moment experience.
In deep POV, the prose should reflect each character's distinct thinking patterns - vocabulary, sentence length, what they pay attention to, what they ignore.
Take a paragraph you've written in regular close third person and rewrite it in deep POV. Remove every instance of 'she saw,' 'he felt,' 'she thought,' 'he noticed,' and 'she realized.' Replace each one with the direct sensory experience or thought. Read both versions aloud and notice which one pulls you in more.