Lately, I seem to get a lot of student novel writers who want a very detached, omniscient viewpoint in their work. I don’t understand this. Why would anyone want the main character seen only from afar? Omniscient or God’s Eye Point of View was popular in the 19th century. These days, not so much. If your reason to employ omniscient POV is so that the reader can know everyone’s thoughts, consider how diluted those thoughts become when they are competing for the reader’s attention. If your story requires a different POV to convey information the main character can’t or shouldn’t know, consider entering that secondary POV for a time. Or, rethink your story a little. Many times a writer who insists on using the omniscient POV is hiding behind it, taking the easy way out. The story that delivers a strong and likeable protagonist that readers root for is rarely written in the omniscient viewpoint. Just my opinion.
Writing Tip for Today: When you decide on the novel’s major point of view, ask yourself, “Whose story is this?”Good reasons to tell the story from another character’s view point include but aren’t limited to:

• an unreliable,(Captain Ahab) unlikeable (Hannibal Lecter) or larger-than-life protagonist( Sherlock Holmes).
• The necessity of relating information the protag can’t or shouldn’t know (such as the killer in a murder mystery).
• A complicated tale that requires other view points to feel whole(The Poisonwood Bible).

Novelists such as Toni Morrison sometimes use omniscient POV (e.g. in Paradise), but overall, a Single POV from the main character is the easiest way to learn the art and craft of novel writing.