Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The View of Pointing

Today I thought we'd be constructive. Not that we aren't constructive generally. But you know what I mean. ;-)

I thought long and hard about what topic I wanted to talk about, and I finally ended with this:

How to appropriately choose what POV your story wants to be in

 

Using four different scenarios, and assuming you've created your central character before the actual writing has begun, I've outlined a simple way to decide what your point of view "should" be.This isn't an exact science though, so don't feel like you simply must follow my suggestions.

Scenario 1

 

Let's say that you've chosen your main character, and while you've been thinking through your story you've realized that you're probably going to need to know what this character is thinking a lot of the time.

For instance, maybe they're shy and don't like to talk much. That will get annoying to write and read in Third Person. trust me.

In this case, you're probably going to want to write in First Person. (Sometimes it won't work out quite right for the whole story, but that's what Scenario 4 is here for.)

Scenario 3 (yes, I know, the last one I did was 1)

 

 If, in your process of thinkering about all the things you want to do with your story, and all the characters that you're going to create, you realize that you have a lot of subplots that will need a lot of attention, you should likely stick with Third Person.

But as you know, there are many different forms of Third Person. I'm only going to talk about two.

Third Person Omniscient is a pain in the butt and I rarely ever tell anyone to try it, especially first time writers, but sometimes it's exactly what the story needs. Sometimes no one is opening up and the reader just really needs to know what everyone is thinking all the time. That's what this is for.

Third Person Semi-Omniscient is where you're only getting fully into one character's head within any given scene. This one is the easiest to work with. You also get to keep little secrets from your readers, because the characters don't have to reveal everything in the way they think. Usually, this is your safest option when you're choosing omnisciency, but like I said, sometimes the other is a wonderful thing.

Scenario 2 (you'll get it in a second...)

 

If you find yourself preparing to write a story in which you already know that your main character is very detached and unreliable, and is someone with whom you'll need to get inside their head, and you're incredibly brave, try Second Person (get it? get it? Point 2, Second Person?).

Second Person is essentially First Person. So you'll be looking for the same kind of character as you would for a First narrative, but you'll want to add a few dimensions like unreliability.

It's tricky to work with, because you have to balance realism and not making your reader uncomfortable, but it's definitely worth a try. A few of my favorite short stories are written in Second.

The Famed Scenario 4! 

 

 If you find yourself with multiple characters will multiple needs, this scenario is for you:

Mixed POV.

I know a lot of writers shy away from it, but it can actually be a very useful tool in the writing process. (For example, every book in my Druid series is Mixed POV, with one central character in First and the rest in Semi-Omniscient Third)

The key in doing this is that it can only be done if Third is a part of your combination (I don't recommend going for all three POV's in one story, as this can bog down your reader and make things difficult to understand and remember)

See, Third is the easiest to read, for a lot of people. We can figure things out and understand exactly what's going on a lot of the time. But we also enjoy reading things in First, and it's an interesting take when there's something in Second.

So if you have mixed needs, I say, mix! And don't be afraid to have your First/Second Person character appear in a Third Person scene. It will help to ground them every now and again, so the reader doesn't lose their grasp along the way.


I've had to deal with every single POV in my writing career already, and I'll tell you right now that choosing one can be a pain in the butt when you don't quite know where to start.

That being the case, I hope this was helpful. If you have any specific questions, don't be shy: drop me a comment or send me a message. I'll either get back to you or I'll write a whole blog to answer your question, I promise

[love]

{Rani}

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