Several years ago when I first began to take writing
classes, I began to get comments from the teacher that I was switching POV.
POV? It stands for Point Of View. At the time, I had no idea what those three letters meant. Several classes
later, I finally figured it out. Or, at least I thought I did.
I was
jumping around with no thought to how my words appeared to a reader. It isn’t
something easy, nor is it something I can teach in one small blog. I read a
book last week, not a book someone epublished themselves, but one from a top
publisher, that clearly went through editing. In the middle of the book, I got
confused. I turned back a page, and reread. Was my mind on my laundry? Did my
mind slip away and think of work when I was trying to escape to the Far East?
As I reread the passage, I found the writer switched POV mid-paragraph.
When I was trying to learn what POV was, I thought
about all the time, I struggled to understand the different POVs. It did make me
feel better about my own writing that a well established author made the mistake,
but it also let me know that I can easily make a slip.
How can a
beginning writer learn to write in one characters POV? How I do it seems to
work for me, and I will pass that along to you.
Picture being
in that person’s mind. In their body. What do they hear? What do they see? What
do their senses tell you? What are their thoughts, and why? If you use their
thoughts to add description, use the description they think of. You have to
imagine being that person completely.
A few
examples may help. If you are writing in your hero’s POV and he sees the
heroine for the first time, he may notice her wavy blonde hair, her dark blue
eyes, and curvy figure. However, if it is his sister that walks in, he wouldn’t
think of her hair, eyes, or her figure. He may show irritation because she
laughed when he dropped the football, or he may wonder why she chooses to wear
the same pink shirt every weekend.
So if you
take the time to think of that one person’s view, and how that person perceives
the world, you can stick to one characters view.
Remember to enjoy writing, and Keep the Faith.
Actually, I think shifting POVs are a wonderful lost art today. Mark Twain used to do it quite often in his short stories. They would start off with someone relating how he or she had met a stranger and go into some detail about their meeting, and then at some point this stranger would launch into an anecdote and take over the POV for most of the remainder of the story, perhaps switching back to the original person's POV right before the end.
ReplyDeleteThe best example I know, however, is a wonderful novel by James Hogg called The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Its narration is mainly told from the POV of someone who refers to himself as "the editor." The first half or so of the book is called "The Editor's Narrative," detailing a spooky story about an evil doppelganger that took place starting in 1687 and ending around 1710, and these events are apparently as the world remembers them. However, after this, the editor offers us a document that has come into his possession that is purported to be a biographical account of those same events told from the POV of the antagonist in real time, and they throw a very different light on the story. Thereafter is yet another short section from the editor's POV again in present day when this book is written (1863), and here he begins with a letter said to have been published in Blackwood's Magazine that same year--a letter written by one James Hogg. (The author of the book.) The letter tells about the exhumation of the antagonist's mummified corpse by two boys and is very lengthy. Then the tale finishes with "the editor" attempting to determine the authenticity of Hogg's letter.
Actually, that letter really did appear in the magazine in 1863, a year before the book came out. It's a chilling novel that doubles as a railing against Calvinism. John Carey's 1981 Oxford Press version is the only one worth having. It's a real testament to the cleverness of switching POVs in a story when done right.
You are so right about comparing it to art. Since I posted this my CP and I have been talking about this. She loves switching POV quite often. It gives so much information being able to understand both characters and why they respond the way they do. Unfortunately, I have had it drilled into me that switching POV looks amaturisish. I will probably never be able to switch back and forth without my internal editor screaming like a banshee at me. Sad
ReplyDeleteI have read Mark Twain, but it was before I was a writer and never noticed things like POV or even writing styles. I have not read James Hogg. He can go into that list of books I want to read. If only there were time to read everything I want. That is for another blog.
I see a trend beginning already. Authors can make their work available without the large publishers controlling what we read. It will be nice to see the different writing styles then. Not to mention the stories will come from different angles. Yes, another subject worthy of a blog.
Thank you Cale for taking the time to comment. I started this blog mainly as a writing exercise, to get my fingers and brain moving before sitting down to write. common sense told me it is the internet, any one can read, but I never figure they would.
Thanks
Just a quick encouraging note. I think it's best to avoid self-publishing whenever possible, but I also thik there are times when it's appropriate, and what it's really good for are things like short stories where people don't have enough to make an entire collection. Novellas and novelettes are doing really well among Amazon Kindle sales. They generally only cost a dollar or two, and people feel like they're getting a bargain. I think it's the way folks are downloading mp3 singles rather than buying an entire CD these days. I really do see e-readers sparking the return of the novella and novelette. Good luck no matter which route you take.
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