{"id":182,"date":"2013-07-16T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/07\/16\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_16\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:17","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_16\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nPoint of view:
\nwhen you finally get the hang of it, you wonder how you ever missed its
\nimportance in storytelling.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThere are three definitions
\nfor point of view (POV), and each one gives insight into what an author needs
\nto know about this most important element of fiction.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n1.         Point of view is a position from which
\nsomeone or something is observed. Sure, an author could tell his story as if he\u2019s
\nobserving the world around him, letting his words describe what happened to
\nsomeone else, but that is called telling. We want to avoid telling at all costs.
\nRather, we want to show the story through the eyes of the character who is in
\nthe midst of the action\u2014the point-of-view character.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n2.         Point of view is also a mental
\nviewpoint or attitude. So, an author has the first definition down. He has his
\ncharacter\u2019s viewpoint clearly where the reader is observing all the action.
\nNow, the reader must lure that reader into the mind of the character. We want
\nthe reader to believe he or she is the character. This is done by connecting
\nemotion to the observations.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n3.         The mental position from which a story
\nis observed or narrated. Don\u2019t let the word narrated<\/i>
\nfool you. Except for a short line or two for transition, an author wants the
\nnarrative to hide behind the viewpoint character and all that he or she does,
\nsays, and observes. This facet of point of view deals with how the story is
\ntold. As the author, one must decide if the story is best unfolded in first
\nperson (I, me, my), second person (you, yours) or third person limited (he\/she, his\/her, and they\/them\/their). An
\nauthor must do his homework. Some genres work well when the story is told in
\nfirst person. Others don\u2019t work so well. For example, a reader of historical
\nromance might have to adjust to first person viewpoint.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSecond person point of view is fascinating
\nwhen the story calls for this type of \u201cnarration.\u201d A good example is an old
\nshort story entitled, \u201cDon\u2019t Look Behind You.\u201d In this story, the narrator is a
\nkiller. He is talking to you, the reader. As the story progresses, you realize
\nhe\u2019s talking to you because you have the book that contains this story\u2014the only
\nbook that contains this story, and he\u2014the narrator\u2014has plans for you when you
\nread the last line. I don\u2019t know another way this story could be told to
\nmaximize the impact. Believe me. Every reader looks behind them.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen editing your manuscript, point of view
\nis the most important element an author has for showing his story. No matter
\nthe viewpoint an editor uses, he should edit carefully with an eye toward
\nshowing everything through the point-of-view characters actions, thoughts, and
\ndialogue. An author needs to grab his reader\u2019s attention by drawing them into
\nthe point-of-view character\u2019s reaction and emotions. The deeper the author
\ndelves into viewpoint, the more powerful the story.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nHappy editing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Point of view: when you finally get the hang of it, you wonder how you ever missed its importance in storytelling. There are three definitions for point of view (POV), and each one gives insight into what an author needs to know about this most important element of fiction. 1.         Point of view is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}