{"id":292,"date":"2012-07-26T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2012\/07\/26\/thursdays-tips-key-elements-of-point-of\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:23:15","slug":"thursdays-tips-key-elements-of-point-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/thursdays-tips-key-elements-of-point-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday’s Tips: Key Elements of Point of View"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n
\nPoint of view (POV) is a challenging element in fiction
\nwriting. The fact that trends change both complicates this and urges writers to
\ncontinue to study the craft of writing, while staying current on what\u2019s being
\npublished. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFollowing are some essentials of POV that may help you in your
\nwriting: <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Decide how many
\npoint-of-view characters (POVCs) you are going to have in your book.<\/b>
\nRomances usually require only the hero’s and the heroine\u2019s POVs. This way we can
\nexperience them falling in love from both perspectives. If you\u2019re writing a romantic
\nsuspense, you might also include the villain. Women\u2019s fiction novels might only
\ninclude the heroine\u2019s POV, and you might choose first person (I\/me language),
\nrather than third person (he\/she language). Some novels have an ensemble cast,
\nif you will, of multiple characters\u2019 POVs. If you choose to do that, be sure to
\nkeep every voice specific so that readers don\u2019t get lost. I will say that as a
\nreader (not necessarily as an editor) I\u2019ve seen this done well and I\u2019ve seen it
\ndone poorly, meaning I was lost. As you\u2019re deciding how many POVCs to include
\nin your book, be strategic. Think about it ahead of time. Please do not include
\nextraneous characters who don\u2019t have high stakes in the story. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Choose a POV
\ncharacter for each scene.<\/b> Preferably the person with the most to lose in
\nthat particular scene, because then you can milk the conflict and tension (and
\nyes, they are often two different things). Once you\u2019ve chosen a POVC
\n(point-of-view character) for a given scene, remain in that person\u2019s head the
\nentire scene. No headhopping over to another person\u2019s perspective.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Only show us what
\nthat person can see or know.<\/b> Think of POV like this: your POVC is the
\ncamera for the movie you\u2019re playing\u2014a camera with feelings and introspection
\nand senses. So, during their scene, show us what they feel, what they know,
\nwhat they can guess, and\/or what they experience with their senses. It\u2019s
\nnatural for people to make assumptions about why others do what they do, but it
\nmust be obvious that your character is assuming. For example, if Fred is the
\nPOVC for a given scene, he can\u2019t know why Sidney slammed the door. Fred can
\nguess it had to do with their argument. But you mustn\u2019t write, \u201cSidney slammed
\nthe door in anger.\u201d Better would be to use: \u201cSidney slammed the door.\u201d Readers
\nwill understand what\u2019s happening. Another key under this point is to not leave
\nreaders in the dark about elements the POVC would know, whether it\u2019s the
\nenvironment around him\/her, or the character\u2019s names around him\/her, or specific
\nsecrets. Stringing readers along on secrets (though it is possible if
\nskillfully done) will not endear readers to you. Yes, keep secrets, but do it
\nskillfully. Make it believable why the POVC isn\u2019t sharing the information. Only
\nkeep one secret (and be strategic about it), not a slew of them. If we\u2019re in
\nher\/his head, we should know what s\/he knows.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Put yourself in
\nyour POVC\u2019s head.<\/b> This is the best way to remain in purist POV. Limit
\nyourself to just that person\u2019s experience, even though, you as the author, know
\neverything (generally speaking) about the story, the other characters, what\u2019s
\ncoming next, etc. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Do not use
\nomniscient POV.<\/b> As I alluded to, you\u2019re the author. You know what the
\ncharacters may not know. You are overseeing their world and putting them into
\nplace, creating your story, and moving them around for your purposes. But, readers
\nwill engage better with a story if they are allowed to remain in one person\u2019s
\nPOV during a scene. That\u2019s why purist POV is so important. This technique
\nallows readers to really engage, to deeply sympathize with characters, and to
\nkeep track of what\u2019s happening better. Omniscient POV (sometimes doubles as
\nauthor intrusion) is when the author brings in a sort of wide angle on the
\nscene before zeroing in on the POVC for that scene, like an old-fashioned narrator.
\nBut, as I alluded to with trends earlier, this is no longer what readers are expecting.
\nThe narrator for any given scene is that scene\u2019s point-of-view character. If
\nthat character doesn\u2019t know something, it doesn\u2019t get shared. This is limiting,
\nyes, but key in current publishing trends. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Author intrusion
\ndefined:<\/b> when the author includes something that is perhaps pertinent to
\nthe setting, but isn\u2019t coming through the POVC\u2019s perspective. So, you as the
\nauthor know how high Pike\u2019s Peak is, but the character is new to the area and
\nwouldn\u2019t know it. Don\u2019t include it in narration\/introspection. There are ways
\naround this, but be wary of including what might read as brochure copy. Again,
\nbe strategic. Does the height of Pike\u2019s Peak matter to the story? If not, don\u2019t
\nshare it, even though you know it. Again, it\u2019s a kind of purposeful limitation,
\nbut it\u2019s necessary for the sake of the story and your readers. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n~ Do not use what I
\ncall \u201ccollective POV,\u201d or \u201cgroup think.\u201d<\/b> The narration should never switch
\nto what a group of characters thinks at any given moment. Be specific and
\nstrategic with your POVC and remain completely in his\/her head.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThere are exceptions to these rules. Some genres will permit
\nmore point-of-view infractions than others. And there are a lot more factors
\nwhere point of view is concerned than what I\u2019ve listed above. I encourage you
\nto read current novels in your genre as well as non-fiction books on point of
\nview. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Point of view (POV) is a challenging element in fiction writing. The fact that trends change both complicates this and urges writers to continue to study the craft of writing, while staying current on what\u2019s being published.  Following are some essentials of POV that may help you in your writing:  ~ Decide how many point-of-view […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"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":[158,216,161,217,218,219,220,138],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-author-intrusion","tag-collective-pov","tag-fiction-writing","tag-narration","tag-omniscient-pov","tag-point-of-view","tag-purist-pov","tag-thursdays-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}