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A Point of View

4/8/2015

5 Comments

 
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Whenever we tell a story, we tell it from somebody’s point of view. It could be the main character’s. ‘I did this.’

If we choose to, we can tell it from several points of view. If this is a third person narration, we need to make sure we give these separate consideration – their own chapters or sections of chapters – or we weaken the reader’s connection to the story by making them wonder whose head we are in. It’s a rookie error and I fell into it when I began writing but fortunately I have friends far more experienced than I am who dug me in the ribs before I published!

I’m not considering here the use of the third person omniscient – a kind of ‘eye of god’ viewpoint, where the narrator knows everything, all the characters’ motivations, thoughts etc. With this mode of narration we would not hear thoughts in the characters’ own voices. It takes a step backward.

I’m looking currently at the idea of telling a story – the same story – from two (or more) characters’ points of view. It interests me to think how different they might be. For example, if you write down a description of yourself, both in physical terms and in terms of your character and personality, then ask several people you know to describe you, it can give startling results and potentially dent a few friendships! One person’s statuesque is another person’s overweight. One person’s caring and interested is another’s nosy and inquisitive. It’s all in the point of view. Would we even know that it was the same person being described?

I find myself wondering how long it would take a reader to make a connection between two points of view. When would we realise we’d been reading about the same thing? Because I’m thinking of a first person narration, in each case, we only know what he or she knows. Makes you think, doesn’t it? 

5 Comments
Stuart Ayris
4/8/2015 08:31:07 pm

Very interesting! The wonderful thing about language is that it is entirely and infinitely manipulable. I have heard people say how they will refuse to buy a novel that is written in the first person and still others that skip all description! Just write what feels good and makes you smile - everything else is entirely out of our control!

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Kath
4/8/2015 09:15:41 pm

Absolutely true. I enjoy books written in just about any style, so long as the writing doesn't pull me out of the story.

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Sheila link
4/8/2015 10:28:01 pm

This is a really good, thought-provoking post. In my experience it's slightly harder in first person to write from different points of view than it is in third. In the latter, you can make sure the new viewpoint character's name is mentioned quite early on in the scene/chapter in some way that makes it clear we are now seeing things from his/her POV. (I usually change POVs when chapters change though). I often have to check again as I go along that I've got hold of the right character.
I'm sure there was a film not that long ago where you saw the same scene(s) from various different points of view.
[have just checked - 'Vantage Point'.]

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George Hamilton link
4/9/2015 08:09:19 pm

I usually try to stick to one POV per scene, but I have on occasion used more than one. The transition needs to be smooth, and Emma Darwin's blog post: "POINT OF VIEW & NARRATORS 4: Moving Point Of View And Other Stories" demonstrates some ways in which it can be done. http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/10/point-of-view-narrators-4-moving-point-of-view-and-other-stories.html

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Kath
4/9/2015 09:39:24 pm

Thanks, Sheila and George. I read quite a few blog posts - I shall read this one shortly, George, and I agree that a change of PoV within a scene can be done but it needs skill. The last thing you want is for a reader to be jarred out of the story, wondering who is thinking this thought.

I really wondered if, knowing whose PoV we were reading, we could still not truly know what was going on because each was an unreliable narrator. I'm still thinking about it!

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    Author

    Kath Middleton, author of Ravenfold
    Message in a Bottle
    Top Banana
    Long Spoon
    Souls disturbed
    Stir-up Sunday
    Beneath the Ink
    The Novice's Demon
    The Flesh of Trees
    The Sundowners
    The Angel Monument Muriel's Bear
    Tales from Daggy Bottom Becca.
    ​Through His Eyes
    ​Contributor to Beyond 100 Drabbles
    ​Criminal Shorts
    ​Part-author of Is it Her?



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