The Power of Point of View Part 1

Continuing on our "Hero's Journey" today we're going to talk about Point of View. Why is point of view important, and how does it effectively help or harm our work?

Today I'm going to talk about "why" and tomorrow I'll go into "how" of POV.

First, for any newbies, WELCOME to MyBookTherapy! Glad to have you. Join Voices and hang out on the forums for interactive writing help.

Second, the acronym POV stands for Point of View.

Point of View - what is it? It's the view or perspective of the protagonist or secondary characters. Perhaps the story view of the hero or the heroine.

There are several types of point of view writing. Limited Third Person, Omniscient, Narrative, First Person, even Second Person.

Now, some of this goes to the authors voice. Sometimes authors write in third person or first person because it's their best voice or the best voice for the story. Either way, there is a point of view character.

Limited third person is the most popular point of view used today. This means the story is being told through the eyes, ears and mouth of one character at a time. The writer may have multiple characters "telling" the story, but only one is on stage, speaking, at a time.

Let's look at a romance. The hero and heroine usually have a point of view in the story. The author will break up the story into scenes, describing the plot and action from one or the other's point of view.

Here's an example:

Tom stood to watch the boats docking in the moor. The wind pressed the hem of his shirt against his abdomen as he raised his hand to shielded his eyes from the sun. How could he be like one of the boats, free and out on the open sea? His mouth watered at the idea. His heart beat as if he'd actually cut and run.

Behind him, Rachel waited, feeling alone and left out.

Now, what's wrong with this example? I told you what BOTH Tom and Rachel were feeling. That's called "head hopping." BTW, I recently read a book review where the reviewer referred to changing POV as head hopping. That's not head hopping.

Changing POV for a new scene is a legitimate and necessary story tool! BUT, telling the reader how two people in a scene both feel is not a legitimate story tool. It jerks the readers emotions. Who do I feel for in the scene above? Tom, who wants to be free of his burdens, or Rachel who feels left out and alone?

Let's rewrite the scene from Tom's POV:

Tom stood to watch the boats docking in the moor. The wind pressed the hem of his shirt against his abdomen as he raised his hand to shielded his eyes from the sun. How could he be like one of the boats, free and out on the open sea? His mouth watered at the idea. His heart beat as if he'd actually cut and run.

"Tom, what you are doing? Let's go."

Tom looked back at Rachel. She stood by the car, arms crossed, frown on her face. She was mad, he guessed, but for the moment, he didn't care.

See the difference. We only see the world, even Rachel, from Tom's point of view. The reader cannot know anything he does not. To show conflict with Rachel, I added dialog. She sounds impatient, doesn't she?

When Tom looks around, we "read" her through his eyes. We get the idea all is not well between them. We are sympathetic toward Tom. Our emotions are with him Until, of course, we change to Rachel's POV and we see her side of the story.

Omniscient POV is called "author intrusion." This means the author has introduced facts and ideas the point of view character does not know. The classic omniscient infraction is: little did he know...

I like that one. Makes me laugh. Or, the author might pen, "Tomorrow, Rachel would wonder why she ever let Tom talk her into driving to the river."

You can show your characters feelings and emotions in the story narrative, but also in dialog followed by an action tag. This is an effective way to "show" the scene.

"Tom, what are you doing? Let's go." Rachel hammered the hood of the car with her fist.

Oh, now we really see her 'tude. So does Tom. We understand what he understands about Rachel.

First person POV should be clear. The story is being told through the "I" of the protagonist. Usually there is only one POV character in first person books because the voice and sound is so unique. But, you can tell a story with multiple POV characters if the voice is distinct enough.

Lisa Samson does it well.

I did had two first person POVs in Diva NashVegas. When I wrote the hero, Scott, I tried really hard to make him sound like a dude, very distinct from my heroine, Aubrey.

A clear point of view character in each scene is the key to building a strong story with solid writing. You can head hop if you want and tell us what every one including the kitchen sink is feeling or thinking, but it's a sure sign of lazy writing. You'll not get far.

Tomorrow, we're going to talk about choosing your POV character and building scenes from more than one point of view.

Hope over to Voice for more discussion.