Be a Novelist Workshop #7 Learning to Write in Viewpoint Part II by Review Norma Jean Lutz In Learning to Write in Viewpoint Part I, you became aware of what the term viewpoint or point of view (POV) refers to in fiction writing, and how strategic it is. It s important to understand how it works and it s important to learn how to skillfully make use of it. In that Be A Novelist Workshop, I offered not only my own thoughts on POV but the definitions from several other authors. You learned that POV should answer the question, Whose story is this? Once you have ascertained whose story it is, everything that goes on in the story should be through the eyes, thoughts, and emotions of that one character. (That is, if you are using the technique of a single viewpoint character. And I firmly encourage all beginners to stick with single viewpoint until you have mastered the technique.) 2
Skill in this writing technique is what causes your reader to closely identify with your character. Once the reader has identified with the character then the reader will care about the character. When reader cares, reader keeps on reading. A Fun Exercise Before moving forward to explore different variations of POV, let s examine an exercise in writing in viewpoint. This example will demonstrate more clearly how to move from outside a character to inside her head. Mary walked down the street though the August heat toward her office building. A blue sports car whizzed by. The young man at the wheel smiled and waved. She turned the other way and did not smile back. A look of disgust registered on her face. What we have here is a detached point of view. It is as though we are floating above Mary s head watching what is going on. The reader can see this character but has no idea what she is thinking or feeling or seeing. Now read a revised version: The blazing sun was already causing Mary to feel like a puddle of melted ice cream, and it was barely eight-thirty. She was mortified that she was no longer allowed to park in the private garage beneath their building. Notified yesterday by an impersonal memo on her desk, she must now walk three blocks from the parking lot down the street. Just as she stepped off the curb, Jack whizzed by in his daddy's blue Mercedes coupe. She gave a little snort, not bothering to return his wave. The 3
nerve of that guy trying to be friendly when had taken her exclusive parking spot. Now she was dead certain he was after her job. Can you sense what has happened in the revision? No longer is the reader floating dispassionately above Mary s head. Now we have been given access to her sweaty body, her angry disposition, and her fear of being unseated by a young upstart who is evidently riding on daddy s coattails. I encourage you to try a few exercises of this type on your own. Explore and play around with POV and see what happens. How Many Variations Of POV Are There? The answer to that question is, You don t wanna know. Not at this stage of learning. The answer would overwhelm, and that s not what we re after. For this short abbreviated teaching we are forced to stay with the most commonly used (and misused) viewpoints. If you become clear on the few we cover here, you can do further investigation on your own. Omniscient Point of View Many beginning writers assume that omniscient POV is the best choice. They identify omniscient POV as the God-narrator, in which the narrator knows all, sees all, and is able to understand and communicate to the reader the thoughts, attitudes, and responses of any character at any given time. This sounds like an easy out. If you as the writer adopt an omniscient POV, you can let readers know what they need to know with a minimum of work...you can simply tell them what is important. But therein lies the problem. The author who employs omniscient POV throughout the story winds up telling, not showing. (See the Be A Novelist Workshop 4
entitled Show Don t Tell.) Thus the reader, like the writer, becomes an uninvolved observer, watching what happens rather than experiencing the drama of the novel. Omniscient POV weakens impact of the characters their growth and changes, their struggles, their attitudes and opinions. While your reader may not be able to put a name to the problem of indiscriminate use of omniscient POV, the results are the same. They feel cheated, as if they have been given some kind of obvious clue to a character s motivation rather than being allowed to figure it out for themselves. It would be better to let the plot unfold for the reader as it happens for the characters, to allow the characters to reveal themselves and they will, given the chance. This technique heightens dramatic tension and keeps readers involved, because they have the adventure of unraveling the plot at the same time (or just before) the characters themselves do. Am I saying there are no great fiction works that use omniscient POV? That s not at all what I m saying. The point here is that it is a highly advanced style of writing and is not easy for a novice to achieve. The sheer beauty of the omniscient POV is that the author can develop several plot threads, building suspense by letting the reader see how all the pieces will come together while the characters are kept ignorant of the true situation. Let s look at two limited uses of omniscient POV in a novel, which should be used sparingly by beginners. 5
First one is what is sometimes called the butler s perspective. The author may open the novel with an objective wide scene (omniscient POV) before narrowing the vision to within the thoughts and eyes of the main character. Likewise, there may be points during a novel when the writer wants to pull up and away from the scene to give the reader a bird s eye view of a larger picture. This can be effective in a prologue, or epilogue, or in an internal scene where the writer wants the reader to have a sense of looking at the scene from the outside. No significant commentary is offered, only a visual picture from which the reader deduces the importance of the scene and the interaction of the characters. One of the biggest problem that arises with omniscient POV is when it winds up in the hands (and head) of an unskilled novelist who has no idea what POV is, let alone how to use it to accomplish the mission of his or her own particular novel. It s what we alluded to in Part I as mangled POV. You don t want that said about your writing. Set your goals high study your craft and hone your skills and strive to become the best author you can possibly be. First-Person POV Writing in first person can have a sense of immediacy here and now. This is often used in coming of age young adult stories where the central character s own responses and experiences are of primary interest to the reader. This is a narrower, more focused genre. Remember also how limiting this is. It requires a high skill level simply because one must maintain consistency and interest in a single character for an entire book. 6
You must, must keep the central character in character at all times. There are, of course countless examples, but one classic that comes to mind is Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor. Third-person POV The most popular approach, and the most workable for nearly all fiction projects, is the third-person he/she POV. There are two types of third-person POV: 1. Limited third person, which gets inside the heads of only one or two central characters. 2. Multiple third person, which employs a wide variety of POV characters, alternating POV throughout the novel. Most authors who write complex, multi-plot novels do best with the multiple third-person POV. Multiple third-person means you must know a number of characters so well, that each one whose viewpoint you plan to use, will come across as fully-fleshed and realistic as possible. The grave mistake that happens with the multiple third person is the assumption that the writer can indiscriminately move from inside on character s mind to the next character s mind without any adequate transition to alert the reader to change. The combining of two viewpoints within one scene can lead the reader to feel frustrated and impatient, but has no idea why that feeling has arisen. Again, this is a sense of violation of POV. POV shifts, no matter what anyone might say, are tricky and require utmost skill. These shifts will work best when they are limited to: 7
scene-by-scene chapter-by-chapter part-by-part (if you have Part I, Part II, etc.) Basic Scene Changes For the scene change, an extra space or other marker can be used. Some poohpooh such techniques, but readers are as accustomed to them as they are to he said and she said. They see it, they understand it, and they are prepared for it. And many welcome it. The key here is to establish this pattern as early in the book as possible. This is playing fair with your reader. In the best-crafted novels, every scene should have an identifiable POV character. Except perhaps for a scene where the writer has backed away into an omniscient viewpoint. While writing a rough draft, you can change your mind several times on how to handle this, but please don t change your mind in the middle of your story and leave it that way. Basic Technique For Staying In POV If I am inside the skin of Joe, I, as the author, can: describe what Joe sees, thinks, and feels. But I cannot get into the minds of other people around Joe except by deduction. (Joe can see someone frown, or act nervous and he can deduct their motives and emotions.) 8
By the same token: If I am inside the skin of Joe, I can: relate to the reader what Joe is thinking and feeling in the scene. But I am limited in a physical description of Joe. If I am inside his skin, he cannot see his gleaming teeth and clear blue eyes, unless he forever stands in front of mirrors, or slows down to gaze at his reflection in every store window. (And that can get corny.) Use This Test Here is a good test for measuring the purity of your POV: Does the character give inappropriate information about himself (herself), physical descriptions that are impossible to see from his camera angle? Does he slip into the mind of other characters in the scene, revealing things about them that are impossible for him to know? Put yourself into his skin is everything that happens in the scene, within the character himself, and around him, consistent with his POV? Remember our story line about the fire in the apartment house in the viewpoint Be A Novelist Workshop Part 1? How does one narrow down the choices in order to answer the question, whose story is it? Only you can answer that. If you have a number of characters, which one are you the most interested in? Which one fascinates you? Which one do you want to know more about? Which one stands to lose the most? Which one strives against the greatest odds in order to break through to 9
attain the goal? You as the author must find that viewpoint character. No one else can do it for you. Consistency in POV is an invisible art. Over and over again, I encourage beginning novelists to begin with one or at best two POV characters and learn to develop excellent POV before attempting anything more complex. Learn to walk before you run. And if you insist on multiple viewpoint, or perhaps even the extremely difficult omniscient POV, do yourself a favor and learn all of the ins and outs of those approaches before submitting your novel to a publishing house. As authors, we may never hear a reader say, Wow, I really love the way you handle character viewpoint. But you may hear them say, I love your characters and I feel as though I really know them. I didn t want the book to end. Now that s what you re after! Norma Jean Lutz 2014 No part of this Be A Novelist Workshop may be copied, or changed in any format, sold, or used in any way other than what is outlined here or within this written Be A Novelist Workshop under any circumstances. www.beanovelist.com Contact: NormaJean@beanovelist.com Norma Jean Lutz Bio Norma Jean Lutz s writing career began professionally in 1977 when she enrolled in a writing correspondence course. Since then, she has had over 250 short stories and articles published in both secular and Christian publications. The full-time writer is also the author of over 50 published books under her own name, plus many 10
ghostwritten books. Her books have been favorably reviewed in Affair de Coeur, Coffee Time Romance, Romance Reader at Heart, and The Romance Studio magazines, and her short fiction has garnered a number of first prizes in local writing contests. Norma Jean is the founder of the Professionalism In Writing School, which was held annually in Tulsa for fourteen years. This writers' conference, which closed its doors in 1996, gave many writers their start in the publishing world. A gifted teacher, Norma Jean has taught a variety of writing courses at local colleges and community schools, and is a frequent speaker at writers' seminars around the country. For eight years, she taught on staff for the Institute of Children's Literature. She has served as artist-in-residence at grade schools, and for two years taught a staff development workshop for language arts teachers in schools in Northeastern Oklahoma. As co-host for the Tulsa KNYD Road Show, she shared the microphone with Kim Spence to present the Road Show Book Club, a feature presented by the station for more than a year. She has also appeared in numerous interviews on KDOR-TV. Presently (in addition to her own writing endeavors) Norma Jean is actively reaching out to other writers via the Internet and social media. More helpful information can be found on the Be A Novelist blog site: http://www.beanovelist.com/be-a-novelist-blog/ Why struggle out there all alone when you can benefit from Norma Jean s many decades of experience in the writing/publishing industry? Contact Norma Jean: normajean@beanovelist.com 11