I believe good writers have superpowers mere mortals don't possess. Well, not really. But close.
When you dig deep into a book by your favorite author, he or she guides you down paths of intrigue, romance, and fear... which sometimes lead to worlds yet unknown to you, the reader.
A decent writer has more than one character, usually, therefore has more than one perspective of the situation he or she is creating from thin air. Yes. We are gods.
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| Gods who are not to be taken seriously. |
Consider point of view for a second. We can use yesterday's blog as an example. I offered a story about the one who got away. I recounted the memory from my personal experience and point of view. I have no earthly idea how he felt about our situation. Truth be told, he might have despised me. Who knows?
He does.
Or, did.
We're not even sure if he remembers me, are we? He and I almost happened nearly thirty years ago.
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| We didn't even know how to dress then. |
From my perspective, he and I had the beginnings of a happily ever after. What went wrong? No idea, but does it matter? If you're going to write a book about my failed relationships, you'll more than likely want to have me be the main character and use my point of view when writing. You'll start with my thoughts and memories; how they pop up from time to time - but only the good ones because humans don't like to remember the bad stuff. Maybe that's just me.
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| ...just the bad ones, please. |
So, first person narrative maybe? You start out in my head, writing my thoughts, smelling, seeing, tasting, sensing the world through my eye-filters, processing information through my limited brain. You quite literally write from my perspective. You can't imagine or discover what another character is thinking or feeling or seeing. You have no omniscient knowledge that isn't already present in my brain. You can't see any emotions or reactions on my face - unless you have me, as your character looking in a reflective glass or image of some sort. You can't see anything or anyone coming up behind me - nothing that isn't directly in my field of vision. That's why you need to know "me" top to bottom, inside and out. You need to figure out why I'm a single woman of fifty-five, who lives alone without cats. Why do relationships scare me, and do I have trust issues? Why would I rather do things myself than ask for help? If you don't know me personally, that's okay. This is why we call it fiction. But in order for you to write about me, you need to feel you know me better than you know yourself. You may want to put some of your own fears and insecurities in the mix to make it easier to connect with the writing.
Now you have to ask yourself, do you want to write a story strictly from my point of view?
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| Yawn! |
So, you have a secondary character. Let's say TOWGA is our SC. I've not really told you much about him, but let's give him the moniker, Erik. We can only see Erik from my POV. We can hear what he tells me and see what he does in front of me. We can feel his strong, yet gentle arms around me. We can feel his velvet lips as they press into mine and how they linger over parts of my body; his shallow, warm breath as it momentarily cools the places his tongue touches. We can feel how his skin brushes mine, causing goosebumps to grow under his heat. We can smell his cologne and sense how it ignites my desire...
But what we can't do is know what he's thinking or feeling. We can't hear his inner dialogue. Unless we write, also, from his POV. Now, what you absolutely don't want to do is scramble the eggs, here. IF you're going to write from his POV, too, you'll need to separate the brains.
[was going to put a graphic, but that shit's disgusting]
For instance, maybe write each POV in a different section or chapter. Make it obvious to the reader that the POV has changed from one head to the other; the camera has moved from my brain to Erik's.
One of the best movies to tackle change of POV (in my humble opinion) is
He Said, She Said, in which the POV is dramatically shifted by a flying coffee cup slamming into Dan's forehead.
This blog could probably go on for days because there are multiple POVs from which to choose. I have barely scratched the surface, but Imma gonna stop you right here because...
Point of View, aka perspective can make or break your novel. If you don't get it down, and down right, your audience will fall off your wordy merry-go-round dizzy as hell. Instead, here are a few good resources to get you headed down the right path:
The Fiction Writer's Toolkit by Bob Mayer (I think he has a newer version out - The Novel Writer's Toolkit - but I've not read it).
Characters & Viewpoints by Orson Scott Card
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Respect your readers by giving them their money's worth. Learn your craft, love what you do, and others will love it, too.
Cheers!
