Point of View: It's more than First vs Third Notes from Brad R. Cook Presentation at Saturday Writers Feb 27 2016

February 27, 2016            Saturday Writers meeting

Notes on Point of View from the Saturday Writers Meeting

Brad R. Cook--  Point of View:  It’s more than First vs. Third

(for more info, see his blog entry at http://www.thewriterslens.com/2016/01/three-thoughts-about-point-of-view.html)

Points of View:  1, 2, 3^rd

Point of View In Literature from Orson Scott Card

Point of view is the focus of the writing

How the story is told

Defines the manuscript.

Whole story needs to be from one character, or need to switch at each chapter, not mid-chapter.

Can be definted by the genre

Most importantly POV defines the man character(s)

YA = I (1^st pov)

MG=3^rd person

Adult= usually 3^rd person.

3^rd person omniscient—narrator becomes main character. 

1^st Person Point Of View

1^st person – I and we.  The readers camera is in the main character’s mind.  Easy to show inner thoughts and feelings.  Story is filtered through the character.  Only events the main character can see or hear about can be relayed to the reader.  Very common in YA. 

Easiest way to show thoughts and feelings.  Inner thoughts.

Easy in 1^st person to internalize. 

Limitations:  only thing reader knows is what the character knows. 

Examples of books in 1^st person:  The Great Gatsby; Hunger Games; The Martian; Life Unaware; My Big Fat Demon Slayer Wedding.

Problems with first person point of view:

Can become a list instead of a story.

Hundreds of “I’s” on the page.

All the senses must be on the page

Things happen off the page that must be conveyed to the reader that the character can’t see themselves.   (his solution to this was he often had his main character hiding in the bushes and over hearing the bad guy discuss what they had done, etc).

You can also use the word “my” to avoid using “I” so much.

It does envelop the reader in the world you have created. 

The POV affects the story line.  Don’t have characters star into the mirror and describe themselves. 

Second Person Point of View

This is a direct conversation between the writer and the reader.  The reader becomes the main character.  This is rarely used in fiction but some books, movies, and plays have successfully broken the 4^th wall (this is where you watch a play….and the character suddenly breaks away from the action, comes up and talks to the audience. )

Ferris Beuler’s Day Off is an example of this.

Books:  Choose your Own adventure stories; You; Bright Lights Big City.

Adventurer—blog posts. 

Douglas Adams—Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Jane Eyre did break away into 2^nd person, but not entire book, just part.  So you can use it in portions. 

Drawbacks:

It can be off-putting.

Reader may not agree with you (snarky…you say When YOU do this and the reader snarks back “no I don’t”)

Difficult to maintain through an entire story.

Third Person Point of View

He, she, ze (the gender neutral of he or she), they, them, it.

The reader’s camera is above the action. 

Most commonly used in adult fiction.

3 types of 3^rd person:

1.       Limited—camera is in head or on shoulder of main character.

2.       Omniscient—camera is in the sky.  From God’s point of view.

3.       Objective—far away, like sitting on the couch talking to the reader.

You should care about the main character but action is not happening to them.

Most flexibility in writing.

Limited:  one character at a time.  Camera on shoulder of main character.  Action is told from that character.  (Zero Time—switches characters in 3 time zones).

Switch at chapter breaks.

Don’t switch person to person in same paragraph.  It will lose the reader connection.

Will lose the reader connection.  Narrator conveys the thoughts and actions of one or more characters—one at a time. 

Most common Point of view in fiction.

Story is about one character, but NOT within their mind. 

Books in 3^rd person:  The Hobbit, Maze Runner, Zero Time, Cinder, Ender’s Game, Game of Thrones, The Five Flavors of Dumb, Katana, Ancillary Justice.

TV loves this point of view.

Problems with limited 3^rd person:

Harder to show thoughts and feelings.

Limited to one character per chapter.

Must define who he/she/ze/them/it is in every sentence.  One character—jump to next character in next chapter (not in the same chapter!)

Conversation—use names.

Omniscient—looking down on all of us, from God’s point of view.

Knows what each character in a crowded room is thinking, you can jump character within a chapter—but tell the story. 

Hold over from Victorian novels.

Books in Omniscient:  Unwind, Dante Club, The Three Musketeers by Dumas.

Problems:  Jumping from one character to another can be confusing to the reader.

The reader can become too disconnected with the action.

Often used in first manuscripts.

Can lead to purple prose as the writer over-shares.  
Purple prose is overly flowery writing, in Three Musketeers a man was riding his horse to Paris, and in that short ride, Dumas told how the guy got his hat, where he bought his clothes, how he got the horse he was riding on, etc etc etc.  very very overly wordy.  A Victorian characteristic.

Third Person Objective

The reader is with the narrator.  Narrator tells the reader what they need to know.  An unbiased unemotional account.

Think Nature Shows.  Hemmingway Short stories.  Just telling it like it is, no emotional involvement. 

Problems:  too disconnected for readers.  Lacks emotion, which is what normally connects the reader to the character.  Isn’t commonly used in fiction.  Some use in scientific papers.

How does Point of View Affect the Story

1.        Who tells the story

2.       Affects how info is filtered to the reader

3.       Controls the emotions of the reader

4.       Readers think they want everything but really they don’t, they just want a great story, not the Victorian purple prose novel.

In first person, a character gets hit in the face, the reader says OW, they FEEL it.

In third person, a character gets hit in the face and the reader says wow that must have hurt.  They feel for the character but they don’t FEEL it personally. 

You can practice Point of View by taking your favorite story, pick one scene…who is the POV character?  Identify a different point of view and rewrite it from that point of view.  How does this affect the scene? How does it change the story?

DPOV—Deep Point Of View—1^st or 3^rd DEEP---shows deep within the soul, dark emotions.  (alcoholism, depression, etc).