Point of View explained

POV explained by Kristen Lamb

Editor Kristen Lamb said, “P.O.V. used properly can create entire worlds, and breathe life into characters. Used improperly, it can make your reader feel like she’s been bungee-corded to Satan’s Merry-Go-Round—not good. P.O.V. stands for Point of View. Although this literary device is one of the most vital tools an author possesses, it is probably the number one style problem I encounter as an editor.”

When an author is writing in one person’s POV that person can only comment on or experience what they know and see. Convention indicates that the POV stay with that person for an entire scene. This means that if a person is killed, or goes to sleep, or just leaves, that scene needs to end immediately.

Sometimes in a long scene there can be a line break and a POV change but its best avoided. It’s better if the main characters take turns at telling the story. It’s also best if the story is told only from a few different POVs so the reader doesn’t get confused.

Make sure whatever is happening in a scene is something that could be filtered through that character’s five senses. Unless this is a paranormal story and he has the power of mindreading, he does not know what the other people are thinking.

It’s no use complaining that Famous Author head hops, POV shifts and puts two lines in at random from the POV of her pet koala bear. Until you too, are famous, I suggest not irritating your readers by giving them a headache trying to work out who knows what in your book.

Kristen Lamb’s article is here: http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/point-of-view-what-is-it-how-to-find-the-perfect-voice-for-your-story/

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.

Digging down into deep POV

According to blogger Rhay Christou, readers are begging for deeper POV, and therefore editors and publishers are asking for it as well. But many authors are unsure of how to deepen their POV.

The aim is for the author to disappear, and for the reader to be immersed in the character’s POV.
One way to do this is to eliminate tags and “thoughts”. This can be difficult as instead of ending up with deep POV the author may end up with a wobbling POV. So first the author must know everything about the character whose POV she’s in at the time.

Let’s pretend the hero is cross with the heroine.
“No,” he yelled.

If you know how he’d react in anger you could go deeper, deleting the tag and adding his reactions.
“No!” He stomped out of the room and slammed the door.

Now the author has the opportunity to go deeper still. Instead of describing how he’s thinking or why he’s upset, that can be shown in his next actions as long as he remains exactly true to his character.
Would he throw something and smash it? Race to the bathroom about to be ill with the pain of yelling at her? The next few lines showing his actions could be genuine deep POV.

To read Rhay’s helpful explanation, see: http://writersinthestormblog.com/2014/10/diving-deep-into-deep-point-of-view/

Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.