Viewpoint Techniques 102, by cupidsbow

Dec 29, 2007 19:31

Viewpoint Techniques 102 by cupidsbowToday I want to talk about a story's point of view from a nuts-and-bolts technical perspective. I don't mean in the broad strokes of the narrative voice: first person, second person, etc., or whether the viewpoint character is outside or inside the story. These aspects are viewpoint 101, if you will, and any decent book ( Read more... )

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crysothemis January 3 2008, 05:47:39 UTC
This is a very nice primer on managing POV. I bow before your thoroughness and clarity!

As far as the whole pronoun thing goes, I think this sentence is key: the reader will think all the uses of "she/her" refer to C, rather than A or B, just because C is the main topic of the paragraph.

Because of course pronouns do not necessarily refer to the last person named. It's closer to say that they refer to the focus of the current phrase. And to make things even more complicated, you can use pronouns to (subtly) influence that focus. For example:

"He didn't even know who made the move. He thought it was Rodney, but maybe it was him. Not that it mattered, because Rodney's mouth was open and warm and eager, pushing against his."

Here John's name isn't even used, but (in context, anyway), we know that the "him" and "his" refer to John, not Rodney. (Full disclosure -- this is a quote from my story, "Fix." But I'm fairly confident the pronouns work.)

The point is, John and his perception are the focus of the sentences, while Rodney is external to that, and the pronouns help keep the reader inside John's head, rather than being dragged out a bit by an (unnecessary) reminder that, oh yeah, this is John here. Of course, it helps that there is no ambiguity, no way that it would make any sense if the reader misread a pronoun as referring to Rodney. So you do have to be careful using this sort of technique.

Hope that makes sense.

Oh, and on a completely separate topic, cesperanza's "Amnesiac" is also chock full of examples of speaker changes without line breaks. It's an interesting stylistic choice that (mostly) works to hurtle the story on toward its conclusion. But it's definitely something I wouldn't use without a good reason. (Here Ces is using it both for pacing and to show the muddled inner workings of John's brain.)

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cupidsbow January 6 2008, 16:43:06 UTC
It makes perfect sense, and thanks for adding such a useful clarification and example.

Ironically, I went looking in one of your stories for an example for the pronoun section, but I couldn't find the bit I was looking for. (Don't ask me which bit; my brain has been overdosed on Christmas cheer since then :) So your comment is especially welcome.

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crysothemis January 7 2008, 18:32:33 UTC
Cool. I have to say, your writing meta/advice is among the best I've ever read. Clear but in depth, with a real sense for the subtleties. You synthesize and explain ideas very well (and cite your sources in a way that makes me want to read them *right now*).

/gush

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cupidsbow January 13 2008, 03:27:56 UTC
*blushes* Okay, you can come by any time. ;)

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