Guest Editorial: Point of View, the Basics (according to Candy)
Hey y'all, I finished this a little early, so I'm posting now!
So a few weeks ago I decided to watch Gone With the Wind. It had been a few years since I had seen it, but as usual viewing the film made me want to read the book again. When I was younger, I probably read that book no less than eight times. (Which is a lot, by the way-it’s a long book, over 800 pages.) Anyway, since I’ve been writing in earnest, I haven’t read the book from front to back; I’ve only skimmed my favorite parts. This time, lying in bed, thumbing through some of the best literature ever, I found something that I hadn’t noticed before.
It nearly broke my heart, too.
It’s called Point of View, and it’s messed up in my favorite book. A book, I should mention, that won the Pulitzer Prize the year it was published (1936).
First of all, let me clarify my own credentials on writing. I have none. I don’t have a degree in anything, and while I’ve always excelled in Language Arts, and have a high reading proficiency, I’m otherwise lacking in any sort of ‘authority’ on the subject. However, in my many years of ‘hobby’ writing, as I’ve grown and stretched and read and learned, I’ve come to appreciate the Point of View, and in my opinion, it is best served in a singular fashion.
Not to say that’s the only way it can be written, but that’s the way I prefer it.
I’m also not saying I absolutely won’t read something (and apparently love it beyond all reason) even if it fails to meet with the way I now choose to write POV, but it does lessen the enjoyment of the read for me. Let me expound upon this by using GWTW as an example. As long as I can remember I have believed the story was told only from Scarlett’s (the heroine) POV. [There are stretches of historical information as well as character histories that aren’t from Scarlett’s POV, and those sections never bothered me because I just viewed that as information I needed. The parts that recently caused me distress are when we are suddenly in Melanie’s head after 800 pages of being in Scarlett’s.] Just because the narrator is telling the story from Scarlett’s POV doesn’t mean the reader only knows what is going on in Scarlett’s head or just sees what Scarlett sees. Often the reader is clued into to little things that Scarlett misses because she is mentally obtuse. But for whatever reason, it has previously escaped my attention that in a couple places Margaret Mitchell did use other character’s POV. The reason this bothers me now, all these years later, is because it seems inconsistent with the rest of the novel.
Stories I wrote some years ago have this same problem, where I switch POV from one paragraph to the next. When I see stuff like that now, I cringe. It’s commonly called third person omniscient when the narrator has access to each of the characters’ thoughts, but what bothers me is when the story starts out from Person A’s POV, but then switches to Person B’s without a break in the flow. I find stories much more interesting and well written when the POV switches clearly at flow breaks; meaning a new POV is clearly indicated by a break in paragraphs, a scene change, or even a whole new chapter. But consistency is also important. For example I’m writing a WIP right now about Michael and Veronica, and I have chosen to write the story only from their POVs. At this stage of the game, I wouldn’t randomly throw in a chapter that was from Linc’s POV, simply because I’ve set it up in a particular way.
This relates back to my editorial a few weeks ago about what I look for when reading fanfic, and Point of View, done badly, is actually something that can turn me off too. If the writing is really good, or I’ve been sucked in by a good plot point, I can usually overlook it, but it still niggles at me, just a bit.
First of all, let’s define Point of View. At dictionary.com you can find these great, simple definitions:
~A manner of viewing things; an attitude.
~A position from which something is observed or considered; a standpoint.
~The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature, a movie, or another art form.
When writing anything, it is important to know for whom you are speaking. In fanfic in particular, when you are speaking for a character other people are familiar with, I find it’s even more important. If I start reading a story about Michael’s thoughts, feelings, and observances, but it suddenly switches to Lincoln’s POV, it messes up the flow of the story for me. That’s just me; I doubt everyone feels that way, but it is reflected in the way I write my stories, and I always keep my POV’s separate.
The different types of POV include First Person, Second Person, Third Person Limited and Third Person Omniscient.
First Person
The grammatical category of forms that designate a speaker or writer referring to himself or herself: i.e. “I love Prison Break!”
Second Person
The grammatical category of forms that designate the person addressed: i.e. “You love Prison Break! Or maybe you don’t anymore, that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Third Person
The grammatical category of forms that designate a person or thing other than the speaker or the one spoken to: i.e. “He/She loved Prison Break, but he/she doesn’t anymore. They now hate Prison Break!”
The sub-categories under third person involving either limited POV or omniscient POV refers to how you intend to tell the story. The Harry Potter books are told from Harry’s POV, so they are considered third person limited, although occasionally in the first chapters of some of the books, Rowling uses third person omniscient to show the reader something going on that Harry couldn’t possibly know about. For the most part however, she sticks with Harry’s POV. For example, we never know what Ron or Hermione are thinking unless they tell Harry. (Just a fangirl note here: Rowling cleverly came up with the mind-meld between Harry and Voldemort, thus giving us access to Voldy’s thoughts without ever having to change POV. Pure genius. That’s why she’s the richest woman in bloody Great Britain.)
For my part, when a new fic starts forming in my mind, I automatically start deciding which parts will be told from whomever’s POV. It helps with the flow in my head long before it’s ever on paper, and generally helps the story be more powerful. I love a good fic where I don’t necessarily know what everyone’s thinking, and it’s especially useful when you write the good old male/female miscommunication of what she thinks he means or feels based on his actions-which almost always is not a proper indication of anything…oh, the angst! What fun.
Anyway, I got a little off-topic there. Next time you start ficcing, realize you could write like Margaret Mitchell and win a Pulitzer Prize, or you could write like me and be really famous in the Prison Break fandom. I know…it’s a really hard choice.
So a few weeks ago I decided to watch Gone With the Wind. It had been a few years since I had seen it, but as usual viewing the film made me want to read the book again. When I was younger, I probably read that book no less than eight times. (Which is a lot, by the way-it’s a long book, over 800 pages.) Anyway, since I’ve been writing in earnest, I haven’t read the book from front to back; I’ve only skimmed my favorite parts. This time, lying in bed, thumbing through some of the best literature ever, I found something that I hadn’t noticed before.
It nearly broke my heart, too.
It’s called Point of View, and it’s messed up in my favorite book. A book, I should mention, that won the Pulitzer Prize the year it was published (1936).
First of all, let me clarify my own credentials on writing. I have none. I don’t have a degree in anything, and while I’ve always excelled in Language Arts, and have a high reading proficiency, I’m otherwise lacking in any sort of ‘authority’ on the subject. However, in my many years of ‘hobby’ writing, as I’ve grown and stretched and read and learned, I’ve come to appreciate the Point of View, and in my opinion, it is best served in a singular fashion.
Not to say that’s the only way it can be written, but that’s the way I prefer it.
I’m also not saying I absolutely won’t read something (and apparently love it beyond all reason) even if it fails to meet with the way I now choose to write POV, but it does lessen the enjoyment of the read for me. Let me expound upon this by using GWTW as an example. As long as I can remember I have believed the story was told only from Scarlett’s (the heroine) POV. [There are stretches of historical information as well as character histories that aren’t from Scarlett’s POV, and those sections never bothered me because I just viewed that as information I needed. The parts that recently caused me distress are when we are suddenly in Melanie’s head after 800 pages of being in Scarlett’s.] Just because the narrator is telling the story from Scarlett’s POV doesn’t mean the reader only knows what is going on in Scarlett’s head or just sees what Scarlett sees. Often the reader is clued into to little things that Scarlett misses because she is mentally obtuse. But for whatever reason, it has previously escaped my attention that in a couple places Margaret Mitchell did use other character’s POV. The reason this bothers me now, all these years later, is because it seems inconsistent with the rest of the novel.
Stories I wrote some years ago have this same problem, where I switch POV from one paragraph to the next. When I see stuff like that now, I cringe. It’s commonly called third person omniscient when the narrator has access to each of the characters’ thoughts, but what bothers me is when the story starts out from Person A’s POV, but then switches to Person B’s without a break in the flow. I find stories much more interesting and well written when the POV switches clearly at flow breaks; meaning a new POV is clearly indicated by a break in paragraphs, a scene change, or even a whole new chapter. But consistency is also important. For example I’m writing a WIP right now about Michael and Veronica, and I have chosen to write the story only from their POVs. At this stage of the game, I wouldn’t randomly throw in a chapter that was from Linc’s POV, simply because I’ve set it up in a particular way.
This relates back to my editorial a few weeks ago about what I look for when reading fanfic, and Point of View, done badly, is actually something that can turn me off too. If the writing is really good, or I’ve been sucked in by a good plot point, I can usually overlook it, but it still niggles at me, just a bit.
First of all, let’s define Point of View. At dictionary.com you can find these great, simple definitions:
~A manner of viewing things; an attitude.
~A position from which something is observed or considered; a standpoint.
~The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature, a movie, or another art form.
When writing anything, it is important to know for whom you are speaking. In fanfic in particular, when you are speaking for a character other people are familiar with, I find it’s even more important. If I start reading a story about Michael’s thoughts, feelings, and observances, but it suddenly switches to Lincoln’s POV, it messes up the flow of the story for me. That’s just me; I doubt everyone feels that way, but it is reflected in the way I write my stories, and I always keep my POV’s separate.
The different types of POV include First Person, Second Person, Third Person Limited and Third Person Omniscient.
First Person
The grammatical category of forms that designate a speaker or writer referring to himself or herself: i.e. “I love Prison Break!”
Second Person
The grammatical category of forms that designate the person addressed: i.e. “You love Prison Break! Or maybe you don’t anymore, that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Third Person
The grammatical category of forms that designate a person or thing other than the speaker or the one spoken to: i.e. “He/She loved Prison Break, but he/she doesn’t anymore. They now hate Prison Break!”
The sub-categories under third person involving either limited POV or omniscient POV refers to how you intend to tell the story. The Harry Potter books are told from Harry’s POV, so they are considered third person limited, although occasionally in the first chapters of some of the books, Rowling uses third person omniscient to show the reader something going on that Harry couldn’t possibly know about. For the most part however, she sticks with Harry’s POV. For example, we never know what Ron or Hermione are thinking unless they tell Harry. (Just a fangirl note here: Rowling cleverly came up with the mind-meld between Harry and Voldemort, thus giving us access to Voldy’s thoughts without ever having to change POV. Pure genius. That’s why she’s the richest woman in bloody Great Britain.)
For my part, when a new fic starts forming in my mind, I automatically start deciding which parts will be told from whomever’s POV. It helps with the flow in my head long before it’s ever on paper, and generally helps the story be more powerful. I love a good fic where I don’t necessarily know what everyone’s thinking, and it’s especially useful when you write the good old male/female miscommunication of what she thinks he means or feels based on his actions-which almost always is not a proper indication of anything…oh, the angst! What fun.
Anyway, I got a little off-topic there. Next time you start ficcing, realize you could write like Margaret Mitchell and win a Pulitzer Prize, or you could write like me and be really famous in the Prison Break fandom. I know…it’s a really hard choice.