POV Tricks and Control

[sartorias]

David Jauss says about POV:

The effective author uses Point of View to control the distance between the reader and the characters to maximize the response the author desires--whether that be moral, intellectual, or emotional.

and

Within Point of View the author employs various angles of perception, utilizing degrees of depth within each angle

Comments

[asakiyume]

...So you turn off the stove, hotfoot it upstairs, shove aside your professional notes, and next thing you know, it's dark out and the family is wondering where the food is?

hahahahahahaha! (*dies laughing*) ... ahh, that's so familiar...

I think discussions on writing are fascinating, and I find I can, as I think over what people say, see how what they say applies or doesn't apply to what I do or what other people do, but when it comes to actually altering and changing my own writing style, I think the *only* thing--so far--that works for me is noticing what I like in other writers and, uhh... imitating it. No, let's strike that and call it learning from and adapting. (Sounds better.)

The one and only thing I remember about Mrs. Dalloway is the point of view of some young woman who felt like a tree, or wished to be a tree? The memory of trees lingers strong. That was it. It wasn't very typical of the other points of view in the story, and yet done so persuasively that it remains in my mind even now.

[sartorias]

It's interesting to note which bits of a given classic affect us deeply. some bits affect everyone spread spectrum, but repeating that bit becomes cliche.

Adaptation and imitation are definitely ways to learn.

[msisolak]

I'm far more aware of POV changes when I'm in crit mode, which for me means after I've written. As I'm writing, I'm just... well, writing

[sartorias]

This makes a whole lot of sense.

I think for a lot of us visual writers, learning how to turn off the excitement (and imagery) of a first draft and try various ways of seeing the text as a text, instead of reliving inside the story, is a huge part of the rewrite process.

Thinking about a camera is one way to "get at" POV. Another way I've seen is likening it to diving. Down at the bottom where it's murky is the inside of thought processes, and skimming over the top in the light and air is surface, even distance.

[therck]

I'm kinesthetic enough that I think of point of view as where I want the reader to be standing and of holding the point of view as gluing my (and the reader's) feet to the floor. Sometimes it's frustrating because there are things I know are going on that can't-- or won't-- be perceived from that perspective.

Of course, I'm also rotten at visual description. I generally have to sit down and draw a map with attached adjectives, making up details with no real feel for whether or not they work for visual readers.

[sartorias]

It's interesting to me how visual and kinesthetic writers would seem to have so much in common, but they don't always overlap. One can "see the room" and sort of assumes that the reader "sees" where the POV is in relation to all that visual detail, and the other reports movement, but sometimes in a white space.

[sparta5]

Within Point of View the author employs various angles of perception, utilizing degrees of depth within each angle.

Angles and depth of perception could also relate to what a character senses around them and how they react. A character reacts differently to the sound of water if he is thirsty than if, say, he's trapped in his basement because a tornado demolished his house, it's still pouring rain, and his sump pump just stopped working. (Sight, sounds, taste, touch, smells, etc.)

Now the author can utilize the distance between the character and the reader to invoke or convey. If we're in close POV, we can learn about his fear of water, or the prophetic dream he had the night before, etc. If we're a little further out, we can see how he seems to be calmly handling the situation, but that little clues of some kind make us question how calm he is. And so on.

Anyway, that's my take on angles of perception. I'm a little sleep deprived, so hopefully it made sense.

[sartorias]

That makes a lot of sense. What you seem to be getting at (I think) is that the key sliding the POV in and out is emotion, which is certainly a very effective technique, when I think over my reading.

[negothick]

Good point, sparta5, you picked the worst possible day for your jaunt: according to the Weather Channel, Friday set records for heat from Long Beach through Phoenix.