Lesson 11: Point of View
We have covered an amazing amount of material up to this point. We’ve talked about and written examples of setting, character, and plot. We’ve talked about how stories originate. We’ve even talked about how writing a story about elephants playing tennis can be easy and therapeutic.
Wait, not that last...
In any case, we have covered a lot. But, believe it or not, we haven’t even started talking about what happens when you touch pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to start writing! Two more weeks and we’ll finally hit that milestone. First, there is the last, and very important, matter of point of view. I’ll abbreviate this phrase as POV from here on in this lesson.
The Basics
I’m assuming that most people involved in this course know what point of view is, and the standard categories. But to be safe, here they are:
- First Person – the story uses “I” and “we”, the narrator describes his or her own actions
- Second Person – the story uses “you”, the narrator IS the reader
- Third Person – the story uses “he”, “she”, “they”, the narrator is disembodied
The Not-So Basics
So, with that out of the way, let’s dive in!
First person is perhaps the most natural point of view to write, since probably the majority of the human race have been telling stories in first person since they were old enough to talk. When a six-year old comes home from playing and tells his parents, “I played with Kevin!” this is the essence of first person. However, that’s where the simplicity ends and the fun begins.
Consider this boring statement: in first person, the narrator is different from the author. On the surface this is so obvious it’s hardly worth stating. However, dig a bit deeper and you realise that, for the story to be fiction, the first person narrator must be different from the first person author. If the narrator and the author speak the same language, and think the same thoughts, and react the same way to situations, then the story isn’t fiction: it’s near autobiography, and will read like one. E. L. Doctorow said “a novelist is a person who can live in other people’s skins.”
This little, boringly obvious point, that the author and narrator are two different people, reveals the core of fiction writing: you as author must be able to place yourself in someone else’s life to write convincingly from their point of view. You must be able to see through their eyes, react the way they react, make decisions based on factors you’d never consider.
How To Put Yourself In Someone Else's Shoes
We've talked about the basic tools you'll need to accomplish this vital task, but in review, define your narrator. If you are going to tell a long story or novel in first person, you'll be faced with literally hundreds or thousands of decisions about voice through the course of the telling which will reveal any weakness in your knowledge of who the narrator truly is, inside, and how she/he expresses her-/himself. The more decisions you can make before you commit yourself to the story writing, the more realistic your narrative will be.
Think of how your narrator would speak (out loud) in a normal conversation, in a tense situation, in an emergency, or relaxing. Consider whether your narrator is honest with her- or himself. Consider whether he or she likes to gloss over difficult situations. Consider what is revolting to your character, and what is absolutely addicting. Answering these questions can drastically alter the way you tell a first-person story.
Nuances of First Person POV
First-person POV straight up is great, but it’s not the only first-person POV. There are many strategies to strengthen first-person’s effect given the story and the effect you want to achieve.
First-Person Multiple POV
This approach sees you, as author, using several first-person narrators and alternating amongst them, chapter-by-chapter most often, but larger divisions are common. This strategy lets you convey the entire picture of a story without the distance of an omniscient third-person POV. However, it runs the risk of disorienting the reader tremendously unless the changes of narrator are very clearly delineated.
Epistolary Fiction
Diaries, phone calls, letters, emails: all of these forms of communcation fall under the general category of epistolary fiction if they’re used to tell a story. They are all by nature first-person, which allows a natural, organic tone to the writing. The writing can be formal and structured, or very informal and conversational. In either case, the story has no traditional narrator telling the flow of events. Instead the story is told through these forms of communication.
Though it can be stale and motionless, the strength of this approach when done well is that it allows the reader a priceless glimpse into the minds and hearts of those who are corresponding.
The Narrator’s Reliability
We’ve covered this previously and in depth, so I won’t spend much time on it. But to remind you, a first-person POV can enchant your reader into thinking your narrator is a wonderful person, until you drop in another character’s statement completely contradicting this lovely picture the narrator has given to your reader. Moments like this can be priceless. Suddenly your reader will realise that you’ve been misleading her or him all along, and that hook sinks deep into most readers, because they suddenly can think only of finding out WHY you did this to them!
The Yays and Nays
In summary, let’s list out the advantages and disadvantages of first-person POV. First, the advantages...
- It’s unambiguous. The reader knows who is telling the story, and comes to know them very well.
- It avoids objectivity. Fiction is all about faulty assumptions and incomplete data, and first-person is a perfect medium to show short-sightedness.
- It allows you to quickly develop the unique voice of the character. We’ll cover this later in depth, but in essence you’re free to give the character a voice without waiting for dialogue.
- You can naturally insert thoughts and worries.
Some problems...
- First-person POV is a one-way street. We can’t take a look at the narrator from outside unless we switch the POV or report another character’s impressions of the narrator via dialogue.
- Dialogue voices can be tricky. It will become obvious to your reader how your narrator will speak, so the risk is that another one of your characters will end up speaking the same way, breaking believability.
- Unless the character comes back from the dead to write the story, one method of suspense – that the narrator lives through the story – is gone.
- The downside of being allowed to develop a voice quickly is that it’s hard work to develop a believable other voice in your second best-selling novel, and so on.
I’m nowhere near where I expected to be at the end of this, but it’s time to stop!
Exercise: Due by the time you sleep, Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Length: Three 350-word writings
Objective: Practice putting yourself solidly in several different character's shoes
1. You’ve created quite a few characters by now if you’ve been following the course through. Pick three of these (any three) or create three new characters. Create a basic scene in a public place (store, street, theatre, classroom, etc) for these three to inhabit, then imagine how one of these characters steals something. Imagine as well that one of the characters approves of the thief-character’s action, while the other disapproves.
2. Write the incident from the POV of the thief, in first-person, including a short lead-up to the incident and the theft itself. Do it in under 350 words.
3. Write precisely the same timeframe, including the incident, from the POV of the character who disapproves of the action. Do it in first-person, and again, do it in under 350 words.
4. Finally, write in first-person from the POV of the approving character. Same timeframe, same 350 word restriction.
