Point of View questions

[Susan Boulton]

POV for one. When I started trying to write "head hopping", constantly changing POV, was something I did automatically. I never thought others would find the story hard to follow. I understood it, why shouldn't they.

I realised over the weekend this doesn't make much sense. What I was trying to say was that when you begin to write, you tend to use multi POV, not realising that it confuses the reader. You have to learn the various POV's and how to use each to best affect. And when, like me, you had never done any creative writing in your life before it is hard.

Also, at present, there seems to be a lot of books with "mixed" POV's i.e 1st, limited 3rd and an omniscient narrator POV. Sometimes I find this works well and enhances the story, other times it is downright annoying.

 

[John Jarrold]

I feel that as you write more, you will find a style that works best for you and for the individual book, rather than being prescriptive in advance. First person can be absolutely right, and a number of my favourite novels - SF and others - are written in the first person. I speak as a great Raymond Chandler fan.

Personally, I would steer away from mixed POVs in one book at the beginning of a writing career. Like every other skill, it has to be learned. Having two or three POV characters in a book can often be best, so the reader sees a rounded story that doesn't rely on one set of eyes...but again, it does depend on the book...and Brian makes a good point. The author knows what is going on, but always remember that the reader must be shown without being told great lumps of information!

 

[Wayne Blackhurst]

I often think being too analytical of your work can wreak havoc, preferring to flow with a natural rhythm. When I stop to think about it, I seize up in a fit of self doubt. I’ve often thought the story shows me how to relay the information, instead of forcefully trying to hammer it into a predefined perspective. I love writing first person, I really do, although I don’t let my fascination with this POV dictate my stories. The stories dictate me. That’s just my opinion, I could be talking rubbish.

 

[John Jarrold]

So much of writing is feel - and so much can also be pre-planning and organisation. Oh, it's a puzzlement...

 

[Marky Lazer]

First person can be extremely powerful, but, on the other hand, it can sound like preaching and no one likes to read that.

 

[j d worthington]

I think the key is to, on first draft, go with whatever feels right for that story; then, on rereading, decide how well that works from a reader's perspective and making any changes as necessary for clarity, smoothness, etc. Planning can be a great help, but don't let it bind you too closely; as you said Wayne, just tell the story first; after that -- even if it means a lot of work -- you can do anything necessary to it to improve it, but you haven't lost the original idea, impetus or excitement in the process.

 

[Wayne Blackhurst]

sound like preaching and no one likes to read that.

Oh, I don't know, it depends who's preaching....

 

[Susan Boulton]

So much of writing is feel - and so much can also be pre-planning and organisation. Oh, it's a puzzlement...

And it can be frightening! When I open up one of my completed manuscripts to plunge into editing, I find myself muttering, " I didn't write that did I?" The actual fact that I sat here and wrote a story from beginning to end astounds me! Published or not, the very fact I have done it feels wonderful.

I pre-plan a lot, but once I start writing the planning becomes fluid. I often find I need to research another avenue to the one I had at the beginning. The characters begin to become real in a strange way and I find I can't force them to act outside their nature. It feels false and shows in the written word.

I use mostly limited third POV, using the core characters POV's, if that makes sense. Though at present I am reseraching a plot line I have had hanging around for a long time, and I don't think limited 3rd will do for this story, due to the nature of it. I think I will try 1st person, two or three scenes in will tell me if it's going to work.

 

[Wayne Blackhurst]

and so much can also be pre-planning and organisation.

Agree, you have to have some structure, in all of life; something to aim for, a road to travel down. Otherwise, we'd be all over the place!

I think the key is to, on first draft, go with whatever feels right for that story; then, on rereading, decide how well that works from a reader's perspective and making any changes as necessary for clarity, smoothness, etc. Planning can be a great help, but don't let it bind you too closely; as you said Wayne, just tell the story first; after that -- even if it means a lot of work -- you can do anything necessary to it to improve it, but you haven't lost the original idea, impetus or excitement in the process.

Agree also, great stuff.

 

[John Jarrold]

First person can be extremely powerful, but, on the other hand, it can sound like preaching and no one likes to read that.

If someone's first-person writing is like preaching, thery are getting it wrong! There is no need at all for that to happen - unless the writer IS out-and-out preaching, in which case they're a crap novelist.

 

[Marky Lazer]

If someone's first-person writing is like preaching, thery are getting it wrong! There is no need at all for that to happen - unless the writer IS out-and-out preaching, in which case they're a crap novelist.

That was what I meant, bad first person can sound, among other things, preachy.

 

[John Jarrold]

That was what I meant, bad first person can sound, among other things, preachy.

Unfortunately, bad writing can spoil any viewpoint. Roger Zelazny's first-person novels work extremely well, for instance. As you say, it's the writer's fault when a viewpoint doesn't work in that way, not the fault of the viewpoint.

 

[StevenSavile]

I personally very much like 1st person and really enjoy writing it - but there are dangers of focus attached to it. It is too easy to become too introverted in the story, thinking you keep things interesting when really what you are doing is chasing every loose thread that come to mind...

 

[Susan Boulton]

1st person done well, least for me, balances the emotion content i.e. the characters reactions/feelings/thoughts etc to what is happening, against the description of those happenings.

Sometimes writers get the balance wrong. Sarah Micklem's book Firethorn, was for me a book where the balance was wrong. The world the author created was amazingly detailed, yet I found I could not connect emotionally with the main female character. She undergoes such trials, yet I did not feel the wonderful prose, and it is wonderful, had any emotional punch for me.

Robin Hobb with the Farseer books was the opposite, the emotion content was so strong it became annoying and depressing at times.

Also I have found when I have tried to write it, it becomes self-ndulgent and I lose what I am trying to say. Even this latest idea has gone back to limited 3rd after a horrible attempt last night at a first draft.