{"id":76,"date":"2013-03-13T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T16:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/13\/pov-picking-and-popping-povs\/"},"modified":"2015-05-23T23:17:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-23T23:17:08","slug":"pov-picking-and-popping-povs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/13\/pov-picking-and-popping-povs\/","title":{"rendered":"POV Picking and Popping POVs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nCopyright questions come up often on the blog, and I happened to hear this astonishing report on the radio. Click to listen and be amazed: http:\/\/www.onthemedia.org\/2013\/mar\/08\/happy-birthday\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The title of this post is a tongue-twister. Try saying it ten times fast.<\/p>\n

In November two questions came in about POV. In the first, unsocialized homeschooler wrote, I’m writing a novel with a goal to get it published. It’s set in a fantasy land, and it\u2019s in third person. However, each chapter (or half chapter or something–I don’t like writing in chapters until the end of the book) the POV switches. One chapter it will be told in one person’s point of view, the next minute another, while still in third person. How can I make each narration stand out? Both characters have very unique personalities. (Okay, okay, they’re not that unique, but they’re different from each other.) However, whenever I switched POVs, it seems like it could be narrated by the other.<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019m doing something similar in my revision of the book formerly known as Beloved Elodie<\/i> now known as I-Don\u2019t-Know-What<\/i>. In my earlier drafts, I switched first-person POV back and forth from my human character Elodie to the dragon Meenore to the ogre Count Jonty Um. But I found that I wasn\u2019t communicating the ogre clearly – he kept seeming unintelligent, which he isn\u2019t. So I switched to third person, but not omniscient. If Elodie is in a scene, the POV belongs to her. Otherwise, it\u2019s either Meenore or Jonty Um, all in third person, and the book is working better.<\/p>\n

The narrative voice is the same from chapter to chapter, but the star of each is the POV character. For example, Meenore often challenges Elodie to solve the little puzzles that add up to the big one of the mystery. Usually doesn\u2019t get the solution right away, and she feels under a lot of stress. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

\u201c…Lodie, how did I conclude some calamity had befallen the Oase or the high brunka?\u201d<\/i>
\n
<\/i>
\n Elodie felt the familiar pressure of her brain being squeezed. \u201cEr… Masteress, you sang so that someone might hear us. Er… You knew brunkas have especially sharp ears. And a brunka came. Wasn\u2019t that what you expected?\u201d Her coming couldn\u2019t mean anything! \u201cEr… Um…\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Most of this is dialogue with only two sentences in narration. Take this one: Elodie felt the familiar pressure of her brain being squeezed.<\/i> It\u2019s a plain sentence, no particular personality coming from the narrator. But if the POV character weren\u2019t Elodie, the narrator wouldn\u2019t have said a word about what\u2019s going on in her brain. I don\u2019t mention Meenore\u2019s feelings or the state of ITs brain when IT questions her, although I can guess what they are: pride in her abilities and mischievous pleasure in making her struggle.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another example, this one from Count Jonty Um\u2019s POV:<\/p>\n

A winter hare hopped across the snow to the right of the brunka\u2019s cottage. Master Canute would warn the humans, who would flee the mountain if they could, and they\u2019d drive their herds and flocks along with them. His Lordship clasped his hands and squeezed until they hurt. The wild beasts wouldn\u2019t hear the warning or understand it if they heard. They\u2019d stay here and die in pain and terror.<\/i><\/p>\n

Again, the language of the narration is straightforward. It\u2019s not the way he would tell it himself, because the ogre mind is different from the human mind. But the narration does reflect his concerns. The other character in this scene, whose thoughts I can\u2019t reveal since I\u2019m not writing from his POV, wouldn\u2019t be thinking about the fate of the animals on this mountain.<\/p>\n

So, sounds like you\u2019re doing it right, unsocialized homeschooler. If you\u2019re working in third person, the narrator\u2019s voice should be the same throughout. If you want the voices to change, first person is the way to do it, and you might want to reread my posts on voice.<\/p>\n

If you stick with third person, then I suggest you focus on the thoughts and feelings of the POV character in each scene, and be scrupulously careful not to stray in narration into the thoughts and feelings of anyone else. These non-POV guys can say what they\u2019re thinking and feeling in dialogue and they can show it in action, but the narrator should never reveal their inner workings. The narrator who isn\u2019t omniscient is allowed into only one head and heart at a time. Or possibly two heads, if you’re doing it that way, for example if you have a duo working together.<\/p>\n

If your characters\u2019 specialness isn\u2019t showing through, you may not be shining your authorial spotlight on their unique ways of reacting to situations, whether or not it\u2019s their POV turn. Meenore, for example, is always clever, and always reveals ITs cleverness in dialogue. Count Jonty Um is always shy and says little and is aloof and dignified. If I keep these traits in mind, each of them will stand out on the page, and Elodie will too by contrast.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019d suggest thinking about your characters\u2019 distinguishing characteristics in every scene. If the moment belongs to your POV character, look for ways to bring the other guys in, doing what they do most, reacting as they do.<\/p>\n

In the second question, Michelle Dyck wrote, How do you choose which character’s POV to use in a scene when more than one choice could work? I know that a good way to choose the POV is by evaluating which character’s experience in the scene would be the most crucial or interesting, but what if two characters\u2019 POVs are that way? In the scene I’m working on right now, my two MC’s are faced with the same big decision, and although their thought patterns and emotions vary, both of their experiences are quite similar. I’m not sure which to choose.<\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice when you can just pick to please yourself!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one option: Which will be the most fun to write? Which interests you the most?<\/p>\n

There are other questions, too. Who has the most unexplored corners, which you can most easily investigate in his or her POV? Simply, whose turn is it? Have you been in Jack\u2019s head a lot lately and you need to shift because the reader is getting too accustomed to being in there? Can you tip the balance in the scene so it isn\u2019t quite so equal, and the choice will then become obvious? Can you split the scene? The first part goes to one character; then there\u2019s some kind of natural break, and you shift to the other.<\/p>\n

Here are two prompts:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Your story moves from the home of one of your three characters to a museum to a row boat in the middle of a lake. The three have a common enemy, which can be anything, a former friend, a wizard, an assassin, Frankenstein, a virus, whatever you choose. And the three have different strengths and different weaknesses – different personalities. Write a scene in each location. Try it two ways, in third person alternating POVs and in first person alternating POVs. If you like you can add a fourth scene, from the POV of the antagonist if it\u2019s a character, which you would also write in third person and in first.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Return to the rowboat scene. One of your three characters has drowned. The remaining characters have to decide what to do next. Try it from the first-person POV of one and then the other. Then switch to third person. You are allowed to row them to dry land if the row boat is too confining.<\/p>\n

Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Copyright questions come up often on the blog, and I happened to hear this astonishing report on the radio. Click to listen and be amazed: http:\/\/www.onthemedia.org\/2013\/mar\/08\/happy-birthday\/. The title of this post is a tongue-twister. Try saying it ten times fast. In November two questions came in about POV. In the first, unsocialized homeschooler wrote, I’m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[70,73],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}