Point of View

POV:

Tim Shoemaker

Here's some little things that I have been learning about the importance of POV (Point of View). Tim Shoemaker an author that I had the privilege of hearing at a writers conference told me some of the most important things that I have ever learned about POV. So the following is a conglomeration of what I learned from Tim and picked up through numerous articles and books...

Tim was kind enough to bring with him, a silver tray full of pvc couplers. But he promised it would help our Point of View and he was right! Below is the patented Tim Shoemaker Super-Ocular POV Finder, which is a pvc coupler wrapped in a label, no good for having water flow through but wonderful for the view.

The writer looks through the POV finder and only writes what the character sees.

In other words, if you are writing a scene and your protagonist is sitting at a table and the lady in back of him is talking; you cannot describe her facial expressions because your character cannot see her face unless he turns around. At that point he is hearing what she says or the inflection of her voice but not seeing her.

It is also important to note that it is not acceptable practice in fiction writing today to something that we refer to as "head hopping". When I first heard the term from an editor, I nodded in contemplative recognition and didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

Head Hopping is jumping from view point to view point of different characters in the same scene or chapter.

For instance...

Harold looked at her thinking, what a self absorbed witch she turned out to be.

Misty stared at Harold knowing that he now loathed the very sight of her.

What in the world are those two doing, Frank thought as he entered the cafe. Are they in love or at war?

Harold turned back to Misty, "Want some dessert?" I hope she doesn't order any, this is the date from hell.

"No thank you," Misty said, glad that Harold had offered but ready to forget this date and get on with life.

Do you see how we jump back and forth with thoughts and points of view and what the person is saying and thinking? This is not practiced today in modern fiction, it's not that you won't find books that do it; the editors and publishers will have a problem with it unless you are a well established author and then they'll let you bend the rules.

A slight example of this is John Grisham's Skipping Christmas. He mixes some point of views in the same scenes but after all, he's John Grisham, I think the man has established a track record enough that they are going to let him do what he needs to do! I read Skipping Christmas, every Christmas along with Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol and enjoy them both thoroughly.

In Skipping Christmas, the "head hoping" as they call it is subtle and so it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the story.

For the beginning writer though, we best not.

I also picked a book the other day by a famous author, I won't tell you their name because at the moment, I don't remember but I know they were famous. Anyway, it was written in a more first person narrative and their thoughts or in this case, probably interior dialog was not in italics. Some say you should and some say no, I don't know, he shrugged.

More later...

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