{"id":2797,"date":"2012-05-21T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=2797"},"modified":"2012-05-21T06:00:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T11:00:21","slug":"all-the-povs-in-the-world-and-you-had-to-walk-in-to-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/?p=2797","title":{"rendered":"All the POVs in the world, and you had to walk in to mine."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.\u201d \u2013 Carl Jung<\/em><\/p>\n

Point of view is a great tool for spicing up writing. A plot might be a totally different story from a different perspective. The classics are third and first person.<\/p>\n

My preference is for a first-person or third-person limited point of view. I\u2019ve never been a fan of omniscient narrators. They don\u2019t connect well to normal life. I stick close to a specific character and let the audience learn what drives him. Other characters are more interesting when viewed through the eyes of someone with their own prejudices.<\/p>\n

A limited perspective allows the reader to learn with the character. When the protagonist says \u201cAha!,\u201d the reader says it, as well. When a character is hurt by his failures, hopefully the reader understands.<\/p>\n

That, in essence, is the basis of fiction. Writers chronicle the failures of a character to make a reader understand the character better. It is possible to do that with an omniscient narrator, but not as fun for me.<\/p>\n

Omniscient narrators know too much. Sometimes they say things like, \u201cIf Johnny had known what Doris meant, he would have never gotten out of bed that morning.\u201d I see it fairly often in novice writing, and even in some professional work. I\u2019m not a fan. It adds nothing to the moment except to set up false suspense.<\/p>\n

Some writers might love those lines, but I think they rob two moments of their drama. Instead of being with the characters in the moment, thinking what they think and feeling what they feel, readers anticipate what happens later. Then, when the payoff comes, it isn\u2019t as much of a surprise. Potentially losing impact in two different scenes in exchange for one line doesn\u2019t seem efficient.<\/p>\n

I want my writing to be as powerful as I am capable of making it. Whatever perspective serves that best is my favorite perspective. In fact, I am going to go against what my colleagues may say later this week and strike a blow for second-person perspective.<\/p>\n

Did you ever have a friend that is annoying, brutish, and egotistical, but you don\u2019t have a problem with him? That is second-person perspective. This friend tells YOU what YOU should think. He pushes YOU to do what he wants, in total disregard for anything YOU actually want to do. But, you can\u2019t help but love the bastard.<\/p>\n

I have successfully used second-person, but it requires finesse. I can\u2019t imagine using it for an entire novel, but it can work in short fiction, especially flash fiction. The trick is hiding the subject, which can lead to passive writing. The simple sentence structure that provides the backbone of writing proves to be the enemy.<\/p>\n

Since the subject is \u201cYou,\u201d a strong word with no real pronoun, the number of \u201cyou\u2019s\u201d can become overwhelming and distract the reader. \u201cYou enter the apartment. You wonder how long she waited. You smell her favorite perfume mingling with the scent of blown-out candles. \u201d YOU get the point.\u00a0 Instead, you have to work around the subject. Perhaps, \u201cEntering the apartment, you wonder how long she waited. The scent of her favorite perfume mingles with the smell of blown-out candles.\u201d<\/p>\n

I reduced the number of \u201cyou\u2019s\u201d from three to one. I try to get rid of any of them I can. I might leave the occasional you in during the topic sentence, just as a reminder, but the rest will disappear, if possible.<\/p>\n

Try it out. In fact, try out all the perspectives. The only way to decide what works best is to find out what doesn\u2019t work at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.\u201d \u2013 Carl Jung Point of view is a great tool for spicing up writing. A plot might be a totally different story from a different perspective. The classics are third and first person. My preference is for a first-person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[589,858,982],"class_list":["post-2797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mechanics","tag-jung","tag-point-of-view","tag-second-person"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}