Who
is telling your story? The most common form of literary narration is third
person POV. The story is told as He or She, but is told from the perspective of
that particular character. Unless your character is a mind reader, the
perspective, internal feelings and thoughts belong to that character only. The
reader is seeing the action unfold through that character’s eyes. While it is
alright to say Kim became agitated over
the delay… it is not alright to include the inner thoughts of the other
characters. Instead it would be appropriate to say Bernard slammed the door behind him after hearing the news thereby
indicating anger. In this case SHOW the emotions of the other characters but don’t
tell us what they are. Remember that you are showing what your narrator is
seeing and interpreting; things are seen from the character’s subjective
viewpoint and may not be 100-percent accurate.
Third-person
limited will rely only on the action and feelings of what one character
witnesses; there is no “off screen” action described. For instance if Robert
goes into his office but Carol (the narrator) doesn’t, then whatever happens
behind those office doors remains a mystery to the reading audience as well as to
Carol. It is permissible to change the viewpoint (alternating POV) in the
narration in such an instance and write the office scene from Robert’s POV. The
writer needs to be careful that the switched POV is done cleanly and clearly
and preferably separated by “scenes”. If you change POV back and forth within
the same scene, you might be accused of “head-hopping”. There is sometimes the usually
ominous third person omniscient where readers are provided with information not
available to characters in the story; for instance Bill and Mary have a lovely
scene in their home described from Mary’s perspective (POV) and then they leave
to go to a restaurant for dinner – UNBEKNOWN to them though, the dishwasher
that was left running is sparking and dangerously close to setting the kitchen
curtains on fire. The reader has this bit of info, but Bill and Mary do not.
First
person narrative is often described as difficult for newer writers, but
personally I’ve seen some writers handle it quite well. The narrator may or may
not be a character in the story. This technique is used most often to tell about
the story as it is lived and seen though a character’s eyes and will use the
terms “I” or “We”. If I had known then
what I know now, I would do things so differently. Back then I was filled with
optimism and… The first person narrator may be simply telling the story
that he or she is involved in, including emotions and perspective, without
consciously conveying thoughts and telling the story almost as if it were
autobiographical; or the first person narrative character may know that he or
she is actually talking to the reader/audience. In the musical stage production
Fiddler on the Roof there were vignettes where the rest of the action froze and
Tevye stepped forward to think aloud and
to talk directly to the audience as he explained his thought process.
The
second person narrative is a difficult perspective to maintain. The narrator
refers to the reader personally as “you” and includes the reader in the story, You’re sitting at the bar nursing your drink
and watching Jack and Jill’s first encounter. You watched as she slapped him
and stormed off. When the policeman comes in afterwards and questions you, you
are shocked to hear of the accident… Second person narrative is effectively
used in non-fiction works such as descriptions of scientific marvels, what you are about to see, or instructional
guides, if you come across an accident
scene, the first thing you need to, etc.
Remember
that POV is one character’s perspective – it is as if there is a camera on the
character’s shoulder seeing everything that character sees. That character’s
emotions can be explained which will help make clear why the character reacts
and does certain things. Within that scene, any other character’s emotions are
only described by what is seen and not what that character is thinking.
Writing
Exercise: There is always someone who
loves even the most despicable character. Choose someone who loves the
antagonist of your story (they do NOT need to appear in the story) and have
them write a letter of affection or passion (depending on the relationship) to
the antagonist trying to give them some advice on how to cope with the “difficult”
people in his or her life.
Writing
Prompt: Use the initials of your main
character (first and last) – list ten foods that include BOTH letters; ten book
titles; ten pieces of clothing; ten song titles; and ten emotions. Do as many
as you can think of.
Challenge: Choose your favorite advertising jingle.
Rewrite the “jingle” in English (if that is the language you normally write in)
as it would be said in at least 4 other ethnic or regional flavors (for example,
as a Frenchman would talk, as British royalty would talk, as a Texas rancher
would talk, etc). Then using the same jingle rewrite it to fit (as close as
possible) at least 4 different time periods in history. Lastly rewrite it for
the future at least 50 years from now.
