Finding Our Voice and Understanding Point of View
Writing feels like being in love. I am consumed by the characters I’m writing about. I become them — Terry McMillan
When we write a story, the goal is to write it in such a way that the reader, or viewer if it is a film, drops into the shoes of the main character. There must be a main character or protagonist because the story must be told from a character’s perspective or point of view (POV). The POV determines which character’s eyes we are looking through and whose thoughts we have access.
A great book that really delves into POV is The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley. There are several possibilities for POV: the first person or “I,” which creates a direct identification with the character; second person or “you,” which is less common; or the third person, which reads “he” or “she” and depends on the sex of the character.
The Third Person
With the third person, each scene is presented through the eyes of a character who is usually the protagonist. We can have other viewpoints, the eyes we are looking through, but a writer does not want to switch the point of view until the next scene or that would be considered head hopping and confuses the reader. A scene contains the basic elements of a story that include a character pursuing a goal. He faces opposition and usually ends up in a worse off condition.
The First Person
With the first person, the events often take place in the past, but it can feel very intimate. Here, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is an example of the first person. “I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory”. This point of view allows us to see the feelings and sense of frustration the character is experiencing.
The Second Person
Second person POV pulls us into the story and makes it personal. Although it is not often used, here is a good example from Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City. “You have friends who actually care about you and speak the language of the inner self. You have avoided them of late. Your soul is as disheveled as your apartment, and until you can clean it up a little you don’t want to invite anyone inside”.
Using Point of View in Your Story
The third person is written in the past tense, but it feels like it is happening now. An example of the third person is from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It is told from Jane’s POV: “‘He is just what a young man ought to be,’ said she, ‘sensible, good humored, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! — so much ease, with such perfect good breeding.’”
Here’s a creative exercise to try. Begin exploring POV through your voice. Write about something that happened to you. You are in the story, relating your experiences. Take a moment and reflect on a memory that represents something you experienced that was very exciting. Try to remember or imagine a person to whom you told or will tell the story.
Now write it in your writing voice as if you are telling it to that person, infusing excitement, passion and sensory experiences as best you can. Have fun. Feel free to embellish the story. This, of course, would be told in the first person “I.”
The point of point of view is as Alicia Rasley summarized in her book. we want to feel as if we have been dropped into the shoes of the person telling the story. We want to feel what they feel, see what they see, and know what they think. The most successful stories are told in a way that the reader can simultaneously be the character and the outside observer. That is the power of point of view.
Engage Your Reader
It is important to know how to hook the reader in the beginning. Stories often start in what is called “medias res,” Latin for “in the middle of the thing.” Your first page is when the plot kicks in that leads to the undeserved misfortune. This is what creates the unavoidable problem that your plot will catapult your protagonist into, which he or she will then have no choice but to deal with. Dean Koontz says he starts with what he calls narrative hooks. This can be an opening sentence or paragraph or an intriguing scene that excites your imagination. Here’s what he suggested:
So, if you are just in the beginning stages of finding and imagining your story, why not sit down and pound out a gripping opening scene or paragraph using the point of view that make your story come alive. If you present yourself with interesting and challenging beginnings, one of them might provide a spark of inspiration; free floating, subconscious associations might begin to be set off by that spark and you might quickly construct an entire story line that excites you.
The Brain on Story