Points of Views…

i haven’t written about my writing in a long long while! Well, i have been busy – the online shop opening and all the daily stuff of home managing and kid-raising as well as keeping up with writing the second draft of my work-in-progress (WIP).

It took me a fair amount of time before i started on the second draft proper. Why? Because i was dealing with issues of point of views (POV).

In my first draft, i attempted something which i have read about long ago; which is to write the same scene a few times but from the POV of a different character each time. Thus building more and more depth into the scene as you go along.

However, having re-read my first draft, i felt it did not work (at least for me and my story) and it is a technique which can be difficult to pull off well. And of course, i am a beginner writer so my skills are not yet polished enough.

My writing bubby helped me to work through some of the issues and i’m so grateful to have her there with me. i have decided on a different route with regards to POV but i have stuck with using all 4 POVs of the main characters in my story.

i’m about a third of the way through the second draft and have added several new scenes when i decided i should read something by an expert about POV again – just to make sure i’m on the right track.

i found this article to be quite useful: Avoid Being Branded as an Amateur: Use These 7 POV Basics.

My top take-away from that article is:

7. Once in a POV, stick with it carefully. When we get into one of our character’s heads, we need to do the best we can to see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and think about everything the way that particular character would. The more we can stay deep inside our POV character, the more alive that character will become to our readers. Remember, we can’t have our characters noticing things about themselves that they wouldn’t normally see. If in doubt, use the mirror test: Am I describing something about my character she would see of herself (i.e. the protruding blue veins in her hand)? Or would she need a mirror to notice it (i.e. the color of her own eyes)? If she needs a mirror, then she shouldn’t be thinking it about herself (unless she really is looking into a mirror, which incidentally has become a clichéd/taboo way of having characters describe themselves). 

i am writing from a first person POV so sometimes i do get carried away with describing my characters and things about themselves so this mirror test is good to keep in mind.

How is your WIP? Do you face POV issues too? If yes, what are they?

syc