Today Galen Kindley had a truly interesting post about POV. I realized after reading it however, that there is still a great deal I have to learn. For example, prior to reading the post, I'd never heard of 3rd person limited before. I had also never heard the term contemporary omniscient. Galen does a great job of illuminating these concepts, so I won't try to butcher it here. But I do advise everyone to stop by and check it out.
Coincidentally I was thinking about POV this morning on the way to work, because I have a story I'm tossing around in my skull and I'm unsure what POV I want to use. Now I have even more to think about. I do admit to a bit of anxiety about POV sometimes, just because I feel like a fish out of water. But I suppose every writer goes through this at one time or another. I just have alot more to learn, which is never a bad thing.
I heard about a Writer's Conference here locally, and I think I'm going to go to it. There are some great workshops I think I will check out, and of course exposure to the industry is cool too. I won't have anything ready to offer up to agents in attendance, but that's okay too. This is a nice way for me to get my feet wet, so to speak.
Lastly, I have tried not to whine about the inactivity of my muse. Let's face it, I'm just not in my usual mode and haven't been for a while now. I do have stories running through my skull, but at the moment they are just "thoughts". I don't know what the deal is, but I'm thinking my muse is temporarily broken. Anybody want a slightly used muse? I'll sell him cheap.
Oh wait. I was just kidding, Muse. Put down the bat. Really. Somebody call the paramedics...
6 comments:
My current novel is in 3rd person limited. Hard as heck to write - but perfect for the storyline. And my writerly friends and I recently had a LOOONNNGG convo about POV and when to use what. For me, it is all about the story.
I'm changing my one requested ms to 3rd person limited. Keeping my fingers crossed...
LOL...temporarily broken muse...I love that.
Oh I envy you very much that you have a Writers Conference locally. We don't have anything like that. I would really love to go to one. The best I've managed is workshops for beginners - they were fun but not illuminating.
Sounds the Muse is giving you a big dose of drama as you speak!
Yes, point of view can be quite fascinating as a subject matter. Along with the different main points of view, there are different degrees to these points of view, like limited third, as you mentioned. It gives you a lot of room to play with! I hope it's fun for you to experiment!
POV frustrates me like no other. I'm writing in 3rd person limited, but find myself slipping into omniscient all the time, and constantly having to go back and fix that. It annoys me even more when someone else catches it, and I didn't. Would it be easier to just switch to omniscient? Sure...but where's the fun in not being annoyed with my own work? ;-)
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. As for your muse, tell him to go sit in the corner, since he's not being at all helpful. Then keep writing without him - you can do it yourself.
Wow, Eric, I didn’t get by on Wednesday, and look at what happens, you put up a nice reference to my blog. A sincere thank you. Let me be clear. When you line up all the POV experts in the world?? I’m not in that line. I’d like to say I’d be the last one in line, but no, I’m just flat not there.
After blogging a couple of times on POV and getting lots of comments like, “you’re over thinking it,” or, “just relax and write,” or, “this makes my head hurt,” and no specific answer to the one POV question I posed, I’m think ALL writers struggle with the topic.
However, POV is really important and I think it’s the wise writer who digs up as much info on it as he/she can. So much so that it’s going to part of the planning for my next novel.
First I’ll identify the type genre and the best POV to fit it…see the Alicia Rasley book I mentioned and featured a picture of, The Power of Point of View, it’s just a great help. Then for each chapter--and scene when I get that far--I’ll identify the POV character for that chapter. That’ll be multiple third person limited. Then, how “close in” do I want to be, Orson Scott Card, Characters and Viewpoint, does a good job of explaining this in the final chapters of his book.
So, yeah, I think it’s important. Thanks for the shout out, Eric.
Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog
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