Thursday, December 26, 2013

How to Develop Point of View in Fiction Writing




Adding Dramatic Tension Through the technique of  Point of View in Fiction Writing
The Problems of the human heart....
William Faulkner wrote: "... the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself... alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the sweat and the agony."

Faulkner has given us a tough assignment, yet it is an assignment at which we must excel as fiction writers. The best way to succeed at this is to leave behind what you believe to be "true" and open yourself to the vast possibility of life experiences outside your own. For it is not true that we can only write what we experience. As writers, we have enormous access to the cosmic imagination where anything is possible -- including the great expanse of human emotions.

Writing an emotionally strong scene...

One of the best ways to experience the power of point of view is to write an emotionally strong scene between two people who, when they tell their story, have very different versions of the experience. For example, write a fight between two people, perhaps a mother and a daughter or a father and a son.

An exercise in developing tension through point of view...
A fight has built in tension, which makes the scene easier to write. You also have opportunity to use dialogue - when people fight, they usually have a lot say!

Begin by asking yourself: 
What is the issue between the mother and daughter (or father and son, or any two people). First write the scene from the daughter's point of view. This means you get inside only the daughter's head. The reader can hear what the mother says and see how she acts, but cannot know her thoughts. This exercise brings you totally inside the daughter. The only inner thoughts you use belong to the daughter.

Then put the daughter's story aside and write the scene from the mother's point of view. You need not have the exact same dialogue and almost certainly the story will be very different from the mother's point of view. This time around, you show the reader only the mother's inner thoughts. The daughter speaks and acts but we do not know her motivations other than by what she says and does.

This is a great eye opener of an exercise geared to deepening your understanding of the writer's technique of point of view.


Feel free to post what you write on the blog!

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6 comments :

  1. Hi Emily,

    I did the exercise and have posted partial scenes between father and son. The scenes are longer than what I posted here, and I expect to post the full two scenes on my blog in a few days. It was a fun exerecise.

    Adelaide

    Father's point of view

    "Brad! Brad!" Mr. Foster braced himself for a confrontation.

    "Yeah, Dad. I'm coming." A tall lanky 17 year old boy bounded down the stairs. He was dressed to go out, unbuttoned blue ski jacket blazoned with a black panther on the back. "The keys, Dad. I'm in a hurry. I told the guys I'd meet them 10 minutes before the show."

    "You can't go out, Brad. I'm sorry. A blizzard is on the way." Mr. Foster, shorter and heavier than his son, turned to leave.

    "Hey, Dad! Wait a minute!" Brad pulled on his father's sleeve. "You promised me the car for today."

    "I know and I'm sorry, but it's already snowing. Haven't you noticed?" Of course, the boy didn't notice, playing all day with those computer games.

    "Yeah, but…"

    "It's going to get worse. A blizzard is forecast." Mr. Foster watched his son's face and waited for what could come next. Sulks and whines. Oh, why do all teenagers do this to their parents?

    "This sucks. I already gave Tony money for the tickets and the pizza for the party afterwards. Gees, Dad."

    Mr. Foster shook his head as if that bit of news was not important. The blizzard was. "It won't be safe. It's too dangerous." Didn't these kids ever think of their own safety? They all think they are immortal.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Son's point of view

    "Brad! Brad!

    "Yeah, Dad. I'm coming." A tall lanky 17 year old boy bounded down the stairs. He was dressed to go out, unbuttoned blue ski jacket blazoned with a black panther on the back. "The keys, Dad. I'm in a hurry. I told the guys I'd meet them 10 minutes before the show." Brad looked at his father's unsmiling face. What was wrong now?

    "You can't go out, Brad. I'm sorry. A blizzard is on the way." Mr. Foster, shorter and heavier than his son, turned to leave.

    "Hey, Dad! Wait a minute!." Brad pulled on his father's sleeve. "You promised me the car for today."

    "I know and I'm sorry, but it's already snowing. Haven't you noticed?"

    "Yeah, but…" Hell. What's a little snow, Brad thought. He'd driven in snow before.

    "It's going to get worse. A blizzard is forecast."

    'This sucks." Brad wanted to say something stronger but knew it wouldn't help. "I already gave Tony money for the tickets and the pizza for the party afterwards. Gees, Dad."

    Mr. Foster shook his head. "It won't be safe. It's too dangerous."

    Fuck and Damn. What was he? A baby? Not safe. Too dangerous. Wear your bike helmet. Wear a reflector vest when you jog at night. Weren't parents supposed to be easier with second children? But not his parents. Oh, no.

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  2. HI Adelaide
    Thanks for posting this. The dialogue is so good. I suggest you go deeper into the tension between the father and son and explore what is really going on. The idea of the blizzard is a good starting point, but what is particular between father and son. Who are they and what makes their relationship particular to them?

    When you write the son's point of view, you don't have to keep to the same dialogue and scenario. The son sees the world very differently from how his father sees it. And you have already touched on something important at the end of his piece when you we see that Brad feels infantilized by not only his father but also his mother. And what is the relationship to his older brother... or sister?

    You are at the tip of the iceberg... dig deeper. Here's a tip, as the father is talking to Brad, open up to a memory he has that let's us see what and why he feels so protective about Brad. It might be something particular to Brad and it might come from something that happened in the father's own life.

    Is his wife as protective? Do they argue about Brad?

    Who is the father? Give him a first name. What does he do? What makes him tick.

    Write on!
    Emily

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Emily,

    When I wrote these scenes I did it just as a practice in writing different points of view. I purposely kept everything the same except for the internal thoughts of the father and son. I had no intention of developing this into a full story, but with all your good suggestions I just may do that. I'll have to decide who's story is it? Father, Son, or even, Mother.

    Thanks for your suggestions.

    Adelaide

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like your thinking... who shall it be??!!!!!!!!!
    Stay tuned......

    ReplyDelete
  5. I had sort of an accidental experience with this when revising my first novel. There was a pivotal fight between the two main characters that really set the direction for the whole story, originally written from the man's pov. That didn't fit in revision, so I did the same scene from the woman's pov. What a huge difference! I learned a bunch about both characters and what was really driving both of them to be so awfully angry, and more importantly, so hurt. I believe the story was stronger for the change, and my writing too. Great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Kari,
    Thanks for your post.... I too have found that changing a point of view can make something that isn't working in a novel, suddenly work great! It's a great technique that writers should learn and add to their writer's bag of tools!


    ReplyDelete

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