How do you craft a compelling story point of view? Especially when you feel like you’re tying yourself up in knots with all the different points of view your story has. POV is one of the most misunderstood and often poorly taught story elements. It’s also one of the most important story decisions you make. But there’s so much confusion about POV.
In today’s episode, we’ll untangle some of the confusion. You’ll learn what point of view is (and what it’s not) and 3 main constructs that create a compelling, consistent point of view. Plus a writing exercise to drive it all home.
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Here’s a glance at this episode:
[2:01] Point of view is not about which person you write in
When you hyper focus on first, second, or third person, you leave out a range of angles within that perspective that make point of view consistent and compelling.
[3:10] What is point of view anyway?
It’s what Doug Glover calls, “The mental modus operandi of the person seeing or experiencing the story.” Someone is seeing and reporting the action. You must create that perceiving subject. This has virtually nothing to do with which person you write in.
[5:30] Desire
Learn how your character’s passionate relationship to his or her desire shapes your story’s point of view.
[7:46] Significant History
Significant history is background information that tells the story of how your character arrived in the story wanting what he or she wants. This is most often referred to as backstory or flashback. Learn what makes it significant and how to use it to laser focus your point of view.
[10:42] Language
Is the language coming from a character inside the story? Or outside of it? You’ll hear examples of how to modulate language. To slant the details and fine tune your point of view.