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Short Story Writing: Article 6: Point of View Part 2

The meaning of point of view

Point of view in this context has nothing to do with its usual meaning, ‘Opinions’, it is a technical term which can roughly be translated as ‘subjective point of view’ or ‘subjective experience’, and it is essential that once there is chosen one whose subjective experience we share, stay with it from beginning to end, because a subjective point of view is, by definition, exclusive to all others. Therefore, if your central character is John, then everything in the story represents what John experiences. We can know how John is feeling, what he is thinking and what he is perceiving, but we do not have access to this ‘inside information’ about any other character. Through John we can see how they behave and hear what they say, but we cannot know what they are feeling, thinking or perceiving within themselves. This replicates the way we experience other people in real life: we don’t know what’s going on inside them until they show it in some way.

At the same time, the only character we can’t see from the outside is John himself. The only way we can get information about how others see him is when another character tells him. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is: “The reader can’t know anything the central character doesn’t know.” Another useful way of looking at it is to see the central character as the camera through which the entire story is viewed.

In some stories written this way, the author may break the rules to describe the central character’s appearance or facial expression. In my opinion, this should not be done because it breaks the point of view and weakens the story. If you really need to describe the central character’s appearance, you can easily do so by having them look in a mirror.

In addition to not knowing how he looks to others and not being able to see his own face, John doesn’t know what the other characters do when he’s not with them. However, he could soon find out, knowing them, someone else would tell him about them. Again, this simply replicates the way we gain knowledge about other people in real life.

The same principles apply in first-person stories, when the central character is me. In fact, writing from the point of view of the central character is more closely related to writing in the first person than many beginners realize. You should imagine yourself as the central character, but write “he” or “she” or “John” or “Mary” instead of “me.”

At the end of the first paragraph, the reader should share the central character’s point of view and identify with that character. If you then switch to a different point of view, you will break this identification and the reader will lose interest. In a novel, when the process is carefully controlled, it is possible for the reader to identify with more than one character, but this is not possible in a short story, or at least very unlikely to result in a good story. short stories. So pick a point of view and stick with it.

Description Tickets

Deciding when and how to use descriptive passages often causes problems for beginners. The key to understanding their use is that they are never presented by themselves, but, like everything else in the story, are seen from the point of view of the central character and are an extension of her mood.

So if Janet feels happy and free, she will notice the sunlight, the beautiful flowers on the trees, the beautiful green hills receding into the distance. If she’s feeling down and dissatisfied, she’ll notice dust on the shelves, rain on the windows, dirt on the kitchen floor, and noisy neighbors.

Therefore, descriptive passages are relevant only when they contribute to the plot by revealing the mood of the central character.

The point of view must be controlled.

Whichever viewpoint you select, it is important that the viewpoint is controlled and does not jump erratically. I’ve often found that a student’s story would start well, then in the middle of the first page the point of view would jump from one mode to another and progress randomly through the rest of the story. Inconsistency in point of view is bound to disrupt the reader’s engagement with the narrative.

Point of view is ubiquitous

It will be seen from this that the point of view is omnipresent. The point of view is the window through which we see the story, and that window represents a single human consciousness. I’ve said enough here to enable you to study its workings in the stories you read in magazines and in your own work, and use it to give your stories strength and unity.