Self-Editing – Chapter 8 – Maintaining Continuity in Point of View

Each story you write must be told from a particular point of view.  In most cases that point of view remains constant throughout the story.  What is the “Point of View?” you ask….  For an example, go to any window.  Look out that window and take note of the world outside it.  Pretend for a moment that the world you see out that window is all the world that exists, just as the world you create in your story is a complete world as far as the story goes.  As you look out the window, you are viewing that world from one point of view.  Now pretend that you are a person outside that window, living in the world that you see.  That point of view is of the same world, but from a different point of view.

Telling a story from one point of view or another is about more than just changing whether you are merely an observer or participant in the world you’ve created.  Point of view defines whether or not the author tells the story, sees the story as it takes place, evaluates the thoughts and actions of the characters in the story, or all of the above.

For a better description of writing from various points of view, stop for a moment and read this website:

http://www.nyu.edu/classes/op/writing/old_pointofview1.htm

After you’ve read it, come back for the exercises that you will use to create continuity in the point of view of your story.  It shouldn’t take more than four or five minutes to read this short article….go ahead.  We’ll wait for you right here.  See you back in just a few minutes!  While you’re reading I’m going to go get a glass of tea.

You’re done already?  Great!

I tend to work from the omniscient point of view, but some stories should be told in the first person.  I write picture books and some stories must be told as the child would see them….their limited understanding of the world often lends charm and innocence to the tale that would just seem silly if an adult told a story the same way.

Likewise, your story will dictate which point of view is best.  For many of us, the story tells itself and we merely act as scribes for the muses that speak into our ears.  But you can also decide to change a story’s point of view to make the telling more dramatic.  For example, if your story is about the crimes a police officer has helped solve, you may be able to add another layer of understanding and emotion to tell that same story from the viewpoint of a close family member of that officer, such as a spouse, parent, or child.  This viewpoint will give you the option of relating things those characters might see that are blind spots for the officer.  An older relative, such a parent, can illuminate elements in that officer’s character that stem from events in the the officer’s childhood.  That same story would be equally compelling, but very different if told from a teenage daughter’s point of view.  She would probably be more focused on how the elements in the story affect her, rather than her parent.

So you see, the point of view not only helps you tell the story in a way that seems reasonable and reality-based for the reader, it can also add drama and emotion.

Now I want you to get out the story you’re working on now.  You know this story very well by now so be prepared to use a bit of discipline as you check your story this time.  Break it down into chapters, paragraphs, or pages – the size of the section doesn’t matter as long as its manageable for you.  For each section, read it again, analyzing it for what point of view you used to tell the story.  Are you an omniscient narrator telling the story, inserting comments and other information from time to time?  Or is the story being told by one of the characters?  Does it jump from character to character?  If so, this can be confusing for the reader.  As you read, revise any sections that seem to come from more than one point of view.

Ask yourself:

• Does the same person tell the story throughout this section?
• Does the “narrator” seem to know more than they should about events, places, or other characters?
• Does the narrator reveal too much or too little about events and other characters in the context of the story?
• Is the point of view consistent in its evaluation of the events as they occur?

If your point of view tends to veer from one character to another, you may be in for a few rewrites.  As you tell the story, put yourself inside the head of the narrator and only tell what the narrator knows.

It is possible to tell a story from more than one point of view, such as when an author tells the story in one chapter or section from one point of view and then makes a clear break from that part of the story to another and begins to tell the story from a different point of view.  This style of writing is much more difficult.  Using this device can help tell a story more effectively, but you must beware of allowing one character to have knowledge or insights that they wouldn’t normally have in reality.  I read a book recently in which the author devoted alternating chapters to two differing points of view, giving the reader an omniscient feel as they read.  One chapter was told from a mother’s point of view and the next was told from her daughter’s point of view, alternating back and forth, allowing the reader to see many of the situations they encountered from both viewpoints.  By necessity, this created a feeling of jumping back in time as the story would “rewind” to begin again as one or another of the women gave her take on what had occurred. For this story, it worked, since we all know that mothers and daughters often see the same event in opposing ways, givng each a particular slant when they recall it.  This particular author also allowed the mother to tell part of her story by writing in a journal.  This gave the author the ability not only to tell the story, but also to tell how the mother felt about it.  (If you’re interested in reading it, the book is called, “Once Upon a Gulf Coast Summer,” by Susan Oliver.  It is published by Broadman and Holman Publishers.  Their website is:  http://www.broadmanholman.com.)

As you work through this rewrite, don’t stress over grammar, comma placement, or sentence structure.  Remember that your job, for now, is to just tell the story well.

One more step for today:  As you work, I want you to start getting into a mindset where you can share this work with a trusted friend or critique group and get their opinions before you proceed.

Keep working and we’ll continue to post our progress as we go.  I’m beginning to hear from more and more of you as you write and I love reading your comments and suggestions.  Please feel free to comment and let everyone know where you are in the writing process.  We may work in a solitary field, but we are also a community.  Your struggles and how you’re working to overcome them may just encourage other writers, so don’t be shy.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Family Reunion – Vacation

Friends, I will be taking a few days off to attend my family reunion and spend time with family now that school is out. You can still reach me, leave comments, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, continue to work on your book!

I will be back in just a few days! God’s blessings on each of you this week.

Janet Sikes Anderson

Writing Your Book – Step 5 – Organizing & Refining Your Outline

Organizing your Outline is a step that will happen once; however, you may find that during the the process of writing, some minor revisions will take place.  This is normal, so don’t think of the outline you create today as a rigid checklist, but as a guide.

In Writing Your Book – Step 4 – Creating an Outline, you wrote 10 to 12 descriptive sentences that  contain compelling elements in your story.  After sorting these sentences into a logical, sequential order, you saw that you had created the beginnings of a working outline.  Today you are going to refine your outline, separating some larger ideas into smaller sections under one main topic heading.  Since your outline will act as a road map while you write, you will compare your existing outline to the intended “flow” of the story.  And finally, you will look at each topic sentence, or heading in your outline and add brief descriptions of actions, scenes, conflicts that will appear as subheadings under each topic sentence.

If you were to use typical outline formatting, your topic sentences will appear as headings.  These are the main elements around which your story will be structured.  These main elements, or topics, can be numbered in this fashion:

1. Introduction of story, setting, and characters
2. First Topic Sentence
3. Second Topic Sentence
4. Third Topic Sentence – (Continuing this pattern until you add your final Topic, which will be…)
8. Conclusion

After you have inserted your topic sentences into the format that works for you, you will go back and fill in details for each topic.  Include your ideas for scenes, character development, and even subtle clues that will help generate anticipation for your readers.  As you work, include as many details as possible so that the next step…writing the book…. will be just like following a map.

Some writers find that their outlines are generally vague and can be written on one page.  Others find that their outlines are quite detailed and are several pages long.  The more you write, the more you’ll develop your own outline style.  Remember, unlike when you were in school, there isn’t a wrong way to do this.

One word of caution:  It is at this point that many would-be writers give up.  When it comes right down to it, they have not thought through all the elements of the story and they do not wish to work at this part of the writing process.  I would encourage you to push yourself through this stage of writing so that the next step is more enjoyable.  Think of this like you did eating your vegetables as a child.  After repeated exposure to some vegetables, we learned to like them and eventually learned that they are an integral part of our diets.  Refining your outline may be like that for you….keep working on it and eventually you will recognize its value and may even learn to like it.

I Thought This Battle was Won…

I came home the other day and found my teenage son looking at the computer.  At first I didn’t notice what he was doing, but something caught my eye and I went back to check….  I asked him, “What are you doing?”  He looked at me with that expression kids get when they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t.  You may be thinking…”Uh Oh!  She caught him.”  But that’s not it.  He was looking at the ARMY’s website…checking to see how to enlist and what jobs are available for a high school graduate.

The swirl of emotions that rushed through me left me out of breath.  I couldn’t stop the tears that came time and time again in spite of his assurances that he would never just show up and tell us he’d enlisted.  (But truthfully, I’m not so sure that’s something he can promise.)  Everything that I am screamed “NO!” inside my head.

When my son was born he had a difficult birth and almost died.  During those days that we spent in the neonatal unit praying for his healing, I relinquished him back to God to do with as He saw fit….or at least I thought I had. In every area of his life I tried my best to let God lead my son wherever and however He desires.

But as I looked up into my son’s brown eyes, now within inches of my own, my heart was gripped with fear.  This was the one scenario I hadn’t imagined… This was the one area that my heart would never let me go.  I never once considered the possibility that I would have to watch him walk away from me in a military uniform…not knowing when I’d see him again – or IF I would see him again.  Even though I thought my prayer all those years ago was one of complete submission to God, standing here next to my 6′1″ little boy – who is now every inch a man – I realize that it wasn’t.  My submission to God’s plan still had limitations and I had to admit that my willingness to allow God to lead was contingent on God leading to a place that I agreed upon.

I even said to him now, in a choked whisper, “I already heard the words, ‘He might not live.’  A mama ought not have to hear those words about her child more than once in her life.”  But my son is so patriotic and so brave that he can’t imagine not going if he is needed.  I counseled him that it was a noble choice, but one best left until after college so that he would enter the service as an officer….to set the groundwork for a better career.  But he saw through me immediately.  If he takes 4 years to go off to college, who knows what might happen to change the world….or at least to change his mind in that amount of time?

I’ve realized in the days since that moment that the brave ones aren’t only the ones in uniforms.  Their families must also be brave.  To wallow in my fear for my son would diminish his bravery and his love for his country.  If I love him then I must support his choice and be just as brave as he is.  This is a choice.  It does not come easily.

A wise man from our church tells all the teenage boys, “Life is about choices and consequences.  Some consequences are good and some are bad…but life is about choices and consequences.”  So this is my choice.  My heart is hard-wired to protect my child and so it screams, “Don’t do this!”  But if he does…and this choice hasn’t yet been made…but if he does, then my choice will be to try to match my bravery to his.  That is my choice.

….updates to come….