Inventing Reality: A Guide to Writing Science Fiction
What is point of view?
Every story has an angle or perspective from which it is told. This perspective is called point of view.
Notice how this scene
Even before the sun rose, Evod and Nevar prepared themselves for the race. Silently, they inventoried supplies, examined their craft’s hull and unpacked Nevar’s ceremonial suit. Evod inspected each items with a drill instructor’s eye, discovering problems that really weren’t.
Here's the same scene, this time told from Nevar's perspective. We "hear" what he is thinking and only through his eyes know what Evod is doing:
Nevar turned over the food pack in his hands in the pre-dawn light. Silently he examined the craft’s hull and then unpacked his ceremonial suit. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Evod staring at the control panel, fretting again about a problem that really wasn’t.
Your viewpoint ought to be from the character "who has the most at stake” often is advised by self-help writing books, and as a general rule, it is a good guideline to follow. But point of view selection is a more sophisticated process than simply writing the story's perspective from that of the antagonist or main character. Sometimes the main character’s viewpoint is not suitable for revealing the story’s theme.
Even if you’re consistent with your point of view, should you select the wrong perspective from which to tell the story, you run the risk of writing a story that reeks of:
n Mannerisms - The author’s persona shouldn't become more important than the story’s events itself. Often flamboyant diction occurs.n Frigidity - Excessive objectivity can trivialize the story’s events.
n Sentimentality - This occurs when trying to evoke an emotional response that the story’s events cannot evoke by themselves.
For beginning writers, point of view perhaps is the most difficult element to master. Scenes often are envisioned in different points of view and so are knitted together. These individual scenes may be the best options for what the author wishes to achieve, but when connected to the rest of the story, they cause the story to lose unity of effect.
When writing, follow these point of view guidelines:
n Use one point of view per story. Jumping around is confusing
n Usually the point of view in a scene is that of the story's main character.
You Do It
Pull out the piece you wrote for the "Characters: The center of your story" "You Do it". Write the piece from a new point of view. For example, if you wrote the piece so the reader were seeing the story through the hero's eyes, now rewrite it so it seen through the eyes of the hero's helper. If you wrote the piece so it is seen from the point of view of a narrator looking down upon the unfolding stage, now rewrite it so it is told through the hero's eyes.