POV and Voice

1. POV and Voice

2. POV

3. Jot down what you see

4. What is Point of View (POV)? • A short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVMM60Sm2c • Based on very basic concept: things look different depending on who is doing the looking and what their vantage point is • POV can reveal things ordinarily not seen • The POV you choose for your story or novel will affect the way readers respond emotionally to your characters and their actions. • Your choice of POV will also influence other elements such as tone and theme

5. POV Deals with • Who is speaking: a narrator or character? • Whose eyes are seeing the events of the story unfold? • Whose thoughts does the reader have access to? • From what distance are the events being viewed? So it is a very big decision!

6. Types • First Person • First person multiple vision • First person peripheral • Unreliable first person • Third Person • Third person single vision • Third person multiple vision • Third person omniscient • Third person objective • Second Person

7. First person

8. First Person Defined • Narrated by the character in the story, usually the story’s protagonist • The narrator tells the story of what “I” did (if the story is about a crime, the narrator is on the scene of the crime…) • The narrator is the story’s eye-witness, the reader’s means of perception. • The reader experiences the fictional world through the narrator’s eyes and ears and nose and skin (main advantage is intimacy) • You are writing in the VOICE of the character- the words and tones….

9. First person: Example • I saw my wife laughing as she parked the car. I saw her get out of the car and shut the door. She was still wearing a smile. Just amazing. She went around to the other side of the car to where the blind man was already starting to get out. This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say. • Here, the narrator does more than simply observe; we are getting a take on what the narrator sees.

10. Your Turn! • Get inside someone’s skin. Write a passage from the first-person POV of a person walking to a mailbox to send a difficult letter- breaking up with someone, confessing something unpleasant….Then pick another character also walking to a mailbox to deliver a difficult letter and write from the character’s first-person POV. These characters can be anyone you like, but make them the opposite sex from one another and quite different in age. Remember, this is first person, so you should inhabit these characters and tell things the way they would tell them.

11. First Person: Multiple Voice • Most often first person uses just one first-person narrator, but occasionally there are multiple narrators. • Better for the novel/not enough “space” in the short story • “sections” for each person’s narration…. • Epistolary technique- a variation of multiple first person narrators where the story is presented as a series of letters exchanged between characters. • Strength- reader’s intellectual involvement in the story; doesn’t allow reader to sit back and be told what to think or feel

12. First Person: Peripheral • First person narrator is usually the protagonist but the first person narrator can also be another character in the story. • Famous example is Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby where Nick narrators but Gatsby is the protagonist • Effective when the story’s protagonist is blind to his or her own actions and when that blindness or its consequences are significant enough to strongly affect someone who stands outside the action • Challenge- narrator must report on the protagonist while being stuck in the body of a bystander

13. The Unreliable First Person • Essentially all first person narrators are somewhat unreliable…however, if the narrator is someone who is a very young child, mentally ill, or a jealous lover, the reader understands that ordinary skepticism does not apply • Narrator’s unreliability adds to the story’s unsettling effect • Example: Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” • Forces the writer to create two versions of the truth

14. Your Turn! • Write a passage from the POV of an unreliable narrator who skews the facts, intentionally or unintentionally. For example, what might a child at a boisterous cocktail party hosted by her parents confide about the guests? What erroneous conclusions might she draw from their behavior and jokes? Might her false equations add up to cold, hard truths? Or course, if you favor deluded or deceitful character, go for it. Whomever you pick, see if you can make a reader understand the narrator’s unreliability.

15. Third Person

16. Third Person Defined • The narrator is NOT a character in the story • The narrator is a VOICE created by the author to tell the story • The narrator tells the story of he or she did or what was said

17. Third Person: Single Vision • Most common/ Refers to the way the narrator views a story’s events- through the eyes of a SINGLE character • Narrator has access to only ONE character’s mind • Story is told FROM the perspective of a single participant in the action • Character whose POV is being recognized by the author is called the POV CHARACTER • Entire story filtered through the POV character’s consciousness

18. Third Person: Single Vision • Advantages= • “outside” narrator allows the writer to craft the language in ways that may be implausible coming from the mouth of a first person narrator • if the narrator is a fictionalized version of yourself, the third person narrator telling the story avoids appearance of self indulgence • Ideal if your POV character is someone with limited powers or verbal skills • Disadvantages= • The POV character must be present for everything that takes place in the story, just as with a first person narrator (can report overheard conversations but….)

19. Third Person: Single Vision Example • In the short story “Earth to Molly,” the author intends for the reader to understand that the opinions the narrator expresses are Molly’s: • At the hotel, really a shabby bed-and-breakfast, the landlady, pinching her upper lip in displeasure of having to hoist herself from her chair, let Molly into her room and left her with the key. The ladylady was a long time retreating down the hall. The dolor of her thread, with its brooding pauses, was not eavesdropping but arthiritis. Molly was sorry for having needed her to climb the stairs, but of course the old woman complained her stiff-legged way up them all the time, showing lodgers to their rooms. Why, oh why, would anyone spend the night here?

20. Your Turn! • Imagine an incident in a department store in which a salesperson and a customer clash over something- shoplifting, rudeness, etc….Using third-person single vision POV, write a passage detailing this clash through the eyes of the customer. As is customary with third person single vision, include the character’s thoughts.

21. Third Person: Multiple Vision • Multiple vision allows the writer to show a story’s events from different angles; provides a wider angle • Most often used in longer works of fiction (no space in short stories) • Often used to emphasize their differences but if you use it, make sure you have a GOOD REASON • You should make distinct transitions between POV characters • You do not want your readers to be unsure of whose eyes are witnessing the events of the story

22. Third Person: Multiple Vision • Advantages= • With access to more than one character’s thoughts the writer gains FLEXIBILITY • Adds desirable kind of complexity to the story (aren’t our lives naturally entwined in others?) • Writer can highlight what's most interesting about each character by juxtaposing the various viewpoints • Reader must observe and draw conclusions based on how the different character's beliefs contradict/confirm each other, and that divided sympathy in the reader may be the POINT of the story! • Disadvantages= • Could cost you focus • Reader’s attention and concern spread more thin but also engages reader in a more complex way How to choose? See video clip-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoUhaj1nKyw

23. Your Turn! • Return to the previous exercise, the one with the clash at the department store. Write a passage about the exact same incident through the POV of the salesperson. Then write again about the same incident, this time from the POV of an innocent bystander. You will then have viewed the department store clash through the eyes of three different characters. Who has the most interesting POV on this incident?

24. Third Person: Omniscient (freedom!) • “Gods-eye view” – means all knowing • Writer should always know everything there is to know about each character, setting, plot details, etc…. • Writer is free to share directly some, or all, of this vast amount of information with the reader • Story’s information is filtered through the narrator’s all-knowing consciousness (versus that of a character)

25. Third Person: Omniscient • Advantages= Have the ability to: • Enter mind of all or any characters • Interpret story’s events • Describe incidents unobserved by other characters • Provide historical context • Inform reader of future events • Can use it to create suspense by supplying the reader with information unknown to other characters • Disadvantages: • Usually calls attention to the presence of the writer (not pleasant for some readers) • can seem impersonal

26. Your Turn • Using the omniscient POV, write a scene in which something gets broken at a wedding reception. A gift, bottle of champagne, somebody’s heart….Demonstrate at least three of the five omniscient powers- entering the mind of a character, interpreting events, describing unobserved incidents, providing historical context, revealing future events. There is plenty of opportunity here, as there are bound to be many people in attendance. Relish your godlike ability to know and see everything!

27. Third Person: Objective • Narrator is denied access to even a single character’s mind • Writer must reveal everything about the story though dialogue and action • Similar to reading a journalist's account; getting only hard facts • Advantages: • Offers a sense of integrity and impartiality • Prevents a writer from over explaining • Disadvantages: • Denies reader the insight into the minds of others

28. Objective Example • He was in the bedroom pushing clothes into a suitcase when she came to the door. “I’m glad you’re leaving! I’m glad you’re leaving!” she began to cry. “You cant even look at me in the face, can you?” Then she noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up. He looked at her and she wiped her eyes and stared at him before turning and going back to the living room. • This unnamed couple goes back and forth over who gets the baby. By reporting the events instead of trying to explain them makes what occurs credible….one could not understand how parents could act this way….

29. Your Turn • Take the wedding reception passage from your omniscient POV excise, revise it using the objective POV. Employ your powers of observation and describe what takes place, as though you are a journalist writing a news account. Remember, this time you can’t enter anyone’s head. But, what does the behavior of the characters reveal about their thoughts?

30. Second Person • As with third-person POV, second person POV stories are told in the voice of the narrator, however the narrator tells what YOU did or said. • Gives the reader the sensation they are the narrator • Quite intimate • Must have a COMPELLING reason to use it….proceed with caution if otherwise • Example You were at the nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head. The club is either Heartbreak or Lizard Lounge. All might come clear if you could just slip in…..

31. Your Turn! • Rewrite one of your first person POV passages using the second person POV. Though you may do little more than switch the pronoun I to you, the effect may be profound. And feel free to change anything you like to fit this new POV. Compare the two versions and consider the different emotional impact of each.

32. Distance • One of the questions POV answers is From what distance are the events being viewed? • Emotional distance • Time distance • Emotional Distance • The distance that we sense between the narrator and the characters, a distance that affects how close the reader feels to the characters. • Long shot: The man hurried through the cold night • Medium shot: The man hurried through the night, squinting against the cold • Close up: As the man hurried through the night, he felt the bitter cold air on his lips

33. Distance • Time distance • If not specified, we assume the events are relatively recent; very little distance in time between the narrator and story • Though written in past tense (as most are), a writer often creates the effect of immediacy- of the story occurring just now, as we read • Writers occasionally try to narrow this time distance by telling the story in present tense Examples: “He feels me watching him and lets go of my hand. Then, he takes his gum out, bundling its silver wrapper, and sticks it in the ashtray and crosses his arms. This means Im not supposed to observe him; I face front.” “He was a cabdriver and she admired the curly back of his head. Still, she was surprised. He said he would pick her up again in about an hour and a half”

34. Distance (time) • Sometimes a writer specifies that the events took place a long time ago, creating a substantial time distance (nostalgia) • When the reader is aware the story’s events occurred long ago, the emotional urgency and suspense of the story may be diminished (if the narrator is about to die, there is no hope) but this also fuses emotions past and present Example “The time of my end approaches. I have lately been subject to attacks of angina pectoris; and in the ordinary course of things, my physcian tells me, I may fairly hope that my life will not be protracted many months.”

35. The “POV Contract” • POV establishes a contract with the reader; tells us what kind of story we are reading • Break this contract and risk losing reader’s trust • As a safeguard against POV abuses, you might write down your POV rules regarding omniscience, reliability and distance

36. How to Choose • One of the biggest choices you will make; affects everything • Easier if you narrow your choices • Ask yourself: whose story is this? (it’s usually the character who most often has the most at stake), then it’s just a matter of deciding if you want the story told in the character’s voice or now • Example- if your story belongs to a single dominant character, then first or third person limited is the obvious choice

37. How to Choose • If you have a story full of characters, where characters are linked by events and there is more than one protagonist, then ask yourself: what’s most interesting to me about this story? • Another question is, what kind of stories do I like to read? • Once you have chosen, “taste” it- does it sound like you expected it to? Does it have the complexity your story needs?

38. Group Activity • Working in groups, choose a nursery rhyme, fairy tale, or other simple story which has at least two characters. Then tell the story from four points of view (other than what it is originally of course). • Suggested stories: The Three Little Pigs, Dr. Seuss stories, Little Red Riding Hood…. • After adapting in each voice throughout, write a one page rationale explaining: • The effect of each voice (how did it change the tone, meaning, etc…) • The impact of both emotional and time distance with the reader

39. Voice The sound of a Story

40. Voice: The Sound of a Story • What readers “hear” in their heads when they are reading. Voice is the sound of the story. • The voice of the story is the voice of the NARRATOR and the voice should change based on the POV • The voice that rises above all others and unifies the piece, continues to ring in the reader’s mind after reading it • Your voice needs to shift so that it echoes the style of that character. Because if it doesn't, not only are you not truthfully using the character as a POV device, but all your characters will end up sounding the same ... like the narrator ... and that's a problem.

41. Voice: The Sound of a Story • The voice of a piece is what makes is special, what sets it apart and makes it feel lived. • It’s essential that your narrative voice sounds natural Comes through in three ways: • The author’s voice • Persona • Character’s voice

42. POV character’s voice vs. the narrator’s voice Ex #1) 'Jill returned home late in the afternoon. She was tired and frustrated because after four job interviews in one day she was no closer to being employed. "Gosh," she thought. "At this rate I'll never find work and my money will run out and what will happen then?" She was afraid for her future.' • That is 100% omniscient narration. The actions and thoughts are faithfully recorded, but by the external observer, the omniscient narrator. The big hint is that the drama is largely being 'told', not 'shown'. And there's no flavor of personality imparted. Try this instead: Ex# 2) 'Jill shoved open the apartment door and limped inside. Her feet were killing her. Blisters. Collapsed arches. Pressure points like burning embers on the ball of each foot. What on earth had possessed her to buy these shoes? All right, they looked smart with the suit, and looking smart in a job interview was rule number one, but after eight hours she was just about crippled. Eight hours, four interviews, and still no job. She kicked off the damn shoes and hobbled into the kitchen to fling open the fridge door and gloom into its brightly lit interior. Like Mother Hubbard's cupboard, it was bare. And while she could afford, just, to duck down the road to Woolies tonight, if she didn't find a job soon that option would be kaput. Forget food. She wouldn't be able to make the rent, and then what? Fear like a melting ice cube snaked its way down her spine.‘ • Hopefully you can see the difference between these two examples. One provides characterization and flavor and a sense of the person in question, while the other does not. One sits inside the character's head, behind her eyes, allowing the reader to vicariously experience the action as though they were that character. The other holds the reader at arm's length, explaining the action without letting the reader experience it in the way the character experiences it. In the second example thought and action flow into and out of one another, seamlessly, without the tag 'she thought'. We're inside the experience, moving with the character.

43. The author’s voice • Recognizable style/tone that let’s us know who’s talking • Quality is developed overtime • Recurrent word choice • Syntax • Idioms • Rhythm • Range • Imagery • Vocabulary

44. The author’s voice: an automatic process • Practice=confidence • Don’t worry about “finding your voice”- SEEK your voice and your voice will flow (by being clear, precise, vivid…) • Your natural language = a good foundation • Train your awareness of language (play with voices, stretch your vocab), alert yourself to language as it’s used around you • Begin by knowing and exploring that you already have different voices (you speak differently when in different settings/occasions/people…)

45. Persona • A mask adopted by the author • May be a public manifestation of author’s self or a distorted or partial version of that self • May be a fictitious/historical/mythological character • Allows us to offer a written account without the “whole truth” as many of us do not have that any way…. • Distance from person and persona • Always a partial/idealized “you”

46. Character’s Voice • You may also choose to speak in the persona of a character who is largely or totally unlike you. • This character’s voice is a chosen mimicry, a skill to pursue in order to develop rich characters both in their narratives and in their dialogue. • Your voice will never be entirely absent from the voice of the character’s you create, but the characters too can be distinct and recognizable.

47. Character’s Voice • Voice of a character requires, beyond invention, an imaginative leap into the mind and direction of another person. • Best way to develop this capability is to first listen to other people speaking and become aware of their speech patterns, vocabulary choice, habits of diction; and then practice launching yourself into those voices you have heard • Hierarchy of distance between the author and the voice • Personal narrative, fiction writer, dramatist,….. • Characters reveal themselves in conversation and confrontation

48. Try This • Write a short character sketch of someone in your family. Write a monologue in which that person tells you an anecdote from his or her childhood.

49. Write a few sentences that might be coming out of the mouth of each of these characters.

50. Quick video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRggKdDM-XU