The official website of A. B. Gayle - Author and Editor
Share this:
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • My Books
  • Free Reads
  • Blogs
    • Tyler Knoll's Blog
    • Interviews
    • Reviews
  • Man 'em up Dude
    • Leather + Lace >
      • Chapter 1: Stand Back
    • Red + Blue >
      • R+B - Reviews & Blogs
    • Caught >
      • Caught - Reviews & Blogs
    • Initiation
  • SciFiRomance
    • WIP - Nature
  • Mainstream
    • In Search of the Perfect PinotG!
    • The Lost Diary of Thomas Kendall
  • Coming Soon
    • WIP - Home+Away
    • WIP - Pride+Prejudices
    • WIP - Truth+Lies
  • Bio
    • Links
  • Editing Info
    • Editing Special Forces

Changing the Perspective

10/27/2012

0 Comments

 
(This blog first appeared on the Dreamspinner Blog, but I'm repeating it here as 

One of the common tricks of the trade when trying to get deep into a character’s head is to write the story in first person and then switch the pronouns around to third person.

While writing “Red+Blue”, I came to the conclusion that this method works only to a point. There are subtle differences in the resulting versions that only appear when you look at a quantity of words. This blog is a discussion about what I discovered.

Why Third? because … “I Refuse to Read Books told in First”


How many times have we heard that! I suspect some readers find it difficult to empathise with a character who is not of their gender or who they can’t relate to when it comes to moral and ethical choices. Perhaps others find it squicky to be involved as the “participant” in down and dirty sex scenes.

Shifting the perspective to third allows them a slight distancing.

Another characteristic of first person POV is that the character and the reader should have absolutely no knowledge of what is going on in another person’s head, i.e. doesn’t know their motivations or reasoning. Sure, interpreting body language can give them some indication, but it’s not the same as “being inside that person’s head”.

The current trend or fashion in romances is to switch the POV in deep third between the two protagonists. Although some, like Isabelle Rowan’s “A Note in the Margin” and Catt Ford’s “A Strong Hand” use multiple points of view.

Some books switch POV constantly, paragraph to paragraph. Marquesate’s and Vashtan’s“Special Forces” is a good example of this, reflecting the fact that the book was written by two writers, working on the same document at the same time. The serial soap I’ve been involved in with DSP authors, Andrea Speed, Jessie Blackwood and J.J. Levesque: “Redemption Reef” and“Second Chances” was also done that way.

The difference here is that you immediately know where the other person stands and how they have reacted to the previous action or word.

Some Good Examples of Effective First Person

I’m always intrigued by the way different writers have used the first person perspective to good effect. In “The White Knight”, Josh Lanyon told the story from the POV of the same person, but switched from first to third to show one was taking place in the present and one in the past.

It’s also used to interesting effect in Tom Collins’s “When Irish Eyes are Sparkling” where there is dual first person.

First person POV allows the author to draw the reader closer, almost colluding with them, by using little quips, as if they’re telling them a tale.

However, it can also be used to keep the reader distant by excluding certain facts. Typical of these is the unreliable first person narrative used in stories like Clare London’s “Freeman” where the viewpoint character deliberately conceals his reasons for chasing Kit. Or in the case of Ash Penn’s“Stray”, the viewpoint character’s harsh opinion of himself is only seen to be erroneous by the way the other characters relate so positively towards him. All bark and no bite.

When I wrote “Red” and “Blue” I wanted the reader to feel that the character was chatting directly to them. Giving them their versions of the events.

But You Can’t KNOW That!

Years ago, I’d watched “The Norman Conquests”, a great TV series in which the same scene is rehashed from the different perspectives of the participants.

Unless we are blessed with clairvoyance or have great communication channels open, we don’t know what motivates people or even what happens while we’re apart. I wanted to convey this part of my characters lives before they get together. The conclusions we draw from what we see and hear may be accurate, but they may also be wrong based on misinterpretation of signals or deliberate design.

The characters in long stories in first person POV can almost come across as self-absorbed or even self-obsessed. It’s all about “them”. This can be a good or bad thing.

Interestingly, when I tried switching the first person to third, the characters felt more distant. When using first person, in a lot of these scenes, the character and the reader are the ones most intimately involved.

Getting the Balance Right

This is all very well when the characters are by and large apart, but what happens when they are together? First person POV becomes almost impossible then.

What then was I to do when the two characters of the book are together? Keeping the story in first (using one of the characters) proved to be totally different from writing and then reading it in third person. The reader may not have been as involved, but the characters felt more of a pair, less self-absorbed. Perhaps this difference was just in my mind, my perception, but after experimenting a lot with POV writing, I could sense the difference.

I also discovered that writing directly in third person resulted in more showing and less telling.

“First” naturally lends itself to confessions and a lot of thinking. Because this doesn’t work so well in third, more dialogue is needed. This also serves to draw the characters together and keep them on a more equal footing in relationship to the reader.

Which to Use

When discussing POV choice with other writers and teachers, the usual remark is to do what works best. Linnea Sinclair (a romance scifi writer) says always use the viewpoint of the character with the most to lose in the scene.

Even at the final editing stage of “Red+Blue”, a suggestion was made to switch the POV to the other character at a crucial part of the story. The switch worked brilliantly. Thanks DSP editors!

A number of unwritten “rules” were broken when writing the book. All I can say is that each was done deliberately.

I’ll be interested to get feedback from readers and fellow authors about whether they noticed the changes and their reaction to them.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    A.B.Gayle

    This is a collection of reviews I've posted at Goodreads and
    interviews authors have granted me.

    Plus from time to time, I'll share my take on writing and marketing. This will be done under the Tyler Knoll banner, because nothing is better for curing the headache these things can be for us.

    Archives

    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    June 2010
    March 2010

    Categories

    All
    Alexis Hall
    Ash Penn
    Barry Lowe
    Bev Dentham
    Brad Vance
    Bryl Tyne
    Chainmale
    Chaos Magic
    Christopher Koehler
    C.H. Scarlett
    C.J. Cherryh
    Clare London
    Damon Suede
    Darla Sands
    Desert Run
    Dirk Vanden
    Don Bastien
    Don Schecter
    Drag Queen
    Duck
    Dusk
    Erotic Horizons
    Habu
    Hank Edwards
    Heidi Cullinan
    Heights Of Passion
    Hot Head
    Hourglass
    Interview
    Isolation
    Jane Davitt
    Jay Lygon
    Jeff Mann
    John Preston
    John Wiltshire
    Josh Lanyon
    J.P. Barnaby
    Julie Bozza
    K.A.Mitchell
    Keith Fennell
    Kim Dare
    Lisa Henry
    Lyn Gala
    Margie Church
    Marshall Thornton
    Mel Keegan
    Mimosa
    Morticia Knight
    Mr Benson
    Opinion
    Out Of The Box
    Patric Michael
    Phillip Mackenzie Jr
    Quotes
    Redemption Reef
    Reversal
    Review
    Reviews
    Robert Reynolds
    Robert Rodi
    Ryan Field
    Scott Terry
    Stray
    Syd Mcginley
    T.A. Webb
    Thom Lane
    Trey #3
    Tyler Knoll
    Vancouver Nights
    Wild Raspberries
    William Maltese
    Writing

    RSS Feed

    Follow this blog
Picture
The copyright to all the material published on this site is owned by A.B. Gayle.