Story Plan Checklist: Point of View

[ladyseishou]

Nothing's beautiful from every point of view.

- Horace



So Nano Writer, what's your POV?

Now that you have a working title Nano Writer and you've decided (more or less) what kind of story you'll be writing, it's time to think about who's going to tell your story or as Ms. Wiesner writes:

Your best bet for deciding which character's viewpoint to use: In any scene, stick to the view of the character with the most at stake - the one with the most to lose or gain.

Still undecided about your point of view? Maybe the advice offered by these authors might help:

Two Heads Aren't Always Better Than One - Robert J. Sawyer

Point of View - Lisa Binion

Point of View - from the The Bald Truth About Writing blog site


A reminder! Entries for the Cover Up! contest should be submitted by Sunday, October 11.


Until tomorrow Nano Writer, keep writing!

Comments

[angryoldhag]

Wellll, I was first thinking about taking a first person point of view but decided against that because it might be interesting to have some scenes in another character's head when the MC isn't around.

So, third person but mainly from the MC's perspective since that might explain the world better and more thoroughly since both she and the potential reader will be new to it. If that makes sense XD

[aingeal]

I'm going for third person as well. Not sure if I'm going to do strictly limited from the MC's point of view or have chapters dedicated to the limited point of view of other characters. I think that will be the seat of my pants aspect this year - seeing what the other characters have to offer in addition to the MC.

[ladyseishou]

This is my usual method and for the same reason that you say. lassarina mentions another interesting method below (in the comments) about combining both POVs (first and third) that I think that I'll try this year.

[angryoldhag]

That is an interesting approach, if I remember correctly Cecilia Ahern tried something similar in If You Could See Me now (Or Silver Lining or something in the US). It was intrigueing but could get a little confusing at times.

[ladyseishou]

I suspect that's true. I may need to work out some kind of device to signal my POV change (by section, chapter, quotation from a diary, etc.) to keep it all straight. And it might all have to be undone in revision but still, it sounds like a fun thing to try :-) I love challenges!