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| Tanya Stowe |
Hey, writers! Are you old enough to remember being taught to use two spaces after punctuation? Or to use plenty of detailed description? (Oh, the adjectives.) Writing trends and expectations keep changing. Even now, the phrases "she thought" or "he wondered" are being phased out as editors prefer deep POV. Today's guest, Tanya Stowe, offers some insightful tidbits on deep POV. Read on! ~ Annette
Burying Old Bones with Deep POV
by Tanya Stowe
I’m a dinosaur.
I thought when I reached fifty that I’d arrived at the status of a collectible,
but now I know I go much further back.
I started
writing when the classic form was still popular. Narrative methods were used—maybe
overused—and author insertion worked. As a dutiful student, I learned to think
and write as an author “observer.” Even though I was considered a bit of a
groundbreaker with my scenes starting in the middle of action and dialogue, I
still found myself garnering comments like “too passive, be more active” or the
dreaded “show don’t tell.”
With the onset
of e-Publishing, readers have an expectation of faster reads with even more
immediacy. As an e-Published author, I knew it was time to shed those old “dino”
bones and raise my writing to a new level. But where to start?
I belong to a
writers’ organization that does a very good job of educating its up and coming
writers. At many conferences and online classes I’d attended workshops about deep
point of view. Old-timer and experienced writer that I am, I naturally assumed deep
POV meant getting deep into the
psyche of your characters.
And that, dear
friends, is why my old bones were rattling!
I jumped into
some serious research on deep POV and found that it’s definitely about delving into
your character, but it’s much more. The technique tells the story from the
protagonist’s stream of consciousness, revealing events from inside, through the
character’s thoughts and actions.
With deep POV, the
character unfolds different personality traits through quirky thoughts,
repetitive actions or intense internal reactions with opposing external actions.
Imagine the explosion going on inside James Bond as he delivers one of his
one-line comebacks to the bad guys! Or maybe Mr. Bond really is just as calm on
the inside as the outside. With the use of deep POV, the possibilities for
rich, multi-dimensional characters are endless.
Deep POV is
great for characterization but it also makes the story more immediate by
eliminating the insertion of the author’s thoughts and presence in the middle
of the story. No outside narrator exists between the reader and the
protagonist. The reader lives the story as if she is the protagonist.
But be careful.
Deep POV is not a continuous stream of conscious monologue. That can be as
boring and off-putting as author intrusion. An occasional word or phrase in
italics accentuates deep POV and brings depth, insight, or emotion to a
scene. It doesn’t eliminate the need for
good descriptions or snappy dialogue but deep POV will eliminate almost all of
those pesky “show-don’t-tell” pop-ups that can plague even the best of writers.
Personally, I’m counting
on deep POV to bury some bones so deep they never come back to the surface.
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| Tender Trust |
~~~~~
Tender Trust
Alex Marsden dragged Penny Layton out
of the gutter and promised her a happily-ever-after love with a house and a
white-picket fence. But the Civil War changed their paths. Separated twice by
circumstances beyond their control, Penny learned to survive on her own, but
lost hope. Five years later when Alex miraculously returns to her, Penny
doesn't believe in happy endings or miracles. Will Alex's faith and love be
strong enough to drag Penny out of the gutter one more time?
~~~~~
Tanya Stowe is an author of Christian fiction
with an unexpected edge. She fills her stories with the unusual…gifts of the
spirit and miracles, mysteries and exotic travel, even an angel or two. No
matter where Tanya takes you…on a journey to the Old West or to contemporary
adventures in foreign lands…be prepared for the extraordinary. Connect with Tayna here:
