TV, mapquest and initials, oh my
If your book has an omnipresent narrator, he or she sees and knows all. You know, like when you watch TV and two characters are on the phone, line down the middle of the screen. You can see both characters, hear what they’re saying. You know what each is doing and maybe even what they’re thinking. If you remember the show The Wonder Years, that show was from little Kevin Arnold’s POV. We knew what he was thinking — and although we could see all the characters — we were not inside their heads. If you had a kid who ever watched the old Disney show Lizzie McGuire, same thing.
In writing — if the reader is given access to all the knowledge and thoughts of every character — or even a few — this can be akin to head-jumping. And it can be done. It has been done. But for those of us tampering with genres and trying to publish — it’s a good idea to pick a narrator, a POV, and stick with him or her. When an author allows the reader multiple vantage points within the same book, chapter, page or even paragraph, I liken it driving to a restaurant you went to a year ago, only to find it’s now a dry cleaners. You thought you knew where you were going, but you were wrong. You stop and think, “Wait, I thought there was a restaurant here.” You go back over your directions, your memories, the last time you were there.
And if that happens when you’re reading — well if it happens to me — I stop.
My suggestion is to pick a head and stay in it — through a chapter at least. In third person writing I find it makes the story more intimate, more palpable. My method for making sure I stay in one character’s head — is:
WW_K?
What Would (your character’s name) Know?
When writing or editing a third-person story (I find it easier in first person) this helps me stay in one person’s head. I can’t write what he or she wouldn’t know. I can write what they see, hear and think. I can write whatever he or she is privy to — meaning the actions and spoken words of others, as well as the setting. No matter when I change POV’s – within the same story — or not — this helps me make sure I’m not head-jumping when I don’t mean to — or when I really, really want to, but shouldn’t.
I’ve not written with an all-knowing narrator — have you?
How do you stay in your chosen POV?
Or…do you not?
I’m going through my NaNo novel now, where I allowed myself to just write as the words came, so one of the things I’m doing now is fixing POV issues. For example, if the MC puts her head in her hands, she can’t SEE that her dad is glaring at her. She can hear the anger in his voice, or hear that he’s stomping away, but she can’t SEE it.
I enjoy this part of it — making sure she looks up if there’s a particular gesture I want to include. Also, this wip has three POV’s, so I sometimes have to double check who I’m writing as so I don’t get it mixed up.
I always tend to write in first person. It’s limiting because you only have the mc’s pov, and other people’s opinions have to be directly overheard or found out through other means, but I prefer it. It’s more personal, I prefer it when I’m reading as well.
For some reason, this isn’t a problem for me. I’ve never head hopped. Maybe because I started out as a first person writer (chick lit).
Also . . . with third person, for each chapter, I tend to choose whose chapter it is. And from the first sentence or first word, they own that chapter, so it’s easy to stay “in” them. Like Do They Wear High Heels in heaven . . . each chapter was even titled with the character who was writing it.
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Hi Amy! Great post! I’ve only written books or stories following one POV, but when I read a novel with three alternating narrators, I feel the pull to try it myself. I get tired of having my protag in every scene. On the other hand, when I’m reading and I love the narrator’s voice, it drives me nuts when two chapters later I have to start all over again getting to know a new narrator. (Like your dry cleaners example–perfect by the way!)