1st person, 3rd person omniscient, 3rd person limited... This is how we talk about P.O.V.
Yet, it's not exactly a thorough description of how we write a story. Say we tell a story in 3rd person limited. There's still a lot of different ways to write that perspective, even if we're limiting ourselves to one person's point of view. I think of it in terms of camera angles. Have you listened to any good DVD commentary lately? A director can film the exact same scene a number of ways and through the use of camera angles and the closeness of the shot, emphasize a dozen different things.
In the story I'm working on right now, the P.O.V. is third person limited and I'm envisioning it almost all in close shots. Perspectives where you close right in on the character and the background is just that, the setting is less important than what his hands are doing. There's not much extra space in this story.
Now I'm curious, what other kinds of non-writing analogies do you have for describing the perspective and/or atmosphere/mood of a piece of writing?
3 comments:
Interesting. That is the way I see it when I read a story. Are we close up on the person or in wide angle? A good story is a movie playing in my head. And, like writing, I'm doing a lot of the casting decisions and creating the sets.
But when I'm writing it's whoever's eyes I'm looking out of. Whether it's 1st or 3rd person. Even in limited 3rd, if the POV character can't see it, then I as the author can't see it either. To use the movie analogy, I'm the actor, not the camera.
I almost always imagine my stories as a movie i'm retelling...I think that's why people often comment that my fiction reminds them of a movie...
That's interesting, Deb. I wonder how else people could relate to the movie analogy. Does director/actor cover it, or am I missing one?
Hey Tony, good to see you on this blog. It definitely makes sense that if writing is a movie in your head, it'll be one in your readers' as well.
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