Developing Deep Point of View

by DiAnn Mills, @diannmills

Writers hear so much about deep point of view, yet we question where it fits and how to use it?

Much of the curiosity is centered on today’s readers. Fifty, a hundred or more years ago, a reader picked up a novel and said, “I want to find out what Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are doing.” Today’s reader says, “I want to be Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, or sweet Becky.” As writers, we must pay attention to how we present our stories.

To determine the perfect POV, a writer asks the following with the knowledge only one character must surface:

• What character has the most to lose?
• What character has the most to gain?
• Are the risks/dangers/high stakes worth the character’s effort?

The character filters every word of the scene through his/her sensory perception and emotions. This allows the writer to pave the way for the reader to live the scene vicariously through the eyes of the character.

Deep POV allows the reader to step easily into the viewpoint character’s shoes, experiencing every action and reaction through the character’s senses. The reader wants to be that character. He/she has stepped into the story player’s closet (head), dressed in those traits, and emerged as the POV character.

The action is happening now and it’s intimate. The writer has left the premise. The key word is SHOW what the character experiences. Telling is taboo.

A writer cannot write effective deep POV unless they know the character inside and out. Everything emerges from who the character is, what the character has experienced in the past, and who they are before chapter one, line one. It’s impossible to begin the story without a thorough knowledge of who is at the driver’s wheel.

To master this technique, search for areas in the manuscript where the character sees, hears, tastes, smells, or touches—and rewrite the passage so the character experiences the action. Keywords often signal where the writer has strayed from Deep POV: realized, wondered, scanned, know, recognized, and the sensory tell words: see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. Telling prepositional phrases can also toss the reader out of the character’s head.

Deep point of view helps the writer to show rather than tell, but the technique is more about creating a close relationship between the character and the reader. The internal dialogue, emotions, and body language must come from the character’s heart and mind, providing the reader with more intimacy.

Emotions play a huge factor in mastering deep POV, accomplishing two important factors:

1. The reader is more committed to the story because he or she has become the character.
2. The writer takes the mindset “I am the character,” instead of “I’m writing about the character.”

“In deep point of view the character owns the page and the author becomes nonexistent.” Rhay Christou

Examples

Not Deep POV: I felt the force of the bullet pierce my leg, and I wondered if all the blood was really mine.

Deep POV: A jolt of fiery hot pain seared my leg.

Not Deep POV: She realized he’d been lying to her all along, and the thought brought anger to the surface.

Deep POV: He’d cheated on her repeatedly. She slammed her fist onto the table.

How Many Viewpoints?

Writers often ask how many viewpoints are needed to accomplish the theme and purpose of the novel. Every time a writer forces a reader to change a POV, a shift occurs, and a reader must adjust. Choose the minimum number of adjustments necessary to master the story effectively. I encourage you to give your character more than one role.

How does the setting affect POV? When the choice of POV centers on which character has the most to lose, the setting may be a deciding point, especially if the setting is antagonistic to the protagonist.

Deep POV takes the reader on an intimate adventure in which they play the starring role with the POV character. Not every scene needs to be in deep POV. Choose the type of level that works for your scene. Think emotion and reader experience.

While Varying Degrees of POV is not exactly deep POV, I believe looking at these options will successfully draw the reader into your story.

Varying POV degrees sets the psychic distance between the reader and the character. According to the goal of the scene and the character’s traits and role in the story, a writer can choose first or third person to write distant, close, or intense POV. Powerful scenes emerge from deepening POV to an intense level, but I’ve also read terrifying scenes from a distant viewpoint. Intense emotional distance calls for deep POV. How far does the writer want to draw the reader into the scene? The distance the writer chooses for the character to internalize what previously occurred varies per:

1. The action prompting the character’s reaction.
2. The traits assigned to the character guiding how the character views life in a range of introversion to extraversion.
3. The character’s fears and past wounds.
4. The character’s goal or problem to solve.
5. The character’s knowledge of the incident.
6. The ability of the character to process information honestly.

Some scenes require a close emotional distance, such as a character’s revelation or facing a hard truth. Other scenes may have more impact with greater distances, such as a character who doesn’t have all the information. An unstable character, especially one who is insensitive, evil, or selfish can set the stage for a gripping scene.

Example:

Distant: While having coffee at Starbucks with my neighbor, I glanced out the window. “Look at all the traffic heading into town.”

Close: In between sips of coffee at Starbucks with my neighbor, I glanced out the window. “There’s one red truck after another heading into town.”

Intense: I pointed to the traffic, coughed, and spit hot coffee onto my sweatshirt. “Dad’s driving his truck into town. The doctor hasn’t released him yet.”

Effective Deep POV allows the reader to squeeze into every word. The writer chooses the character and the depth of the experience according to character and plot.

Is Deep POV a technique for your story?

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She weaves memorable characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels with threads of romance. DiAnn believes every breath of life is someone’s story, so why not capture those moments and create a thrilling adventure? 

Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards, Selah, Golden Scroll, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. 

DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, an active member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and International Thriller Writers. DiAnn continues her passion of helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country. 

DiAnn has been termed a coffee snob and roasts her own coffee beans. She’s an avid reader, loves to cook, and believes her grandchildren are the smartest kids in the universe. She and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas. 

DiAnn is very active online and would love to connect with readers on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, BookBub, YouTube, LinkedIn or her website: diannmills.com

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay