My writing coach told me to try different things in my writing, as often as I can. It adds variety and depth to your stories. It is kind of fun to experiment. Scenes that are not written omnisciently, I find, are actually a little more engaging, sometimes. Write the scene, perhaps, from the point of view of the baby who is sitting on a lady’s lap. Or maybe from the dog’s POV, as he is lying on the carpet – you know, sideways and from the floor. Or soar in from the sky, over the rooftops, through the branches of the tree, under the overhang of the porch and into the lap of the old woman who is rocking on her old country porch. Or what about this…? How about writing the story or scene from the viewpoint of an autistic child? Or a blind man? Or the crazy squirrel who is hanging on the screen door, panicked and wild eyed? I know, I know, you’re supposed to keep the same POV throughout the story. I ask, ‘Says who?’ Break the rules little now and then. Writing is an expression of your soul. And it is intensely fun to let it out occasionally to speak its mind.
My favorite experiment, so far, with this type of skewed viewpoint is a very short clip that has to do with the death of a martyr. The reader is brought in through a raindrop that falls gently over the leaves of a low plant. From there, the scene takes place around the hems and boots of the people watching the young girl get burned at the stake. You move forward until you’re face to face with the girl…and the demon who taunts her. Then, in the last breath, you explode into the sky and view the scene from the sparks that ride on the night wind. Great fun! Go ahead, express yourself!
Good short stories can come out of these radical POV's.
ReplyDeleteI like your description of the rain drop POV as it follows a martyr's death...sounded very captivating.
Thank you! That one was a lot of fun to write.
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