Editing for Deep POV
This writing tips series began after I attended a webinar in late July the subject of which was deep third person POV . Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4 of this series are available if you want to catch-up on the topic. As promised, here are more tips gleaned from the presentation that you may find helpful as I know they will be for me.
One characteristic of deep POV is the elimination of narrative distance. What does this mean? Simply put, the reader lives with the POV character as the events happen instead of being informed or directed by a narrator. In other words, instead of using a narrative voice with tags that cue the reader on activity and dialogue by the main POVC, the deep POV style lets the reader experience the action with the main POVC. For example:
Narratvie usage: When the door opened, Martha turned with surprise and said, “Who’s there?”
Deep POV: The door banged open. Martha whirled. “Who’s there?”
Notice the difference? There’s not a tag for Martha’s question. Also the action is ongoing in the second example which is accomplished by the verb usage and dropping unnecessary conditions and descriptions. In so doing, the narrative excess is removed along with the telling and passivity.
In my next post, I’ll focus on another characteristic of deep POV and how it is applied.
Want more pointers? Try these resources for deep POV:
Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Writer’s Guide to Emotion: Fiction Writing Tools by Sherry Soule
Check out Janice Hardy’s Fiction University.
Do you use deep POV? Why or why not? How do you utilize these and other aspects of this technique. I love receiving comments so feel free to leave one via the form. Also, you can receive notifications about this blog by email and even receive coupon to download my award-winning short story for free. Sign-up and download today!
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P. H. Solomon
About the Author
P. H. Sol
omon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.
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Hi there, I enjoy reading through your post. I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
Hi, thanks for leaving a comment and visit often. What kind of books do you read?
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you
make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would
like to find out where u got this from. thanks
This is a free theme from WordPress where I am hosted. I cannot afford a custom theme at this time though I hope to change that in the near future. Check out WordPress for hosting your site if you’re interested – it’s rather easy.
Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.
Thx, also try reading, Rivet Your Readers with Deep POV: http://www.amazon.it/Rivet-Your-Readers-With-Point/dp/1470063859
Reblogged this on The Writers Room.
Thx for the re-blog – sorry this got caught in my spam filter for some reason.
You’re welcome. Nice post!! I think POV and especially deep POV is very challenging for writers to master.
Yes, I have found that true myself but I think my use of it is improving my writing. How about you?
I can’t say I have a big handle on it but it definitely increases immediacy and is a show don’t tell solver.
If you don’t have it, try The Emotion Thesaurus by Ackerman – good reference for improving deep POV. I’m still fumbling with it all myself but at least I see where the problems are regarding show/tell.
Thx 🙂 I’ll have a look at it!
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, thanks for stopping by 2day!
Thx for the link back to my post!
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I’m glad it was helpful to you – come back when you can. What type fiction do you read?
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Happy New Year! Thank you for visiting my site today and reading this post. I’m glad you found it useful.