My POV on POV -- To stargazer on Head Hopping POV

My POV on POV -- To stargazer on Head Hopping POV

By m n m n I [304]

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Who's telling the story? Who's narrating?
That's the source of the Point of View.
Not necessarily the author's; he just chooses the POV.
It could be a newborn baby; or a fly on the wall;
It could be an unnamed someone who had not witnessed the events; 
or someone who claims to be an eyewitness; 
or someone who's not a participant in the story, 
but knows all about the important character(s)' history,  
able to record the conversations, 
looks into the characters' minds 
and relates their thoughts.
An author must choose a POV or several POVs -- depends on which school of thought.
Without going nuts into the details, 
the great Charles Dickens used three (3) POVs in Bleak House :
Chapter I - omniscient
Chapter II - selective omniscient
Chapter III - first person
You can look it up . . .

You did a great job questioning the POV head hopping, Stargazer. That's how you get to the truth; to be the master of your craft.

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Comments, critiques and replies

TitleByDate
I agree mnmnl, let's keep it simple. It's hard enough for me just to get all the words in the right order
churchmouse [142]08/02/2010
M n m n I, 

POV's are quite important to publishers, literary agents and book editors.  It's their POV to make money.


Seriously, the POV discussion is legit.  A lot of publishers, editors and agents are anal about it (albeit
in the beginning). It's one way of filtering out newbie writers . . . until the author becomes a 'sensation'.
 When the author becomes popular and very 'money'geable and marketable, then their greediness won't bother
with POVs.  They probably won't even hint about it lest the author might get pissed off and carries his
book to another greedy publisher. It's my opinion that it is overhyped.  If the story merits a "bestseller's"
stamp, who cares about POVs, "Show and Tells", "Genres" (some can't even pronounce
this properly) , "manuscript fonts", "submission procedures", et cetera and other
filtering agents they'd use to put a barrier between you and your dream car . . . like an Aston Martin
DB9.  What's important is the bottom line for the 'money'gers . . . "can we make money off of this
$&!%?" . . . and for the readers whose biggest question, regardless of POVs or whatnots, is:
 "is it any good?" I have yet to hear someone ask,  "what POV was it written?" 

And when it comes to family and friends, the questions always asked were:
Q: "What kind?
A: "Fiction, spy thriller"
Q: "How much?"
A: "It's affordable."

And if they'd like the answers on both counts, then there's a sale.  If not, they are not your friends
and if they're family, strike them off your will. :-)

As for my writing style, I'm just thankful I can write in English . . . and able to express myself fluently
and coherently.  Selling it is a totally different ballgame. That's when you need a lot of friends :-).
 (Don't bother selling to family, they all want a free copy :-). Did you know you'd find out how many
friends you have by a.) moving to another residence, b.) hinting you needed a loan and c.) telling them
you wrote a book. :-)

I wonder if the POV police would go after POCs. 
:-)
Grampa
Grampa Pogi [510]08/02/2010
Grampa Pogi, 

One bestselling author once said, there is a difference between "best selling author" and "best
writing author".  He said it's up to us which one we will choose.
Evita Sagalongos [206]09/02/2010
Obviously Evita, the best selling author is the one laughing his way to the bank because the reading public
put him there.  As for the best-writing author, that would be up to each author's family to decide.  :-)
One author's family would say 'their' writer is 'the best' and if you ask the mom, her 'author' would
be the best among the best . . . and "you better not forget it".  :-)
Grampa
Grampa Pogi [510]09/02/2010
That's what I'm here for-write, learn and explore. ;)
stargazer [51]11/02/2010
Thanks for touching out, stargazer
You've got it pat
Keep on writing
Explore the POVs and the latitudes of the narrator
m n m n I [304]11/02/2010

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