Wednesday 1 February 2012

My Viewpoint On Point of View



I took this picture of my shed from the house, from the outside looking in (note the progress -- windows!  walls!)  It's a particular perspective: it gives me a sense of location and proportion; I've got a great idea of how my little bolthole relates to all the other buildings and the landscape beyond.  I can glimpse some of the interior-- the beginnings of a stud wall, the suggestion of a window, but it's a bit murky and I can't see much.

In writing terms, this is a little bit like working in the third person, from the point of view of he/she, rather than I/me.  There's an externalised feel to it.  Although the third person doesn't reveal too much of the inner psyche of other characters because sometimes it lacks the intense feeling of intimacy that a first person narrative can evoke, it is incredibly flexible: you have a universal viewpoint, all seeing, all knowing, which enables you to follow the progress of one character for a time and then change courses and focus on another, rather than being confined to one narrator.

This means that at any given moment you can swing round and reveal an entirely different vista...

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