Writing

1359 readers

1 users here now

Discuss writing, post craft resources, ask for feedback, etc!

No misconduct, including: harassment, abuse, assault, bullying, illegal activity, or discrimination.

Follow all sh.itjust.works rules.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

ElizabethEarle@sh.itjust.works

For fiction writing: choosing a perspective (and sticking with it?) (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by suteaka@lemmy.world to c/writing@sh.itjust.works

1 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It seems that, about half of the time, I'll start writing a story in one narrative form and then part-way through decide it would actually be better told in another perspective (usually switching from first person to third person limited or vice-versa).

I'm wondering how everyone else chooses a narrative perspective in your fiction writing. Do you have a go-to favorite? Do you arbitrarily choose one and stick with it? Or are you like me and play around with point of view until it seems to "fit" the story?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Paragone@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

Truly-professional writing engineers the perspective to the story-requirements..

"Stein on Writing" gave some of it, but "The Story Grid" & Coyne's analysis-versions of some excellent stories go into it..

Coyne's go-to one was .. "Silence of the Lambs".

7 perspectives in that one, iirc.

Stein said it best, though, the essence of it: "DON'T give your reader what they want!"

They want you to resolve everything?

Amplify the tension!

They want to find-out what happened here?

Throw in a chapter from another perspective!

Stories' worth is measured in sentience process, in emotion, in feelings, in sentience-richness, not in plot-points ..

So, what engineering-of-perspective can increase the wealth in a story's experiencing?

( Truby's 2 books, the 2 books listed in that 2nd sentence, above, & "Presenting to Win" 3rd edition, all are recommended: each identifies principles which cut-through-the-guff, giving leverage for writers.

Lanier's "Foreign to Familiar" on tropical-to-nordic culture-spectrum, & old-city-vs-new-city culture-spectrum, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory, in his "Exploring Culture" book, these show how different-cultural-roots alter human potential in specific ways, which story-writers need to understand, too.. Woodard's "American Nations" & Fussell's book(s) on the North American Class System help in understanding how cultures control our meanings, too. )

_ /\ _