Practicing Point of View – Writing Exercise

The point of view of an article is how the story/scene is told to the reader. Essentially, it answers the question, “Who’s eyes are we seeing this story through?” Different points of view can tell the reader different things, some more in-depth, and others more limited. The following are the 4 types of point of view, with their benefits and limitations:

1. 1st Person – The 1st person narrator is seen through the eyes of the main character. Although the reader can both see what the narrator is seeing and what the narrator is feeling, the limitations lie in that same issue. We are only aware of things as far as the narrator knows. If the narrator isn’t there, we have no direct knowledge of what happened. 1st person narration usually takes the form of “I” story-telling.
2. 2nd Person – The least used form of narration. Usually takes the form of “you” story-telling, and tries to tell the story so that you as reader can become more involved in the happenings of the story.
3. 3rd Person Limited – 3rd person narration is told by someone other than the main character. You are allowed the same benefits and limitations of the 1st person narration. This allows you to view the story from a different vantage point. The only problem is the same as 1st person narration. The narrator is limited so far as what he/she sees.
4. 3rd Person Omniscient – This type of narrator sees all and knows all. Anything that is important to the story is told. The problem with this type of narrator is sometimes too much information can overwhelm the reader.

A good writing exercise is to practice writing the same scene through different points of view. The following is 3 examples of the same scene, in which a character is disappointed in someone. The first two examples are told 1st person, first from the point of view of the person who was disappointed, and then from the point of view of the person who did the disappointing. The final point of view is 3rd person limited, following the person who did the disappointing.

First – 1st Person Disappointed:

It was a warn, sunny day and as a child, I was living a carefree, enjoyable afternoon. Recess had been fun. We played four square and I actually won. Now the bell was ringing and I walked passed the four square area on the blacktop with a huge smile on my face. I bounced over to the fence, backpack draped over one shoulder, one shoe untied. I grabbed the chain link fence with two fingers and peered through the opening, closing one eye in the process in order to focus…

Second – 1st Person Disappointer:

I spun around in my chair, letting the stack of files crash down onto the desk as I heard a knock at the door. “Sir, Mr. Jones is on the phone. Is it alright if we move tomorrow’s meeting to 2pm?” Janet asked. “Yes, of course. Anything for Mr. Jones,” I replied, searching through the stack of files, beginning to forget exactly what I was looking for. I glanced down at my watch. Shoot. 3:30 already. He’s going to be upset with me. I picked up the phone and dialed the school’s number. “Hello, Mrs. Smith. Sorry, but I’m running a little late today. Can you keep an eye on him for a couple minutes until I can get there?”

Third – 3rd Person Limited – Disappointer:

Tom grabbed an armful of files from the bottom drawer of his file cabinet, spun his chair around towards his desk, and heaved the files down onto his desk, letting out a huge sigh in the process. “Mr. and Mrs. Townsend. Townsend. Townsend. Where are you?” he thought, rummaging through file after file. A stiff, single knock on the door snapped his head upwards, causing him to push a handful of files onto the floor. “Sir, Mr. Jones just called.”

As you can see from these examples, each point of view has different emotion and way of telling the story behind it. Dependant upon what the focus of the story is will help you determine which point of view to choose. Although this example is limited, both is scene and the fact that not all point of views are discussed, it still creates some important points. By trying this exercise, you begin to build the characters. From either first person point of view, the focus is on what the character is doing. By practicing it third person as well, you can get a better sense of the surrounding of your character, focusing both on the scene and their actions, instead of just their actions. Then, it can give you more to draw from if you choose a first person narration. You can only grow your character by practicing in this way.

In addition, you can learn more about the interaction between the characters before you actually use them. For example, from just reading the first example, the reader gets the sense that the character is generally a happy kid and is just waiting. However, by looking at the other examples, you get the sense that this probably happens a lot, and you can play off that constant disappointment in the final scene.

I suggest trying this exercise. Change the scene, the characters, and/or the point of views. Either way you will learn a lot about the characters you are trying to describe and get yourself on the path to a great story.

Kolin Kasten is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor’s Degree in English.  He is a freelance writer, whose articles can be viewed at http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kolin_Kasten

A “Brief”, Yet Important Writing Exercise – Ficbits

One of the best writing exercises I’ve found is writing what’s called a “ficbit”. A ficbit is a 50 word or less version of a story. The purpose is to tell some part of a story, whether for example it’s the plot development, individual or group character interactions, or scenes of action. The focus is to tell this scene as concise as possible. The following is an example of a ficbit:

Silent, calm, empty. Darkness surrounds me. I’m all alone. Past transgressions have resurfaced. I’m paying for my mistakes. I had it all. Perfection in every sense of the word. But now, full speed spiral into nothingness. I sit here, starring at the solution, starring at eternity in one swift act.

As you can see from the previous example, there are a lot of advantages to this type of writing exercise:

- By forcing yourself to limit the ficbit to 50 words, it really stresses the word choices you make. You need to look at your vocabulary and determine which word best suits the situation you are attempting to describe. If you can’t find that specific word, it forces you to expand your vocabulary through resources such as a thesaurus. For example, the first word of the ficbit is “silent”. I could have chosen other single words or said “it’s quiet out tonight” or “there is no sound anywhere”. Instead, I chose the word “silent” because it gives a sense of finality and since that is what the rest of my ficbit is about, “silent” was the best word choice for me.

- Even though it is only 50 words, you can really learn a lot about the scene you are trying to describe. For example, if you were writing a story and didn’t know exactly how you wanted to portray your character either in a specific situation or in general, write a ficbit about that character. In doing that, the word choices that you make or the scene that you put them in may tell you a lot about how you want to portray your character in a larger story.

- The sentence structure you choose is almost as important as the word choice. By shortening your sentences, you can practice creating suspenseful scenes because each sentence is short and concise, leaving the reader wanting more information. If you expand your sentence length, you can create a happier scene, or a character who is not tied down in their emotions as much.

- By writing different types of ficbits, you can really learn what type of writing you enjoy. For example, in my own experience, I’ve learned through these practices that I enjoy writing suspense. I like to keep the reader guessing, and get into the mind of the characters I’m portraying. Through other papers I’ve written, I’ve seen that I know how to say what I want in a short amount of words, and thus, I can leave a lot to the reader’s imagination in that way.

At the same time though, there are also some disadvantages to writing ficbits:

- By limiting yourself to 50 words, you can fall into the habit of always choosing words that carefully. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing when describing certain scenes, but you limit yourself when you want to describe something in more detail, which is sometimes necessary.

- Tying into this, short sentences are great in certain cases, and especially in ficbits because you want to give as much information as possible in a short period of time. The problem however is that short sentences, and concise word choices don’t allow for other important word plays such as analogies. For example, by simply saying it’s “silent” does tell a lot about the scene, especially taken with the rest of the information laid out in the ficbit. But if I wanted to show just how silent it is by using an analogy, the concise word choice habit is one that would have to be broken, and that can be really tough.

Ficbits can benefit writers of all skill levels. For novice writers, it can open up your eyes to choosing words carefully, expanding specific scenes, and/or finding where your talents in writing lie. For more seasoned writers, ficbits can help you find new topics to write about or how to best portray a specific character or scene. For all types of writers, I would recommend trying this writing exercise at least once in your writing career.

Kolin Kasten is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor’s Degree in English.  He is a freelance writer, whose articles can be viewed at http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kolin_Kasten