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| Photo credit: Flickr queensu |
without a connection, readers have a book down and shallow perspective can often be an important factor in the reason.
So how do you write in-depth perspective? How do you establish this connection? Although there is not a foolproof system, guaranteed (because, of course, all drives are different), there are five things that play into a perspective that feels real.
- Through their eyes. So I wrote a whole post about writing the description by the character a while, so I will not repeat that part into too much detail, but the thing to remember is when you write either the first or third person limited all must be filtered through the eyes of the character POV. The description is not neutral; it is an extension of the spirit of the POV character. What seems your character in their POV is later proved not to be.
- Thoughts. When writing in close POV, readers should be aware of all the thoughts of your character's POV. What they think of other people, their attitudes toward a given situation, how they interpret events around them, etc. Remember to think about what your character is thinking about at any given time, so that we understand what the world and the events mean to them.
- Emotions. Similarly, whenever something happens to your character, you want to think about how they feel. Missing emotion is a fairly common reason why readers do not connect with the characters; after all, it's really hard to sympathize with someone who is emotionally arresting you on. This is something I struggled with my own writing in the first drafts of Beyond the Red , for example, was well placed to be strong Kora she locked me, the writer out and really hard for me to understand what she was feeling that the events took place. It took a lot of targeted revision and insistence on my part to really delve into his character and make him mine, and readers show that it was not as cold as it sometimes seemed.
in this regard, however, is making sure you show emotions of your character POV rather than telling readers about them. Saying "I am angry" is not nearly as effective as showing that anger, the way it physically affects your character the way it colors their thinking, dialogue and action. I wrote a post about writing the actual emotion some time focused on what exactly, and I strongly recommend The Emotion Thesaurus Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, which makes showing emotion exponentially easier. - physical sensations. Of the five senses, to pain, to how emotions affect your physical POV characters, physical sensations are essential to make readers feel as if they live in your character POV done. By immersing readers in sensory images your POV character knows the world, you pull them deeper in your book.
- (No) filtering. And last, but not least, the removal of filter expressions is a great way to strengthen and deepen the perspective writing. Filter phrases like "I saw it", "she realized," "he felt," "they felt, etc." all distance readers point of view, because it adds a layer of writer-speak that subtly reminds readers that they read a book. I explain in detail about this in the linked post, so I will not say much more, but by limiting the amount of filter phrases you use can be a great way to deepen POV.
So those are five ways to help forge a link between your character and your readers POV. It can be hard work, and quite something you can register for revisions, in passing, but it is a job that I find pays in the end every time.
Have you tried these methods to deepen the POV character in your writing
Twitter-sized bites:
Struggling to get readers to connect to your characters? @Ava_Jae Shares 5 tips POV-deepening. (Click for tweeter)
How do you get readers to connect to your characters? @Ava_Jae Share 5 tips. #writetip (Click for tweeter)
