Overview Voice: Third Person Point of View

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

The third person point of view, sometimes referred to as limited omniscient, chooses a central character and tells the story through her thoughts, feelings, and experience.

One advantage of this focus is the ability to give some distance for general information and also become a close-up for personal insight. For example, here’s an excerpt from my MG novel Betta’s Song.

“The sun was descending when Jael began to fuss again. After the song she rested quietly all afternoon on Narah’s back, even when the sun beat down on them hot and fierce. The hills had gradually been growing steeper. Narah’s whole body hurt.

“Look Jael, see the hill ahead. On the other side must be the village. It is a day’s walk and we have walked all day. Soon we will have food and water.”

Narah angled her body into the climb to balance Jael’s weight and slowly pushed upward eagerly. Finally the top! Then she slumped to her knees in disbelief. No village, no people, nothing, but instead miles of rolling hills with a heavy veil hanging over them. It was the Valley of Shimmering Heat.”

Hopefully, in this episode, I’ve connected the readers to the danger the girls are now in as well as Narah’s sense of responsibility and emotional exhaustion. And raised the question, what will happen next?

Nancy Lamb, Crafting Stories for Children, considers that the advantages for third person, single point of view, offer the advantages that the reader identifies with a specific character, and “your narrative horizons are expanded.” She adds that the “opportunity to interpret events is enlarged.”

This advantage became a strong factor in this novel as not only did Narah need to go deep emotionally, but also had to follow several relational threads and a mystery. It would not have been possible to track the perceptions she needed to identify and experience in her upheaval. in  a different point of view.

Action Steps:

            One disadvantage considered for this point of view is the same as for first person in that the story is limited to one character. However, when you do use multiple third person you can also risk losing a focal point with too many opinions.

1.     Choose a short story or scene that is told in a limited pov and expand it to be told from another’s viewpoint as well.

2.     Then take a chapter or scene that is using third person for two or three character and rewrite from only one.

            Share: What got lost or gained in each variation?

Read deep, marcy

Betta’s Song Book Launch

Betta’s Song Book Launch

 Family, Faith, Mystery, Courage, Choices, Action and Adventure.

When bandit soldiers raid eleven-year-old Narah’s village, she finds herself abandoned except for toddler Jael. While attempting to reach her uncle in the next town, they are found by foreign Suman soldiers who send them to a hostile household as servants.

Can Narah overcome her fear enough to uncover hidden secrets and reach out to help others, including her enemies? Will her compassion for others, her desire to be reunited with her grandmother, and her growing faith in the Most High God be enough to sustain her through her trials?

E-book. Ages 8-12

Available now on Amazon: Marcy Weydemuller

                                               

Click on the cover and go straight to Amazon. Hope you enjoy her story. If so, please take a few minutes to post a review, or a star rating, or both. Thanks!

Read Deep

                                                           Marcy

Overview Voice: Omniscient Point of View

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

The omniscient author/narrator knows everything about everyone including each one’s thoughts and motivations, even when the characters themselves don’t know. It allows many views of viewing an incident from many personalities and perceptions. And this narrator assumes complete control as to what information to share.

Think of a detective taking down all the statements of witnesses at a robbery or accident scene. The reader will get a wide scope and insight that a single character cannot give. And it can show friction if the statements conflict with each other.

However this style also creates emotional distance. We don’t really know what the characters are feeling. Both tone and atmosphere are set by the narrator as to whether he unravels the story with a touch of amusement or sarcasm or compassion. Can the reader trust him?

For the younger audience the choice can be confusing if not done with great skill. Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White, and Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne are two examples of the omniscient view done well for this age.

A YA audience may find this POV helpful when reading on a topic or activity that is painful or contradictory by giving them emotional space to process diverse ideas. However it can also cause disengagement or more confusion if lacking a strong thread.

Action Steps:

1.Take a key scene that you have written and re-write it as if a neutral observer fly on the wall detached narrator. You cannot enter your character’s thinking. Values and judgments are implied.

            2. Now reread your original scene and note what you lost and what you gained in understanding from this different perspective.

            3. Can you strengthen your choice version by implementing new insight?

  

Share: Did any details surprise you?

Read deep, marcy

Overview Voice: Point of View

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

“Any story could be written from any point of view.” Jack Hodgins

Then Hodgins asks, what effect does the material need to have?

Several weeks ago we looked at how tone is expressed throughout the story in several ways. It includes the writer’s voice in that it will be consistent with his/her work worldview and the point of view from which the story is being shared. Tone includes attitudes, the world at large, the genre, the age group, and the physical setting. Tone grows organically in response to the character’s background, attitudes, dynamics, and insights as well as purpose.

However the decision regarding the narrator’s point of view will determine the degree in which tone and voice influence both the story and the reader’s reception.  In fiction point of view is often either omniscient, third person, or first person. In non-fiction the point of view most often translates into informational, camera angle, or personal narrative.

Each perspective, each choice, has limitations and possibilities and, according to Hodgins, also carries a responsibility to deliver. The choice not only involves the material but also the reader’s experience.

So, how to choose?

First take a look at what feels most natural to you and your voice. What form do you gravitate to both as a reader and a writer?

Action Steps:

1.     Look at your current stack of books you are in the process of reading.  Make a list of the point of view perspectives.

2.     Do you have a variety or one in particular? By choice or not?

3.     Look for similarities and differences in particular genres or topics.

4.     Which appeals to you personally? Why?

            Share: What narrator persona do you want to be for this specific story you are writing? Why?

Read deep, marcy

Overview Setting: Case Study: Invisible Light by Marcy Weydemuller

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

Some of the joys and heartaches of writing are the surprises that turn up unexpectedly—especially after the first draft is completed. We discover a thread we had not intended but does work well, or we have written ourselves into a corner that doesn’t seem to have an answer.

So I thought I’d share with you a dilemma I faced after my first few drafts of Invisible Light that I hadn’t considered. And how setting helped me to solve it. And it may have mattered to no one but me.

Ashia’s story set in contemporary San Francisco. The poetry fairy tale story Ashia wrote is set in a loose version of medieval times. Both stories seemed as far apart as possible and I wanted their connection to be organic and not orchestrated.

As I read over I realized that the setting and tone in the fairy tale were often connecting with Ashia’s confusion emotionally and when I followed that thread I found a connection that helped me with the edit draft.

I don’t know that it will make sense to anyone else but in this project setting helped me find a bridge.  I’ve posted one excerpt below.

Share: What have you written recently that surprised you?

Read deep, marcy

Excerpt Invisible Light Chapter Four

“He chose my childhood play tower for my dungeon

memories of sunlit days

hidden behind layered moss, an ivy-sewn shroud.

Meeting of sky and water; river falling,

hurrying toward the sea.

Makeshift planks stretch across soggy banks

hesitant boards crackle under foot weight.

Masons quickly finish bricking parapet.

haunted faces refuse to look us in the eye,

melt into air as doorway closes.” …

…“Ashia sighed. She did know. It was the complete dismissal of anything Ashia told her about the situation at school. Her mom kept saying give it time—this city is different—or other ridiculous clichés. Another thing the real Erinn Vaega would never include in her thoughts. The reason she was so good in her field was the accuracy with which she could discern insincerity, false motives, and hidden agendas.

            Had they both fallen under some kind of spell when they visited the office? Ashia felt like she had with the fatigue that clung to her almost every moment at school.”…

Overview Setting: Genre Focus: Fantasy

Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults

“The created fantasy world must have its own immutable laws.” Jane Yolen

The key to fantasy is belief.

Setting is integral to fantasy and science fiction. Sometimes the setting is a ‘character’ itself. But even when not used as a character it must become integral to the reality.

Jane Yolen notes that once you set up the ‘laws’ of the land: its premises and its logic—you cannot break it. Science Fiction leans on scientific laws or inventions. Magic has consequences.

In Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte could not be magically saved. There is only one ring that enables invisibility in The Lord of the Rings series, by J.R.R. Tolkien. In Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, only Max can choose to return away to his bedroom.

           

Reality is established through place, character, and voice. Jane Yolen divides created worlds into three categories: earthbound, faerie, and tourist

Earthbound is action in our world with possibly fantastic characters such as found in Wind in The Willows, the Borrowers, or Mary Poppins.

Faerie includes The Hobbit, The Riddle-Master of Hed. They are in worlds totally apart both in time and space. They include High Fantasy and usually include a serious tone of good and evil.

Tourist is a traveler who finds his way to another time, or world, or dimension. Tom’s Midnight Garden, the land of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland and Hogwart’s School are some examples of this category. This category can be serious or humorous or both.

Just as an historical setting establishes place, historical framework, season, time of day, moods, and atmosphere so integral is the same to fantasy and science fiction. It must be authentic to its premises.

And, like an historical, decisions need to be made re what are the key factors that you want to maintain as its influence?

Action Steps:

            If fantasy or science fiction is your interest it is important to be well read.

           

            1. Choose whichever categories most interests you and set up a reading list of two different series for two different age groups.

            Or, if you are not sure which draws you the most, choose two books from each category to read over the next few months.

            2. Keep a personal reading log as you read, watching for gems of brilliance and pieces that don’t work. Write down why you think it worked or why not.

Share: What is your favorite fantasy novel? Why?

Read deep, marcy

Light That Fractures Thank you!

Thank you new readers for choosing Light That Fractures to read. Hope you enjoy.

Please take a few minutes to post a review, or a star rating, or both. Thanks!


Invisible Light-Book Two-Available 

Meet Ashia, a teenager uprooted from her home and family battles against depression and hopelessness to find God’s light.

When seventeen-year-old Ashia abruptly moves to San Francisco five months before her graduation, she is propelled into isolation both at home, and school, where she is seen as an intruder. When she uncovers a web of deceit exposing a counterfeit principal manipulating the school system for personal gain, her emotional darkness begins to close around her. Ashia attempts to battle depression and hopelessness. She searches for the Lord’s light and finds refuge in her poetry.

Click on the cover and go straight to Amazon. 

Read Deep, Marcy