On Apr 7, 2012, at 9:26 AM, Nat Russo wrote: > It took me a minute to catch the PoV shift you spoke about, but I think I see > it now. Presenting the 50+ guards before John reacts seems to be a shift > from John's point of view to some sort of omniscient point of view. > > There were definitely a few things about that first example that just > bothered me, another of which is suspense, even if only for a moment. Having > him swear in reaction before presenting what he's reacting to seems to > increase tension a little bit, at least in this case. > > Thanks again for you willingness to answer all of my newbie questions :) > > Regards, > Nat
POV can be tricky. You have a camera, so to speak, floating in the sky and you need to have one character in focus (your POV character, even if your narration is limited omniscient (most popular narrative choice among modern authors). So, you pull the camera back and suddenly you're into unlimited omniscient; that was very popular back in the late 19th, early 20th Century. "Unknown to John, just around the corner a full squad of guards waited . . ." "Meanwhile, back at the ranch." Modern readers like dialogue, followed by narrative, then description, for a reason: they've seen a lot of movies and they expect the narrative to flow a certain way. Jump cuts, i.e. shifts in POV are OK, as long as they follow a certain logic. If you're going to break the rules, you better be Tarantino and the film better be Pulp Fiction. If it's a book, you better be Zelazney and the book better be Roadmarks. Best, R.E.F. ---- www.crydee.com Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.
