Outtakes 392

Point of View

By Cait Collins

I do not make detailed character sketches or outlines.  That much organization makes me want to go to one of the happy places people tell me about.  You know the places where there’s no stress.  My writing style is more of dump it in and edit later.  Maybe that’s why I often have problems with point of view. I often mix Points Of view (POV) in the same scene.

I’m often asked if I intended the story to be told from an Omniscient Point of View.  That might work if I wrote non-fiction or educational material.  But I write women’s fiction, plays, screenplays, and memoirs.  These genres have definite points of view.

For example, the heroine in my current work has returned home after seven years as an actress.  She’s found a measure of happiness and fulfillment managing her uncle’s pottery shop.  All of a sudden, the past comes crashing in and threatening to destroy her new world. The story is told from three major points of view: the heroine, the hero, and the antagonists.  I think I finally have found the way to keep from violating the POV.  When I change the actual setting of the story, I start a new chapter with a new speaker and a new POV.