Writing Narrative from a Character's Perspective

 

I usually write in a close third-person point-of-view. That means the narrative is coming from inside my POV character’s head using her thought processes, observations, and vocabulary.

Take description, for example. If my POV character is materialistic and tends to notice what people wear and how they furnish their homes, the narrative should include those details. If the character isn’t observant, the description should be minimal or non-existent—unless she has some particular reason for noticing the details in a specific situation.

Or consider this advice: use as much word variety as possible to make the narrative more interesting. I could use “couch” in one paragraph and refer to the same item of furniture as a “sofa” in another. That’s good word variety, but would my POV character really use the terms interchangeably? Some people do, but if my character wouldn’t, I shouldn’t, either. And sometimes the attempt at word variety creates confusion, such as using “cleaner” to refer to a vacuum cleaner even though many readers use to word to refer to household cleaning products such as Pine-Sol. One friend from my weekly critique group tried to avoid repeating the word “corn” by calling it “maize” the second time, but her POV character is a contemporary teenager who is unlikely to think of that word. I suggested just using “corn” twice, but she had a better solution and managed to get rid of the second reference altogether.

The same goes for grammar. If my character isn’t a stickler for it, I shouldn’t be, either. But I can’t stray too far or my readers will assume I don’t understand or respect good grammar, and that doesn’t work, either.

In the end, it becomes a balancing act. Dialogue would be deadly if we put in each “ah” and “um” from everyday life, and the same is true of narrative. Although it should create the impression of reality, it doesn’t have to mimic life.

Still, it’s nice to get as close as possible without boring the reader.

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The photo at the top of this page shows “The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin.