BLOWING UP YOUR POV
POV. Point of view.
I started paying closer attention to
point of view when I read a few reviews criticizing master romance writer, Nora
Roberts, for mixing her POVs. “Shameful,” said one reviewer. “Incredible,”
wrote another. How could she? Didn’t she know any better? All because Nora had
the audacity to write this:
“He
needed, craved, the touch, the taste. Now. All of her, all his.
Now
those stars exploded, blinding her. She couldn’t get her breath as sensations
pummeled her.”
The flack flung Nora’s way was
because she began a chapter in the perspective of one character and, in the
midst of an intense scene, nonchalantly finished the chapter in the perspective
of a second character. With a small smirk, I noted that changing perspectives
wherever and whenever she felt like it had not hurt Nora Roberts’ books sales
one teensy bit.
Curiosity piqued now, I conducted a
small survey of well-known writers over the past few decades on their
particular use of POV.
The writings of Dashiell Hammett, a hard-boiled
detective writer in the 1930s and 40s, were not earthshaking when it came to
perspective. He kept religiously to third person past tense.
“Spade
sank into his swivel chair, made a quarter turn to face her, smiled politely.”
Ditto for western and crime writer, Elmore Leonard.
He wrote for decades in third person selling not only books but movies as well.
Hombre and Get Shorty were two of his best.
But mystery writer, Sue Grafton,
decided to mix things up back in 1982 when the reader learned her stories
through the first person perspective of sassy Kinsey Millhone, a wonderful
female protagonist written by a wonderful woman writer. (Note the excitement
for my gender?) Sue wrote:
“My
name is Kinsey Millone. I’m a private investigator, licensed by the state of
California. I’m thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids. The day before
yesterday I killed someone and the fact weighs heavily on my mind.”
Grafton not only switched voice, from third to first
person, but she changed from present tense to past in the same paragraph. Changing
tenses wasn’t done successfully until then either.
J.A. Jance, another successful
mystery writer, grew even bolder in the 2000s. In “Dance of the Bones”, she
wrote all the main characters’ viewpoints in third person past tense except for
J.P. Beaumont, one of her major protagonists. We learned J.P.’s contribution
through the all-important first person. When Beaumont spoke, we paid more
attention. His small but mighty input not only furthered the story but helped
in its resolution.
“Excitement
bubbled in Brandon Walker’s voice and in mine as well. We were a pair of old
hounds who had just caught a scent. It was a very faint scent and one that
might not pan out, but it was still here, and we were on it.”
But no writer strayed into the POV red zone: writing
in first person, present tense until the blockbuster novel Fifty Shades of Grey became a literary phenomenon. Say what you
will about her book, E.L. James managed to pull off nothing short of a coup
when she wrote her trilogy in first person, present.
Unbelievable! Critics cried her
books were trash and so poorly written. Maybe so but they made publishing
history and blew up forever some antiquated notions of writing.
“His
long index finger presses the button summoning the elevator and we stand
waiting—awkwardly on my part, coolly self-possessed on his.”
I feel like I’m in the elevator with
Christian and Anastasia, don’t you?
That was the point of the author’s
point of view.
Everything in the world has changed
in the last hundred years and it’s fine that styles of writing have evolved as
well. The detached third person point of view has slowly made way for the more
involved first person POV to join it center stage. As authors, it’s wonderful
to have more choice. As a mystery and romance writer, I am thrilled to be able
to experiment with my writing.
Here’s a toast to blowing up your
POV!
Check out my website at www.jeanneharrell.com
and my amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/Jeanne-Harrell
