Week Seven: "Avoid the fear of the page"

This week we were exploring points of view and how different points of view can be effectively used in a narrative.

The resource page opened with the following, which I found encapsulated what we were studying perfectly:

“Point of view is a brilliant way of both revealing narrative action and giving away enormous amounts of character information. The reader may infer from the judgment on the situation the character makes. We get to see their prejudices, their blind spots, their delusions, their attractions, all while watching them involved in the action of the narrative.

“Point of view is an instant way of bringing your reader into the world of the story. It also allows the writer to play with a form of dramatic irony as the character's views diverge from alternative, contesting views of reality the story is covertly offering.”

Here are my notes on this week’s readings:

Puppy by George Saunders

This story was the primary story we examined as a seminar group and were prompted to explore in our preparatory work. Below are the question prompts and the rough answers/notes I made:

1. How does Saunders generate a clear POV from the start of Puppy? Consider the different kinds of idiom and imagery used by the two characters in the story.

The story immediately portrays Marie as someone who makes her own decisions; she makes snap judgements and indirectly tells us things about the character by being in her head. The narrative moves very quickly, like a natural train-of-thought, and it is clear that Marie’s perspective is heavily influenced by her own personal experiences and reflections. Being in the close-third person allows the author to swap between the characters easier than if in the first person. The idioms and quality of language the two characters use is markedly different, creating a contrast between them both.

2. As the story develops, how does he generate tension in the character of Marie and Callie? What's at stake for each of them? Make a list of what they fear losing and what they hope to gain. The past & present, fear & desire, are great ways of giving your story a sense of drama.

The contrast that is created between the two of them generates tension. For Marie, everything has to be perfect; the language she uses is beautiful to create the atmosphere of perfection – compensating for what she had as a child? – and you get the sense that Marie is a perfectionist. She tries to find meaning in everything around her, whereas Callie’s main priority is Bo and helping him. She knows that life isn’t perfect and accepts that, trying to make the best of a bad situation where possible.

They both fear losing their family to a degree – Marie is scared of losing her idyllic family life, and Callie is afraid of what will happen with Bo.

3. How does the story manage the shift between points of view?

It is done very smoothly, generally with the character’s name being in the first few lines to mark the change clearly despite no break in the timeline. As aforementioned, the use of close third-person narration allows for an easy movement between the two character’s perspectives.

4. Initially it seems that the puppy is the hinge on which the story turns, but is there a more important image that enters the story that blows apart the ordinariness of it and raises the stakes. How is this done?

Bo is the element which “raises the stakes”. The puppy is used as an impressive decoy to initially detract from Bo, but it becomes clear that Bo is the defining factor of the story; Marie judges Callie for her treatment of Bo and therefore refuses to buy the puppy, whereas it is clear that Callie cares for Bo. It is difficult to define which point of view is the accurate one – it depends on which character you choose to trust

5. It's not just the big stuff that's handled brilliantly. List all the other things and places that reveal the two contrasting viewpoints contesting for authority over reality. But the story makes its choice. We're given a final telling angle on what's happened. What do you think of the way the ending is managed?

The backgrounds and tone of voice of both characters clearly demonstrates the difference between the two of them. There is a subtle circularity in the ending in the same place as we began – “the return” – demonstrates a harsh contrast between the two characters. Marie thinks the field is lovely at the start / Callie escapes the field when she leaves the puppy at the end.

Life by Bessie Head

Set in Botswana, which could possibly suggest a lower socio-economic background amongst the characters, it is clear quickly that Life is an interesting newcomer in the village. Indeed, Life is regarded as a “city girl”, and stands out in her new environment.

However, the villagers are kind to her and accepting, despite the fact that her opinions on certain things are different to their own and they feel wary of her.

From the introduction of Lesego, it is clear that he is a strong and almost mysterious man. Lesego and Life’s union is seen as strange and sudden, and the villagers don’t agree with it at first. Unsurprisingly, Life finds it difficult to adjust to typical village life and Lesego’s rules – she is bored and dissatisfied. Life is adulterous and Lesego kills her when he finds out.

I found this story particularly gripping and engaging; the dynamic of the love story, and indeed the dynamic between Life and the other characters is really interestingly explored.

As Head puts it, “that’s what happens when two worlds collide”.

The story feels very authentic and organic in its representation of the different characters and the way they react to each other. In itself, the plot of the story is an interesting balance between what is predictable and what is unexpected; the reader can almost expect that Life and Lesego’s relationship will not end well and that she will not adjust to her new life easily. However, her death is not foreshadowed or pre-empted and is designed to shock. This blend between the predictable and the unexpected is effectively presented and synthesised into the plot and makes the story more interesting.

Point of View by Lucia Berlin

The interesting point from this story is that the point of view of the narrative drifts between the third and first person. This mix makes it unclear whether the character of Henrietta and the author are the same person, and the author is indirectly describing her own loneliness, and it is that mysterious to the element which makes it intriguing.

Berlin states that the use of the third person allows an author to create a deeper level of sympathy for the character – a character can’t really pity themselves.

Berlin remarks that if a reader is reading a piece in the third person, no matter how mundane the details or the character that the narrator is describing is, “you’ll feel, hell if the narrator thinks there is something in this dreary creature worth writing about, there must be.”

Not My Best Side by U.A. Fanthorpe

Contrasting to the other stories from this week, this story had a comical spin to it. Split into three parts, each part is narrated from a different character’s point of view. I like the way that Fanthorpe gave new life to a stereotypical fairy tale and gave a basic plot a lot more content through presenting it from different character perspectives. The story subverts the “usual” roles of these characters by showing their thought processes, and therefore adds another layer to the story itself.

The lecture discussed the various points of view and the benefits of each in developing a plot. I tabulated the various points of view and how to use them for ease: (the table wouldn't translate onto the blog so I've changed it into a heading format).

First person singular :

“I” – allows for a certain rhythm of speech, colloquial vocab/idioms and an emotional angle for the character – in this form, “I” defines everyone and everything, and only the power dynamics/relationships rest on the other characters . First person is often viewed as restrictive as often when you start writing as if as yourself, “you’ll either hit a block or you’ll have to invent the character of yourself.” The first person narrator enables the author to jump about freely in time through memory and jumbled thought-process, to not know every detail about the situation and, indeed, have an influenced interpretation on a situation, and as a result creates mystery and tension in the narrative.

First person with dramatic irony :

Where the readers know more than the character and feel the pathos or comic contrast between a characters partial reading of events and our more complete understanding of the context that has been disclosed to us.

First person as a container for other points of view :

i.e. as in Wuthering Heights – Lockwood writes in first person but describes Heathcliff in the third person. So, the main plot is a third person narrative, but filtered through the character of Lockwood. This POV allows the recreation of an experience, in a more mysterious way – the character is often trying to piece things together. Solving one of the main problems of first person narrative, this POV allows the author to deliver events that occur outside of that first person’s experience?

First person plural :

“We” form.

Second person singular :

“You” – generally as an instruction to the general reader. It commands the reader to take their place in the story. It is a slightly bullying and uncomfortable form. Ok for use in a short story or for novelty value but is limited as it disappears the narrator.

Second person plural :

Addressing the plurality of readers in the “you” form.

Third person singular :

Often an omniscient narrator. A highly flexible form which can move around easily. Note that in this example, the text doesn’t go inside anyone’s head. So it’s more like a film; we can see the characters and hear them, but don’t know what they’re thinking.

Close-third/restricted or third person personal :

This is the form most commonly used in the novel. Written in the third person, but we are listening to what’s inside the person’s head. The “I" form would be too restrictive and would get in the way as it occupies the experience too much.

Third person plural :

“They” form.

Free Indirect Style :

This form creates a sense of simultaneous interiority as if the reader is ‘inside’ all the characters’ heads at once.

Point of view is about power. Some points of view are often drowned out by others. And in the past some writers have assumed their point of view to be the common collective POV when in fact they’re writing from a position of privilege.

All narrators are in a sense unreliable in that all views are to some degree partial, even those that claim to be omniscient. However, the effective narrator learns how to play with this (such as Nick in The Great Gatsby).

I’ve written in both the close-third person and the first person before, and after this lectures’ clarification of the different forms, I would like to explore these different points of view. As the lecture and readings demonstrated, using different points of view can illustrate alternate perspectives and levels of a narrative.

In the seminar, we started off by doing a short automatic writing exercise with a prompt (see writing post for what I wrote).

At the beginning of term, automatic writing frightened me a bit; it felt too much like improv in drama (something I’ve never excelled at). But now, I find it to be a beneficial exercise that helps me break through the preliminary writing block.

Sometimes, just setting a timer and writing whatever is in your head can be really cathartic. Also, I feel that your first ideas are freer and fresher when you simply write instead of looking for a structured plot.

I was also thinking about how dialogue flow can be improved by automatic writing; sometimes dialogue can feel quite forced or unrealistic, whereas if you write it in a designed time-frame, you don’t have time to force it or design it. Indeed, it feels more like a real conversation – you’re forced to respond to each line as you would if you were having the conversation in real life, and for me, that makes the dialogue feel a lot more authentic.

As I was writing during our session in the seminar, particularly towards the end, I felt as if I was creating a transcript of a real conversation. When writing Heidi’s responses, it was almost as if I could hear her natural attempts to excuse herself – it was no longer a line of text on a page, but something more real than I had ever intended.

To replicate that kind of authenticity in my short story, I’ve decided that in future pieces of dialogue, I’m going to set myself the challenge of writing as if part of an automatic writing exercise. I hope that this will help me to explore my characters on a deeper level, and capture their voices more naturally.

Towards the end of the seminar, we looked through each other’s work and discussed points for improvement. I had no immediate work to submit from this week at that point, so I don’t have any feedback to review, but it was interesting to see everyone else’s work. The progression from the first weeks is quite remarkable, particularly with Jamie’s piece.

I hope to have more time to work on my story next week. I’ve only had time to work on the structured content this week, but I have learned different things I would like to incorporate into my story in the coming weeks.

So far, my story is written in the first person, but after this week’s insight into the value of different points of view, I would like to try and redraft the story in the close-third person, just to see whether that narrative perspective is more effective of whether the familiarity of the first person point of view is more natural in this story.