Gettin’ Shifty

Welcome to yet another chapter on POV with Le Guin! This time we’re in Chapter 8 and focusing on what it can look like to shift POV in the midst of your writing. 

When it comes to this topic, Le Guin is all brevity because she really only has to say the same thing she’s said when this has been brought up in previous chapters: “[Y]ou can shift from one viewpoint character to another any time you like, if you know why and how you’re doing it, if you’re cautious about doing it frequently, and if you never do it for a moment only” (89). 

She’s kind of been a broken record on this sentiment, so it may seem unnecessary to dedicate an entire chapter just to re-communicate this guidance. However, she provides a specific example from To the Lighthouse (Woolf)—a book she’s referenced elsewhere in this text and seems to really find as an excellent example of the craft—that considers what it can look like to shift POVs in a way that’s not jarring to the reader and makes sense. Without pasting the entire excerpt here for you to read for yourself, chatting about this has no real value for you, and I, having read To the Lighthouse a few years ago and finding it quite lackluster, am on the fence about whether or not to suggest you should pick it up for yourself and try and find what Le Guin so loved about it.

Instead, a more useful and personalized thing to do would be something I’ve suggested before in a blog: Pick up your favorite book and examine, analyze, what it’s doing with point of view. If you’re not noticing that it’s shifting perspectives, the case may be that that particular book just doesn’t. So, pick up another book you love until you find one that is using this technique. Notice how the switches are made. What signals are given to you, the reader? Is there a paragraph break? Does someone make an external observation about the character whose mind you were just in? Did it feel clunky or unnatural? Did it work smoothly? These are the things to be noticing so you can better understand that just because POV shifts need to be handled delicately that doesn’t mean they can’t be done.

Then, when it comes to practicing this technique for yourself, we’ve, of course, got an exercise curated here by Le Guin, but you should also keep in mind that there’s no harm in taking a stab at replicating POV shifts as you find your favorite author(s) have done so. After all, a “conscious, deliberate imitation of a piece of prose one admires can be good training, a means toward finding one’s own voice as a narrative writer” (93). There is nothing wrong in following the example set down by a teacher, which is how I view all the authors who I enjoy and respect. Just remember that, “[w]hen imitating, it’s necessary to remember that the work, however successful, is practice, not an end in itself but a means toward the end of writing with skill and freedom in one’s own voice” (93).

The more you practice, the more you find and solidify your writing voice. So, even if your practice starts out very reminiscent of a certain author, it doesn’t have to stay that way. More than that, it shouldn’t, if you are diligent in practicing and refining the skills you possess. 

What seems super key when dealing with POV changes is that you must keep the reader in mind, must be aware of what the reading experience will be like based on the choices you make. If a switch in perspective is unnatural or not handled well, it may only serve to pull the reader out of your story rather than provide meaning. Things may get awfully muddled, and they won’t be able to keep straight just whose mind they’re in anymore. If you want people to read your book at some point, it’s so important to make sure you’re setting them up to do so with relative ease.

One last, quick thing before we move along to our exercise, and it’s simply that, if your first draft is loosey-goosey with POV and needs tightening up, that’s absolutely okay. You may not have nailed POV shifts on your first try and with your first manuscript. That’s what the revision process is for. No one is asking for perfection with an initial draft or even a second or third one. Don’t stress, if this is something that’s a weak point for you. Take your time, step away from your project to specifically practice and learn more about this area, and then try doing it again with your next draft. There is no rush with this; there’s just the time you want to devote to it.

So, let’s give some time to today’s exercise!

EXERCISE EIGHT: CHANGING VOICES

Part One: Quick Shifts in Limited Third: A short narrative, 300-600 words. You can use one of the sketches from Exercise 7 or make up a new scene of the same kind: several people involved in the same activity or event.

Tell the story using several different viewpoint characters (narrators) in limited third person, changing from one to another as the narrative proceeds.

Mark the changes with line breaks, with the narrator’s name in parentheses at the head of that section, or with any device you like. 

Part Two: Thin Ice: In 300-1,000 words, tell the same story or a new story of the same kind, deliberately shifting POV from character to character several times without any obvious signal to the reader that you’re doing so.

You can of course do Part Two merely by removing the “signals” from Part One, but you won’t learn much by doing so. “Thin Ice” calls for a different narrative technique, and possibly a different narrative. I think it is likely to end up being written by the involved author, even though you are apparently using only limited third-person viewpoint. This ice really is thin, and the waters are deep.

Good luck with this one, and I’ll catch you back here next week. Only two more chapters to go before we wrap this book up!