 Action/Adventure: September 28, 2011 Issue [#4588] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: You may Know it all - don't show it all Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Each day is a blank page, an adventure to be written, action and re-action ~ be pro-active. Writing itself is action ~ creating an adventure for your readers to embrace in prose or verse.
Welcome to this week's Action/Adventure Newsletter, where we explore (action) adventures to create for our characters, our readers, ourselves.
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Greetings, fellow Adventurers ~
We've all heard that just because you know it all, you don't have to show it all. You must have at some point heard (or said) "That's more than I needed to know."
But there are times when you want to show more than the eye can see, or the hand can reach, or one mind conceive. We have several possible ways to do so, and today I'd like to explore a couple.
You've heard of the 'God's eye view' or 'Omniscient point of view.' This can be an effective tool to probe the thoughts of various characters. When done well, it can be very perceptive and visceral, letting more characters' thoughts, feelings, and background be shown. The disadvantage is that of a constant reminder of a constructed story, and so adds some distance between the reader and the characters. The danger is in muddled head-hopping, which takes the reader out of the story, confusing and creating discomfort.
Omniscient, where the writer knows everything about everyone and everything, and can share the expression of that knowledge in three different views -
 God's Eye View - expressed when the writer sees and shows all the action, even what the characters can't see, and expresses opinions about it; where the writer knows every character's thoughts and feelings, moving from one character's head to another; the narration is always in third person, unless it's a ghost or spirit or perhaps a superior animal 'telling' the story; and the narrative contains a tone of authority (i.e., "Once upon a time there was a goose that laid a golden egg a day..."), giving the reader the story will unfold in its proper linear order.
Camera Eye View - where the writer sees and shares all the action in the story, but not the opinions or thoughts or feelings of the characters, reporting the action, but not opining or interpreting it. The story is impersonal, without reader interaction, distancing the reader - I'd say the reader would feel more like he/she is reading an article as opposed to engaging a story.
Focused Omniscience - expressed by the omniscient writer, who sees and expresses all the action, but enters only one character's thoughts and feelings, be it the protagonist, antagonist, or even an ancillary character viewing the action and expressing his/her impressions.
Do you cringe when you read/hear, "Little did she know that her newfound romance would last but a week"? OUCH
The peril inherent in omniscience is distancing your reader, where the characters themselves do not engage him. If you show it all - reveal every nuance of every thought of each character, explain everything in detail, and opine, your reader remains an outside observer to the action in the story. Yes, as the writer, you know your characters' hopes, dreams, fears, perceptions, but if you reveal all the details openly to your reader, along with your opinion as to same, your omnipotent expression leaves little to engage the reader's curiosity or empathy, as you tell your reader what has been, is and will be.
It's most effective in longer works, like a novella or novel, or an epic poem, where each chapter or scene can be given enough space (and time) to weave into the otherworld created by the writer. Consider, for example, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, both of which relate an adventure from multiple angles, viewpoints and scenes while creating a vivid and active otherworld.
Within these options, the writer can change the nature of the adventure by using either an obective or subjective mode. Consider the definition of these words -
Subjective, think of it as relating to the subject's thoughts and internal reactions to events as they unfold in the adventure.
Objective mode, on the other hand, keeps the camera-eye view, showing action but not the characters' thoughts. Objective keeps a camera's view, showing the action but not the thoughts.
So, although you may 'know it all' as you weave your adventure, you decide if you want to show it all
Whatever you choose to share ~
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
For further reference, see -
Characters & Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card
Mastering Point of View, Sherri Szeman
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Illusionists bring what's not there to life, if only for a bit.
Now you see it..
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Thank you for sharing this exploration ~ whatever your point of view with me.
As you write your adventure in prose or verse, you may know it all, and you may (or may not) wish to show it all. But whatever point of view you choose, I wish you joy in the adventure you weave ~
Until we next meet ~
Write On
Kate
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