Viewpoint: Part Two

I discussed, last post, the importance of viewpoint in your work, especially if you decide to tell your story through the perception of multiple characters.

I wrote in regards to the importance that your viewpoint character never reveals information that she or he should not yet possess (which proves an easy error when you juggle viewpoints).

I want, today, to take this a step farther. Your characters will possess (dis)abilities and biases. These ought to color your characters’ perceptions, make them less reliable.

Let’s start with (dis)abilities. Consider the following three scenes:

1) Mark moved in perfect stealth through a world of black and bright green.

He heard something in the distance, a dog perhaps. The stone stairway sat ahead of him, one step spotted with some unknown slime.

He, lock picks in hand, glided up the stairs. The apartment building’s front door awaited him.

In and out. He couldn’t afford for anyone to see him, though even if a person stood directly in front of Mark, she or he would not likely notice him.

2) She stumbled through the dark, tried to minimize her movements. Slow and stead. She heard a dog. The front of her foot struck something—the first step in front of her apartment building? She froze.

She took a deep breath and tried to negotiate the invisible stairs. Her shoe pressed into something slimy on the third step, and she frowned with disgust. Her foot shuffled across the step’s coarse surface, tried to rub away the mystery goo.

3) Aaron couldn’t see a damn thing. Good. That meant his prey couldn’t, either. He didn’t need to see. He sniffed the air, smelled the German Shepard that barked about five hundred meters at Aaron’s six o’clock. The dog needed a bath.

Aaron crept up the stone stairs. He smelled old chewing gum, half melted, on the third step, sidestepped it in the inky darkness before he reached the (unlocked?) front door.

Our viewpoint character in the first scene wears military-grade, night-vision goggles.

Our second viewpoint character wears no such goggles, and thus stumbles in the dark.

Our third character possesses a superior sense of smell, but stands as blind as our second character.

If your viewpoint character sits in a wheelchair (or sits at all), restrict that person's field of vision accordingly.

If your viewpoint character knows nothing about the clothing of a country in which she discovers herself, you should not name the clothes but, rather, describe them through the eyes of someone who never before heard of such outfits.

I present, to illustrate my final point for this post, the following scenes. Consider the viewpoint characters’ biases and how they affect the characters’ perceptions.

You should always ask yourself how your viewpoint character’s past ought to influence her or his perceptions. A character nearly stung-to-death as a child would not hold warm feelings towards a swarm of bees.

1) Susan stared longingly through the bakery’s window. The pastries on display looked so damn inviting. She considered the few meager coins in her frayed pocket. Those treats might as well sit at the other end of an ocean.

Her stomach rumbled.

The shopkeeper treated her to a suspicious glare through the window. He looked mean. He might call the police if Susan stuck around much longer.

2) Beverly glided around the dirty woman who hunched in front of the bakery window. Her nose scrunched at the smell of stranger—likely homeless and about to ask Beverly for money.

She noticed, out the corner of her eye, the trays of pastries on display in the window. Gross! Who would eat such garbage? God only knew how many calories those pastries offered.

What some people shoved into their bodies . . .

3) David couldn’t feel the sidewalk beneath his feet. He felt as if he skipped on air. He checked his watch, performed some quick math. He would meet Judy in five minutes. He wished he possessed time enough to purchase some flowers.

He stopped short in front of a bakery shop, noticed, through its window, trays of tasty treats. Judy loved pastries.

The bell above the door jingled while David strolled inside the bakery.

The pleasant man behind the counter smiled warmly at him. “What may I interest you in, sir?”

Thanks for reading.

Tonight, the third book in my novel series, Diaries of Darkwana will, at long last, arrive on Kindle.

I celebrate with a sale, each of the three books (the completed, first volume of the series) now costs only three dollars!

Don't miss my other blogs:

martinwolt.blogspot.com for short stories.

entertainmentmicroscope.blogspot.com for a look at the entertainment industries.

darkwana.blogspot.com for an inside look at my novel series (and upcoming card game).

moviesmartinwolt.blogspot.com for movie reviews.