Deep POV isn't for everyone.
Applied incorrectly IT can create a stream-of-consciousness that will quickly overwhelm the
reader.
I'd like to suggest
that once you fully understand your character (absolutely vital to your success) Deep POV is something to learn slowly and
methodically.
Consider this: Your
book's finished and you’re now in full edit-revision mode.
You notice several
scenes that fall short. What do you do?
Why not add an
emotional depth to those parts without applying Deep POV to the entire
manuscript?
Example: Your
antagonist waits aboard his yacht. He's just discovered that one of his men
allowed a witness to flee, and now he could face the death penalty.
Here’s the scene in
each POV:
1st: When John returned, he found me
sitting on the white leather bench. I had my eyes half-closed, my arms crossed,
and I was feeling great sadness. "Well?" I asked, but I was
thinking, 'Give me a reason not to kill you.'
3rd: Matthew sat on the white leather
bench and lowered his eyes. Consumed by a great sadness, he crossed his arms
and waited. When John returned, he asked him, "How long have you worked
for me?"
Omni: When John returned, he found his
boss sitting on the white leather bench with his eyes half-closed and his arms
crossed. He chose not to look at John, he was that angry. "Tell me I
didn't make a mistake bringing you," he said. John couldn't think and
stuttered...
Clearly, a deeper
sense of intimacy is missing.
Switch to DEEP POV, and …
The bench reeked of new leather smell and left a bad taste on his
tongue. A glimpse east and the sun's glare shot pain through his temple.
Closing his eyes helped, but the trembling continued. Blood pounded through
crossed arms.
This was John's fault. No respect. No gratitude. Hadn't he and his
daughter been taken care of all these years? Ruby held a secure job at the Baja
Hotel for the rest of her life if she wanted. John threatened that. Could his
stupidity be forgiven without costing the organization everything?
A touch of the gun hidden beneath crossed arms and the chill felt
shocking at first, then comforting.
DEEP POV is a scene written through total
perception; no tags, no filtered conclusions, just straight cerebral experience
between protagonist and reader. There are no subordinate clauses. As he did something, something or
someone else verbed. Emphasis
is never taken off the protagonist. Hence, pronouns are kept to a minimum.
The protagonist is
in the very centre of the scene with everything happening outward. Nothing points
back to him. We don't see the protagonist outside himself.
It's never in the morning; it's this morning.
It's never then,
it's now.
There is no author, no character aware of being in a story.
There are no he thoughts.
If Deep POV sounds appealing, try writing
the scene as 1st POV, then switch to 3rd. Drop as many verbs as possible, (saw, thought, looked, etc) eliminate the tags: said, asked (no need to show the reader what they
already know). Do this, and I promise it'll rejuvenate you and your story.
Happy Editing,
--
cluculzwriter at yahoo dot ca
