Plunging the Depths of Deep POV –– Part VIII

from Flickr

We’ll finish this today. Hopefully, this series, though not scouring for every little detail of Deep POV, will give you tools to improve your skill at making your POV characters come alive. Click to Tweet #amwriting #DeepPOV

Today, we’ll wrap this up with homework assignments you can use to progress in your manuscript with Deep POV.

I’ll have a listing at the end of the post for more information should you want to study this subject further.

Here are your homework assignments:

Go through your manuscript and make sure you haven’t “head-hopped,” using more than one POV character per scene. It jars the reader out of your fictional world. Not something you want to happen. Think about the character who has the most to lose in that scene if you’re having trouble deciding whose POV it should be.
Look for those “emotion” words. See Part V for examples. Words such as anger, sadness, depressed, anxiety, fear, joy, happiness, etc. Instead, write how it feels, don’t just say they’re sad or glad or fearful.
Be on the lookout for “telling” verbs. Part V has a few examples. Verbs such as saw, watched, felt, heard, noticed, wondered, etc. Mastering this will increase your show v. tell skills. Search your manuscript for these.
Look for cause-effect, using words “as, while, or when.” Make sure your cause is delineated before your effect. See Part VI for examples. Go through and label your sentences, paragraph by paragraph, if that helps. Label “c” for cause sentences and “e” for effect.
Show the reactions in order, the visceral, emotional, through dialogue, or action. Label your sentences for each if that helps you discover them.
As part of getting rid of “telling” verbs, go through and write character’s thoughts, rather than “telling” us what they think, let the reader read what they think––as if the character was talking to themselves.
Use the POV character’s way of describing things around them. Look and see if the character’s personality and life come through your narrative sentences.
Go through scene-by-scene, and see how you can revise to show more of the character in that scene, by using their memories, their thoughts, such as choosing one visual over another with your character, or why that character likes or dislikes a certain opera or musical.
Reflect your character’s worldview and personality in each scene. Go through and see what you can do to tweak and enhance your scenes so that your manuscript is deep into character.
Write the scene in first person, then go back and change the pronouns. This tip is one of the fastest ways you can master Deep POV.

For further study:

Camy Tang’s Story Sensei: Deep Point-of-View Worksheet––ebook.

Dive Deep, Exploring the Depths of POV by Virginia Smith

Deep Point of View, A Busy Writer’s Guide, by Marcy Kennedy

Has this been helpful? Leave a comment and let me know. Deep POV gets into each POV character’s head using their thoughts and responses, thoroughly engaging the reader. Click to Tweet #amwriting #DeepPOV