Writing Tip of the Week
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Writing In Person
One of the most important choices a writer makes is the voice to be used in telling … I mean showing… showing the story from a specific point of view. These are first person, third person, and second person.
?Third person is the most common, although if you spin a paperback rack or walk down the aisles of your local library, you’ll find many examples of each. Third person unfolds like a history book.
San Francisco in 1947 was Speed Hawkins town. The nation had just won the war and money was flowing. Unfortunately, for the out-of-client private eye, none of it was flowing his way. He reached into his pocket and found only a single dime. Hawkins looked at the 10 cents a cup sign in the nearby diner and sighed.
A popular alternative is first person.
‘Frisco. Nineteen Forty ‘n Seven. We’d just won the big war. Money was flowing again. Sadly for this gumshoe, none of it was flowing my way. My name is Hawkins, Speed Hawkins and my total resources, one thin dime, were clutched in my hand. I had a decision: buy a cup of joe or phone my landlord to see if I could get back into the hovel I called my office.”
Each has its advantages. In my case, I usually go with the third person. It’s far more flexible because the writer can tell the … show… (damn it)… show the story from multiple perspectives.
Darlene Evershot stared at the full-page ad in the Daily Bugle. “Fashion Musts For Fall ’47.” Mr. Evershot, Ralphie they called him, folded the business section of the same rag and, grinning like that bull staring down Bugs Bunny, said “Our stock’s up another ten percent. We, my dear, are having one hell of a year. Buy out the whole damn store if you want.” Meanwhile, down on the street a down-on-his luck private eye named Speed Hawkins debated spending his last time on a cup of joe or a call to….”
A rarely used option is second person POV, which uses the pronoun “you” to directly address the reader. This makes the reader the protagonist or at least a major participant in the unfolding story. You look at the dime in your hands – your last dime. You shiver and rub your stomach as the empty spot gurgles for something warm. A ten-cents-a-cup sign makes the decision for you. I don’t use second person POV. I’m not against it; I just haven’t heard the call.
I mostly use third person, but have strayed now and then into the green pastures of first person. The multiple perspectives choice in many ways is easier to write and offers considerable flexibility. The writer can relate events unknown and even unknowable to the protagonist. Events unfold as if set in stone. When the writer chooses first person, he is limited to knowing only what the protagonist knows. That’s a challenge, but it is also an exciting challenge and one, for me, that’s fun to write. For the reader, the events are more immediate and seem to be unfolding as they happen. It’s a more immediate way of unfolding the story.
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As with most choices, there’s no automatic right or wrong way to relate the story. There’s only what works best in telling the current story. For the writer, it’s always a matter of personal choice.
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Quote of the Week: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein
Recommended Reading: A Turn at the Point ?by George Sewell
Recommended Online: ??YouTube – The Writer’s Life Episode 851: Dan Baldwin;
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