A Different Perspective

I always tell people at work I can’t wait for 7pm, when I get to leave for the day. I’ve even made a prior blog post about wishing your life away by longing for quitting time. 
But then someone came up to me, after I made the joke: "How's it going?" "It'll be better at 7pm!", and he told me I must have a pretty good life if I want to get away from work so badly.

That was great perspective! 

And not only because it sparked a blog post for which I had no idea what to write about. 

I’d never looked at wanting to leave work in that way. It was a new POV.

Just like in stories. 

And while there may be many different perspectives to see it from, yours was the one chosen for that particular tale because you thought it was best told that way.

Sometimes, however, you may want to tell it from a few different perspectives. Different characters going through the same scene in their own way. If the characters are that entertaining, why not?

You can have the scene happen from one characters POV, then have another with a totally different outlook on life retell it to another character from their view.

Like John and Jane are confronted by bullies in school. John stutters and begs for the bully not to punch his head in. Everything is blurry and his outlook on the situation is bleak. While Jane, standing right next to him, later tells her friends the whole ordeal how she saw it, and adds how she would have destroyed the bully if he even laid a finger on either one of them.

It can bring depth to your story and make it all the more real to a reader when they see it how the world sees things--from different eyes.

It can also lengthen a tale, if that's what you need.

How do you decide the POV of a character, or which character’s POV you will use? Do you use one, or multiple POVs?

Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @Wcmarchese

Can’t wait to see you there.

WCM

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