The nemesis of writers is POV (Point of View). Staying in one character’s head and experience until there is a new chapter or set break within a chapter, is a difficult skill to master. But once you have a firm grasp on strict POV, there is more to do. Deep POV. Yes, you can still pull your reader deeper into your characters’ skin.
Deep POV removes words such as: thought, felt, heard, and more. As I tell my middle school students in my day job, “Don’t tell me what you are going to write about—just write it.”
Don’t tell your readers what the character heard, “She heard footsteps,” make them hear it too. “The slow click of heels falling on the polished wood floor grew louder. Like a metronome ticking off the beat, the rhythm never broke. Click. Click. Click. Closer and closer down the hall. Then it stopped outside her door. Her breath caught in her lungs. The latch scraped and the hinge whined.”
Do you feel the difference? You can make the hairs rise on your readers’ arms, drawing them into your story and never let them go.
Let’s try another. “She felt a tear slip down her cheek.” Nothing wrong with that sentence, it denotes emotion—strong feelings, but could we do better?
“Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision. Don’t cry. Don’t let them see your hurt. She blinked, and again quickly. Then one hot drop slipped from her lid, trailed along the crease of her nose, teetered on her upper lip. She released a slow breath as it dropped to her lower lip burning a hole where it landed.”
Better? Did you feel the slow slipping of the tear as though it were on your own face? This is what we want to do for our readers. Draw them into our character’s skin.
Take the time to learn POV—then make the extra effort to dig deeper. Your readers won’t be able to put your book down. And isn’t that what every author wants?
For more on Deep POV, read the fabulous book, Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson.
Deep POV removes words such as: thought, felt, heard, and more. As I tell my middle school students in my day job, “Don’t tell me what you are going to write about—just write it.”
Don’t tell your readers what the character heard, “She heard footsteps,” make them hear it too. “The slow click of heels falling on the polished wood floor grew louder. Like a metronome ticking off the beat, the rhythm never broke. Click. Click. Click. Closer and closer down the hall. Then it stopped outside her door. Her breath caught in her lungs. The latch scraped and the hinge whined.”
Do you feel the difference? You can make the hairs rise on your readers’ arms, drawing them into your story and never let them go.
Let’s try another. “She felt a tear slip down her cheek.” Nothing wrong with that sentence, it denotes emotion—strong feelings, but could we do better?
“Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision. Don’t cry. Don’t let them see your hurt. She blinked, and again quickly. Then one hot drop slipped from her lid, trailed along the crease of her nose, teetered on her upper lip. She released a slow breath as it dropped to her lower lip burning a hole where it landed.”
Better? Did you feel the slow slipping of the tear as though it were on your own face? This is what we want to do for our readers. Draw them into our character’s skin.
Take the time to learn POV—then make the extra effort to dig deeper. Your readers won’t be able to put your book down. And isn’t that what every author wants?
For more on Deep POV, read the fabulous book, Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson.
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