How POV Affects Your Story

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Segment 1 (Announcements/Author Updates):

• (Valerie): launching my four-month book coaching container Aligned Author TODAY. The price is drastically cut this week (it's $667 off the regular price.) Go to valerieihsan.com/alignedauthor for all the details. 
• Write in the Harbor conference is coming up (2 presentations to prep for)
• feeling some feelings lately about the finality of the move and the recognition of Last Times I Will See/Do ... 
• Also having some "Get over it" feelings about not showing up online. I used to show up more in pictures and words on social media and blogged (wrote a lot of personal essays), and since I've become a published author
• (Erick): 
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• polishing stories up for omnibus edition
• Ghost Story Weekend (Newport)
• What are you reading?

• Valerie: 
• Just finished:   The Witch of Willow Sound
• Wild Dark Shore (Charlotte McConaghy)
• Creative Act (Rick Rubin) 
• (Not ready to give up on them, but struggling to finish them:) Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman; 
• Erick: 
• • Summer of Night (Dan Simmons)
• My Favorite Thing is Monsters (gn)

 

• Segment 2 (Resources/Tips/Tidbits):

• Tidbit #1: 
• Tidbit #2: 

 

Segment 3 (Main Topic):  

Notes:

1. POV = promise: what intimacy, information, and bias will the reader get?
   • 1st = interiority + voice; close 3rd = balance of interior/exterior; omniscient = scope + theme.
2. The camera test: what can the narrator see/know/believe in this scene?
   • Ban anything they couldn’t realistically perceive; use misbeliefs to create tension.
3. Distance is a dial, not a switch:
   • Zoom in (sensory, thought-beat, micro-movements) for emotion; zoom out (summary, context) for pace/theme.
4. POV shifts = scene breaks + reason:
   • Change only to add net new conflict, clue, or consequence. Track continuity of diction and metaphor.
5. Try this: rewrite a 200-word scene in 1st, close 3rd, and omniscient.
   • Ask: which version delivers the most tension, clarity, and theme resonance?

 

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