Good morning NaPiBoWriWee peeps!

What? We’re already at Day 5? We’re more than halfway through National Picture Book Writing Week? Pinch me! Time is going by so quickly!

Is everyone surviving? Are people indulging in too much caffeine and sugar? Are you snapping at your loved ones because you’re cranky and tired from all this writing? LOL! 🙂 Hang in there! Imagine how PROUD and HAPPY you will feel once you write Picture Book No. 5 today! (Or play catch-up on Books 1-4 if you’ve fallen behind due to work and family schedules!)

Well, since the Good Morning blogs have all focused on writing craft issues – First Drafts, Plot Structure, Theme, Hero’s Journey – let’s continue with today’s writing craft topic… POINT OF VIEW.

Normally Point of View isn’t such a big deal in picture books, which tend to be told from either a 3rd person limited POV or an omniscient narrator. But more and more modern picture books are using first person or a mix of perspectives. What’s a picture book writer to do?

(Keep reading after the jump to find out more about Point of View…)

Now that you have a plot, a theme, and you know the main character’s journey… WHO is telling the story? In other words, should you write from 1st, 3rd, or omniscient point of view?

Point of view can make or break a story. Imagine if Catcher in the Rye was told in third person. Holden Caulfield would come off as a completely unlikeable and rather rude young man. Instead, because it was told in first person, you found yourself sympathizing more with the character because the up-close-n-personal “I” narrative made you a part of his story. The Harry Potter novels are told from a 3rd person point of view because JK Rowling has to introduce us to an incredibly complex and foreign world – Hogwarts Academy and the secret world of wizards – so the 3rd person limited POV helps us easily transition back and forth from Harry’s personal thoughts and emotional reactions to an overview of his world. A first person POV for those books would be too narrow in scope.

As you write today, think about your POINT OF VIEW. Ask yourself if your book would work better if you took a chance and wrote it from a different point of view. Take a paragraph and rewrite it in a different POV just to see the effect. Look at picture books that are written from different points of view. Compare a picture book written in first  person versus third person limited. What are the differences? By studying these POVs, maybe this will help inspire you as you work on Book No. 5 today! 🙂

Below are some excerpts from a book I’ve highly recommended all week –  The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb (Writers Digest Books ’01). Check out what she has to say about Point of View for first person limited, 3rd person limited, and omniscient… (Note: There are more points of view, like shifting multiple POVs and second person, but let’s focus on these three basic ones for now.)

FIRST PERSON LIMITED (“I”)

— Advantages

– Immediate sense of connection

– Intensity of personal story (imagine sitting next to someone on a four-hour bus ride and they’re keeping you enthralled with a story they’re telling you)

– Intimate character portrait (inside character’s innermost thoughts/heart/bond with them, almost become that character)

– Unique variety of moods and immediately sets up the “voice”

–– Disadvantages

– Story limited to one point of view (one-camera show)

– Closeness to story can diminish perceptions (if too close to the action, you lose sense of the bigger picture)

– Beware of becoming annoying (too many “I’s” and in-your-face voice can quickly lose its appeal/test – is this someone you want to listen to for the next four hours?)

THIRD PERSON LIMITED (“He/She”)

— Advantages

– You can convey a fuller story, witness other events without losing focus

– You can get into the head of more than one character (if you choose shifting 3rd ltd. POV)

– Better chance for reader identification (if the reader doesn’t identify with the “I” then it will be tougher to convince them to stick with the story, whereas 3rd person provides a bit of a distance so the reader can understand the main character’s dilemma because they can see the bigger picture

– Easier to paint shades of grey in a complicated world (again, emotional distance with 3rd POV)

– Flexibility with richness of language (not limited to “I” POV’s limited vocabulary)

–Disadvantages

– You can also dilute reader’s sympathy for main character because attention is divided among other characters

– Must be VERY CLEAR and PRECISE about who is speaking when and what POV is being used (especially if you shift)

THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT (“He/She AND God”)

— Advantages

– You can get into LOTS of characters’ heads (great for stories that rely more on plot than character development, especially mysteries)

– You can give a broader perspective (especially if this is historical or more epic in tone, sci fi etc.)

– You can show conflicting points of view more easily

— Disadvantages

– You can dilute reader’s interest in identifying with any character because too many stories are being told

– You can lose the interior PASSION of the intimate story (again, too many storylines/character reactions and you don’t know who to focus on)

– Reader can get confused and lose the heart of the story

– Emotional detachment/preachy

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Our NaPiBoWriWee Day Five schedule:

9 AM (PST): Good Morning Blog posted. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I look forward to your comments!

12 PM (PST): Guest Author Blog will be posted. Today’s guest? Picture book author/illustrator HOPE VESTERGAARD! So stop by to hang out with the brilliant Hope!

10:00 PM (PST): Bedtime Blog will be posted. Stay tuned and please post your progress report in the Bedtime Blog comments section. I look forward to hearing about your Day 5 adventures!

Okay, that’s it from me. Until the next blog posting… Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! 🙂