Hopping round the heads
Point of view, or it’s malaise, head hoping, can be a bit of a problem for me so I decided to do something about it. My normal method of solving a writing problem is to look at what well established writer do, so I turned to Hornblower, Sharpe, Bertie Wooster, or I should say, P. G. Wodehouse, C. S. Forester and Bernard Cornwell. It didn’t take long for it to dawn on me that all these had single point of view throughout. Well, except for a bit here and there where Sharpe’s sergeant takes over briefly but that, as well as the very odd intervention of Bush in Hornblower, is very clearly signposted. It also struck me that I find it easier to write from a single point of view, even first person, than to deal with several people’s input. The second problem with multiple points of view is that they start to sound the same. I’m busy with this rewrite of the 1820 thing and must stop and redo the personality notes. Why I didn’t do it before, I’m not sure, maybe writing short stories let me drop the habit but I need those notes, especially for turns of phrase that differentiate individual’s speech. I like to have it arranged that you can tell who is speaking by the words and phrases they use, not always Glasgow compared to Liverpool but at least a subtle difference. The word patterns reflect the characters and keep me from a shy person suddenly attacking a policeman.
There is a drawback to sticking to one viewpoint, it can make it difficult to show the non-viewpoint character in depth as they are only seen through what the viewpoint character will see and that is conditioned by their prejudices. Still, if people like Wodehouse, Forester and Cornwell do it that way, who am I to argue.