Many books on the writing craft agree it’s best to stay with one point of view throughout a scene and this is what I strive for, but somehow I managed to find an exception that belies the rules.
In Camilla Lackberg’s (Swedish crime novelist) book The Ice Princess, she changes point of view regularly within scenes.
The novel is engaging, with a strong story and interesting characters. And to be fair, if I hadn’t been working hard on writing from one POV I might not have noticed the switching.
Now I’m thinking it’s okay to change POV is the writer is skilled and can pull it off.
Any opinions out there or other examples of where this works?
My human friend, Sharon, gave me a squeaky toy for Christmas. I’m not the type of dog that likes toys, but this one is pretty cool.
It makes the greatest noise.
Last night, I snuck it out of the cubby hole my human hides it in (like I can’ find it).
I eyed the clock.
Three a.m.
That’s a reasonable time to play, I thought. Kristina -not so much. She’s always nice to me, no matter what I do. She gently took the toy away, explained why I had to wait until morning to play and then rubbed my belly. Now that’s what I call fun to be reprimanded.
If you windsurf, you know it can be difficult to move gear around. Sometimes the beach you want to sail from is just not in the right place.
We visited friends in the Bahamas, and, yup, you guessed it. Our gear was on the east side of the island and we wanted to sail on the west side. So what did we do.
If you are planning on spending long periods of time on your sailboat, I recommend the investment in a cockpit enclosure.
Maybe it’s fun to sail in spray on an afternoon adventure, but when you have no home to go to after the sail, you might want to consider staying dry.
Matt is sailing Allura, our Niagara 42, the first year we owned her. Doesn’t he look like he’s having fun? Rain is pouring on him, around him and dripping down is back. I’m in the main salon taking the photo (and I’m dry of course).
We lasted one season and as soon as we hit Florida, we had an enclosure made.
Mattina, our Lagoon 380, came without an enclosure. Sometimes we are smart and learn from our experiences – not always – but when we, are I like to point it out.
Before we left the coast of the US heading for the Bahamas, we had a full enclosure made.
Write the thought followed by a comma and ‘she thought.’
Write the thought and assume your POV is strong enough for the reader to know whose thought it is.
I’ve listed an example of each option below.
Let me set the scene: Two women are running from an encroaching forest fire and one of them (Nora) is nine months pregnant.
Here are the examples:
Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good, she thought. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
Kalin slammed the Jeep into park at the end of the dirt road. She leaned over the centre console and checked out Nora’s footwear. Flip-flops. Not good. “Do you think you can hike to Silver Lake?”
Compass Cay Marina during the march break . . . Where did the boats come from?
I’ve never seen this marina so full. We were all so amazed, since we’re used to being isolated out here, that our friend climbed to the top of the mast and took this photo.
Mattina is in the bottom corner, tucked between some very large boats.
Lots of fun on the docks . . .
All this happened after we were the only boats docked at Highbourne Cay Marina.
I fell in the ocean, right off the back of the boat! How humiliating.
My human friend, Debi, drove her dinghy to the back of our boat to pick me up for yoga. I should have known something weird was going on when Kristina didn’t put my harness on me. You can see it in the photo below. She makes me wear it, so IF I fall overboard, she can easily pick me up.
Well, I guess she forgot to put it one me.
This is the harness I should have been wearing!
Debi arrives and I get a bit excited.
“Hello,” I bark.
Debi drives close to the back of the boat and ties up. Kristina is ready with her yoga gear.
“Not today,” Kristina says. “There are wild pigs on the beach. You have to stay on board.”
I whip my head around to face Debi and she confirms the bad news. I turn too quickly and start to fall.
“Oh Oh,” I bark, but no one grabs me.
My paws slip off the first step.
“Help me,” I bark.”
I’m now on the second step and the third is not far away. Before I can let out my third bark, I’m in the water.
I know I can’t get on the back step by myself so I head to shore. Lucky for me, I’m pretty slow at the dog paddle and don’t get far.
Debi pushes off the stern and drives beside me. I’m a smart dog and turn to face her.
No here comes the problem. I’m not wearing my harness. The dingy tubes are two feet out of the water, and Debi has nothing to grab on to. She reaches under my armpits and struggles me aboard.
She’s soaked, I’m soaked, but at least I’m aboard.
