Prepared by: Patricia Johnson
Posted on: Fri, 26 Aug 2001
Omniscient POV
How does an author narrate in omniscient
POV, given that the modern
reader
will assume limited POV unless strongly clued in otherwise? A good
question.
Let's start out by defining omniscient POV and third-person limited
POV.
Omniscient POV is not used often by
authors today. The omniscient
narrator
knows everything about the story including all characters, action,
places,
and events. This can give a distant feel to the story. Because of this
all-knowing and all-seeing, the author can enter every character's
thoughts.
Omniscient POV can lead to confusion if not done masterfully. The
author has
to seamlessly transition from one POV to another. The author may decide
to
use the omniscient POV without jumping inside characters' minds, but he
must
still orchestrate his narrative voice to avoid a tangle of information.
Limited third-person is the most common
POV in use today. If the POV
is
limited third-person, then the narrative is narrowed to one character
or a
few characters. Limited POV helps eliminate "head-hopping" and
confusion on the part of the reader. Authors use several devices to
keep
the limited omniscient narration easy for the reader to follow. One way
is
to reveal just one character's senses, thoughts and feelings during
each
scene. This keeps the reader intrigued while still keeping the story
and POV
clear. Some authors even title segments and chapters to reveal which
character is present for that time. One character can describe, involve
him/herself in action, and sense what all the other characters who are
present in the scene/chapter are doing. Some authors alternate between
characters in the chapters/paragraphs. Alternating paragraphs is
more challenging than alternating scenes or whole chapters.
One device that allows total omniscience
to be clear in a story is
to use
more than one character in the omniscient POV. Describe what each
character
thinks by providing careful changes in the POV. Combine this with
action.
Add narrator omniscient comments.
Example. Robert thought it odd that his
supervisor was waiting in
his
office. He bent over his secretary's desk, "Audrey, run the mail down
right
now, please." Robert was always one for covering bases, and sending his
secretary out on an errand would insure she could not hear what was
about to
take place. Note how we both read the thoughts of Robert and also read
the
author's comment that Robert covers bases.
At this point a transition takes us into
the secretary's POV: Audrey
was
tired of being sent away from her desk so frequently. "Sure Robert, I
just
took the mail two hours ago, though." She left the office walking
slowly.
She stopped to talk to her friend Amy, then took the elevator to the
mail
room. It was obvious enough to anyone that Robert was in trouble, why
he
thought he could hide his troubles with his boss from her by sending
her out
of the room angered her. Here we see Audrey's thoughts and feelings
about
Robert's actions.
Exercise:
In 300 words or less, seamlessly shift the
totally omniscient POV
within one
scene between two characters. Make your transitions between characters
as
seamless as possible. Make clear to the reader when you have switched
and
which character is now in view. Use the devices listed above to keep
the
reader aware of the shifting in the POV.
It may help to review Lani Kraus's and
Rhéal Nadeau's
exercises on POV at
the Internet Writing Workshop website's Practice Exercises to review
the
different POVs. The URL is:
http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/pwarchive/topics.shtml#pov
Patricia Johnson's wrap-up
Posted on: Sat, 1 Sep 2001
The submissions were excellent. I wish I
had been able to crit
everyone's
submissions. Omniscience was shown in the stories through action,
nature,
setting and dialogue. Sometimes the authorial omniscience was best
shown in
a summary of the scene or in several descriptive paragraphs
interspersed
throughout the story. Even when a submission missed the mark, the
writing
seemed strong. Practice is the key to getting OPOV.
Omniscient POV can be difficult to
determine, as many people
mentioned. Some
of the submissions were not OPOV, but limited POV; with two or more
characters POVs developed in the story. To be omniscient, there had to
be an
authorial voice with information. The omniscient author showed/told
directly
what we were supposed to think; and therefore had total knowledge. As
one
participant mentioned in a critique, it is a camera on the ceiling
effect.
We step back and see the whole picture, guided by the author. Once this
omniscient authorial presence is established, then individual
character's
POVs may be added to the story.
Many critiques mentioned how difficult it
was to decipher more than
two
characters POVs, even when the story was very well written. Some
critiques
mentioned the quick shifts from one point of view to another, but most
submissions had easy transitions, even in dialogue. Mariane Kulick
mentioned
that it is a problem to change heads so much in such a small piece, and
that
we would probably not attempt it except that it was specific to the
exercise.
Claire Brucker asked if all narrative POVs
are telling instead of
showing.
Alex answered that no, the omniscient narrator can show us rather than
tell,
but we get a few more details along the way. Florence Cardinal
answered.
"And even in OPOV, I think you can show. Describe actions, scenery,
etc.,
that your characters can't see. For instance, a person sitting in a
cabin.
You could describe the river flooding, something your character is not
aware
of - but you, as the author, are."
Some critiquers noticed changes from
present to past tense in a
story. OPOV
is just tricky enough to require extra attention to tenses.
Practice, practice, practice makes OPOV
understandable. Even if we
as
authors decide not to use OPOV, hopefully this exercise helped us
understand
and strengthen whatever POV we do decide to use.
Thanks to all who participated. I hope you
enjoyed and learned at
the same
time.
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.