KWE Publishing Newsletter - 10/19/23
Have you ever read a book that totally immerses you in the world and makes you feel connected to the characters? If so, it's likely you were reading a book with a deep point of view!
Even though you've probably read a book written from a deep point of view, you may not know what the term means. Essentially, the deep point of view is a perspective that immerses the readers in the world of a character by removing objective narration. Readers see everything through the character's lens, getting their thoughts and feelings along the way.
If you're wondering why this is used in fiction versus nonfiction, the reason is that nonfiction books usually require some sense of objectivity when giving readers information that's not personal in nature. For example, you can't write from a deep point of view if you're writing a biography because you don't know what the person's exact thoughts and experiences were, and in some cases, the person's opinions or experiences could contradict certain events. And while a memoir would be more personal, you sometimes have to take a step back from your narrative to tell the story.
Now that you know what it is, you might be wondering when you should use this perspective or how you can use the deep point of view to tell an engaging story. So let's hop into some tips and tricks that will hopefully help you decide when to use this technique and how to use it effectively!
Use a deep point of view to give readers a sense of who a main character truly is and how they view the world around them.
There are so many fun ways you can use a deep point of view, but typically, you're going to use a deep point of view, you're going to give this perspective to your main character (who may or may not be your protagonist, depending on the story you're telling).
When your reader feels like they're part of the story, they're going to want to keep reading to see what happens next, and as an author, that's what you want to do.
You let readers draw their own conclusions.
Building tension is essential in any good fiction story regardless of what genre you're writing in, and you can use a deep point of view to do just that.
With the deep point of view, there's no narrator sharing objective information or hinting at something a character may not yet know; everything is based on the character's perspective.
Here's an example. You may read something like "she looked around, overwhelmed by how many people were in the crowd" in a story with a limited third-person point of view. You're told the character is overwhelmed. A story with a deep point of view may read like this:
"She ran through the crowd, searching for her friend. She turned down an alley and pressed herself against a wall, screwing her eyes shut as she took in quick, shallow breaths."
As you can see in the above example, I'm not telling the readers that the character is overwhelmed, but readers will understand this based on the character's actions. When you do this on a larger scale, readers will form their own opinions—and you have the opportunity to either meet or subvert their expectations in surprising ways!
You can adapt your usual writing style and use a deep point of view.
One of the great things about using a deep point of view is that it's relatively easy to adapt the way you usually write and implement this technique.
You can write in a deep point of view from a first-person perspective (using "I" and "me") or the third-person perspective (using "she," "he," and "they"), and you can do this writing in the past tense or present tense.
While it can be a bit of a challenge to avoid giving narration that's not filtered through your character, the more you practice, the easier it will become to write from a deep point of view!
Did you know about the deep point of view? Have you read or written stories that employ this perspective? Share your experiences with us; we love hearing from you!