I was sitting on stage along with my teaching colleagues looking over the large assembly of students and parents. It was our annual prize giving and the MC – our Headmaster – took the stage to speak. From my position, I saw the back of the Headmaster’s head and could imagine his perspective or point of view. I raised my camera and took a quick photo to record the moment and it was a different perspective on the gathering. This is exactly what POV does. POV stands for “point of view” and refers to the perspective from which a story or scene is written. A first person POV adds immediate connection – which I favour. However, a variety of POV can bring diverse elements/variety into a novel too. When I was writing the keynote scene in MUTINY I used two POV’s. One POV is from Dr. Michael Hanover, the keynote speaker. The other is from Sir Christopher Jenson – the MI6 agent sitting at a table of bankers listening to Hanover’s presentation. We pick up the dialogue as Hanover expands on Big Brother (see my earlier post) and you will note the technique to pivot to several first-person responses:
[“We’re here today as economic prisoners who not dare question or attempt to escape the comforts of our social slavery. While we wallow in our consumption and entertainment, dictators far craftier and more evil than us are ascending to the highest levels of control.” Michael pauses again and picks up murmurs from the room.
“Can this be true?”
“Why is he talking about slavery; hasn’t it been abolished?”
“Who are these evil dictators?”
“Our bank is secure, isn’t it?”
“Hanover sure knows how to stir an audience.”
“He’s a powerful presenter, but I don’t agree with everything he says.”
“I think he’s hiding something.”
“God help us if this is real.”
“Listen, he’s going to speak again.”]
PS: I make another reference to this school in MUTINY, but that will be another post 🙂