Subject: [FFML] [Essay] Use of Viewpoint in Prose Fiction
From: kleppe@execpc.com (Gary Kleppe)
Date: 4/22/1999, 12:28 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

I haven't been in the mood to write fanfics lately, so here's an essay
on writing that I talked about doing a while back. Thanks go to Alan
Harnum for pre-reading.

If you want to read more on the subject, look at your local public
library for a book called "Character and Viewpoint" by Orson Scott Card.
Some of what I write here is paraphrased from that book.

The idea of this is to help you better tell the story that you want to
tell. In cases where it doesn't, it should be ignored. Use whatever in
here will help you best convey the story you want to tell, and disregard
the rest with extreme prejudice.

Comments of all kinds are welcomed.



                   Use of Viewpoint in Prose Fiction
                  an essay on writing, by Gary Kleppe



Next time you're reading your favorite manga, or watching anime, pay
attention to the different types of camera shots used. Imagine how much
less interesting it would seem if it was like a stage play, shown
entirely from one angle and at one distance. Varying the viewer's
perspective (the camera angle and distance) is an important way the
people who work with these media bring their stories alive for the
viewer.

Prose fiction doesn't have pretty pictures to show the reader. Writers
of it need to rely on the power of their words to hook readers'
interest. The viewpoint from which the story is narrated has a lot to do
with how the readers will experience it.

For example, you could show a scene using script-style descriptions:


We see Ranma standing next to Akane. He is in girl form. The dojo has
been generally wrecked, and there's a lot of garbage lying on the floor.


This is the equivalent of the stage play. The reference to "we" tells us
that we're a passive observer, watching the action without being part of
it. The descriptions are dry and lifeless; they show us the scene, but
don't really inspire us to feel anything about it. This kind of
narration is probably not the best way to engage your readers.

So how can we do better? There are several different ways by which an
author may choose to narrate a story. Let's look at each of these:


I) First Person

This method is fairly simple. The narrator is a character in the story,
and he/she refers to him/herself in the first person (I, me, etc.) It's
as if you're meeting the character at some later date, and he/she is
telling you the events of the story.

Here's an example scene, taken from a recent spamfic, written in first
person:

***

I stared at Akane amidst the wreckage that had been the Tendo dojo..
"So... looks like we're, um, married now."

"Yeah." She smiled awkwardly. "I guess so." From her expression, she
felt as uncomfortable as I did with the way it had happened. We'd been
tricked. I understood why Pop and Mr. Tendo had lied to us, but still
resented them making our decision for us.

The previous day, the parents had taken us to see some kind of
government official, so we could sign a paper. Just getting the
formalities out of the way, they said. And we signed. After all, we
still had time to back out of the wedding, didn't we? It wasn't until
later, when our friends showed up at the widely-announced formal
ceremony, that the parents showed everybody the signed paper -- or
rather, a xerox copy of it. It was a marriage license, they said, and it
meant that no matter how badly this wedding got trashed, we were already
legally married.

So they wrecked the ceremony anyway. But in the end, it didn't do them
any good.

Mr. Tendo shook my hand vigorously. "I'm so happy to finally have
you as part of the family! So happy!"

"Yeah, me too, whatever." I returned the gesture tepidly. I was pretty
mad at him then, and I stayed that way for a couple of weeks.

***

Writing this kind of narration is fairly straightforward. Just tell the
story the way the character would -- but in more detail, of course.

The language and manner of the narration is, of course, chosen according
to the character. Ranma uses somewhat rough speech, whereas someone like
Kuno would use much more formal language. Don't go overboard with weird
language, though. Principal Kuno's narration can use words like "keiki"
and "wahine," but if dat brudda uses de same diction dat he wen' use fo'
dialog, it'd get extremely annoying.

First person is an example of a limited perspective. The narrator
character can only tell us about things that he knows about. Ranma as
the narrator doesn't directly tell us what Akane was thinking; he
describes the way she looks, sounds, etc. and tells us what he thinks it
means. Akane being uncomfortable is his inference, and not a fact,
though given the events of the story it's very likely correct.

Note, though, that the typical first-person story is being narrated some
time after it happens. Thus, the narrator is free to tell us things that
he didn't know *at the time of the scene,* but did learn later on. This
isn't always true; you could do a first-person narrative that's meant as
an immediate account of what's happening to a character.

If first person is (arguably) the simplest kind of narration to
understand and use, why isn't it used more often? The main reason is
that you need a narrator character who can be present for all the scenes
you need to show. It works well for fics where the spotlight is mainly
on a single character, not well at all for stories that jump around to
different locations and feature a large cast, like many epics.

Some people get around this limitation in various ways. You could do a
variable first person where the narrator changes from section to
section. This is possible, but extreme care must be taken to make sure
that the switches in the narrator's identity are always clear.
Alternatively, you could add in some other form of narration (such as
third-person omniscient; see below) to tell scenes for which the
first-person character wasn't present.

Another restriction on first person -- assuming the tale is being told
after it happens, as above -- is that the narrator needs to survive to
tell the tale. If your character kicks the bucket at the end of your fic
(or gets fully lobotomized, etc.), it's problematic to use him/her as a
first person after-the-fact narrator. One possible way out of this is
the classic Lovecraft trick... the character writes the tale as a
journal entry or testament, and it ends abruptly after he/she gets eaten
by the Horror From Beyond Space and Time.


2) Third Person, Omniscient

This type of narrator refers to all characters in the third person (he,
she, etc.) Being omniscient, the narrator can reveal any character's
thoughts, or any bit of information that the author wishes the reader to
know. Note that this section describes a sort of standard type of
omniscient narration; there are some eclectic variants, which Matt Lewis
has talked about in a different essay.

Here's the same example as in the last section, but written using an
omniscient narrator:

***

Ranma-chan stared at Akane amidst the wreckage that had been the Tendo
dojo.. "So... looks like we're, um, married now."

"Yeah." Akane smiled awkwardly. "I guess so." She felt as uncomfortable
as he did with the way it had happened. They'd been tricked. They
understood why Soun and Genma had lied to them, but still resented the
decision being made for them.

The previous day, Soun and Genma had taken their two children to the
local courthouse. Just getting the pre-wedding formalities out of the
way, they said. They told Ranma and Akane to sign a paper, and they did
-- not knowing that it was actually a marriage certificate. They were
legally married then, and didn't know it. When the usual crowd showed up
at the widely-announced formal ceremony, the parents showed everybody a
xerox copy of the document. No matter what they did to stop this
wedding, they said, it wouldn't matter; Ranma and Akane were already
legally married.

So they wrecked the ceremony anyway. But in the end, it didn't do them
any good.

Soun shook Ranma-chan's hand vigorously. "I'm so happy to finally have
you as part of the family! So happy!"

"Yeah, me too, whatever." Ranma-chan returned the gesture tepidly. She
would be angry with Soun for the next two weeks. Deep down, both Ranma
and Akane were happy to finally be married, but it would be a while
before they would admit it, even to themselves.

***

Note the use of "Ranma-chan" as a way of referring to Ranma while in
female form. Only an omniscient narrator would do this, as none of the
characters refer to Ranma this way. Note also the way the omniscient
narrator moves around to different characters' thoughts, sometimes more
than one at a time, and can even tell us deep, hidden feelings that the
characters themselves are not aware of.

Another point to notice is that we can generally count on the omniscient
narrator to be telling us the truth, and any opinionated statements are
clearly identifiable as the opinions of characters. If your omniscient
narrator expresses opinions of its own, like if it says 'Ranma and Akane
were now married, which was a good thing,' you'll be accused of letting
your character biases interfere with your fic. (Like all rules, this one
should be disregarded when doing so tells your story better. You might
want to use an omniscient narrator that's biased toward the prejudices
of society, or some other particular viewpoint. However, this is
dangerous to do in fanfiction, where most readers already have strong
feelings toward the characters and are sensitive to author biases.)

An omniscient narrator is useful for fics in which you want to convey a
tone that's not matched by any of the characters. Some fics use a
narrator who delivers Dave Barry-esque humorous quips. Another example
is the recent "Eidolons," which began by showing typical Ranma events
but narrating them in a Lovecraftian style.

3) Third Person, Limited

The omniscient narrator obviously has enormous flexibility. Yet it's
currently strongly disfavored by the writing community. Why? Well,
flexibility is not always such a great thing. Driving works better when
there's a road, and coloring works better when there's an outline to
keep within. Limiting the perspective builds a framework for the story,
which actually helps you construct the narration.

Also, a limited perspective is a more natural way of experiencing a
scene. In real life, most of us don't jump into the heads of different
observers; we experience a "scene" from a single perspective -- our own.

Enter third person limited narration. Though all characters are referred
to as he, she, etc., there's one special viewpoint character in the
scene. Only that person's thoughts and sensations are described
directly, and the action in the scene is described the way that person
would experience it.

Here's the scene that everyone is sick of by now, this time written from
a third person limited perspective (Ranma is the viewpoint character).
This version is the one that actually appeared in the fic.

***

Ranma stared at Akane amidst the wreckage that had been the Tendo dojo..
"So... looks like we're, um, married now."

"Yeah." She smiled awkwardly. "I guess so." From her expression, she
felt as uncomfortable as he did with the way it had happened. They'd
been tricked. Ranma understood why Pop and Mr. Tendo had lied to him,
but he still resented them making his decision for him.

The previous day, the parents had taken Ranma and Akane to see some kind
of government official, so they could sign a paper. Just getting the
formalities out of the way, they were told. And they signed. After all,
they still had time to back out of the wedding, didn't they? It wasn't
until later, when their friends showed up at the widely-announced formal
ceremony, that the parents showed everybody the signed paper -- or
rather, a xerox copy of it. It was a marriage license, they said, and it
meant that no matter how badly this wedding got trashed, Ranma and Akane
were already legally married.

So they wrecked the ceremony anyway. But in the end, it didn't do them
any good.

Mr. Tendo shook Ranma's hand vigorously. "I'm so happy to finally have
you as part of the family! So happy!"

"Yeah, me too, whatever." Ranma returned the gesture tepidly.

***

This kind of perspective is fairly straightforward to write. You just
pick a viewpoint character for the scene, and then writing the scene is
just a matter of describing what that character sees, hears, thinks,
feels, tastes, and smells. This, of course, is no easy task, but at
least you have a sort of framework on which to build.

Note that the viewpoint character usually doesn't describe himself or
herself, unless he/she happens to be looking in a mirror or otherwise
paying particular attention to his/her own appearance. Ranma doesn't
tell us directly that he's in girl form; he knows that, and takes it for
granted. It probably would've been a good idea to work that information
into the narrative in some other way, though.

If we're limited to describing only one character's thoughts, does that
mean we can't know what the others are thinking? No. These can be
revealed indirectly through dialog, as well as descriptions of facial
expressions, body language, etc. Your favorite anime or manga probably
does this all the time; these media typically don't include long text
passages to describe characters' thoughts.

Some stories use a single viewpoint character throughout their entirety,
while others switch from character to character. The choice is up to
you, and depends on what kind of story you want to write. Using a single
character throughout will give you a tighter story and, if done right,
will make the readers highly empathetic toward that character. Switching
views, OTOH, allows you to explore the mindsets and motivations of many
different characters. It's a trade-off. A change in viewpoint characters
is usually indicated by a scene break marker, or at least an extra
skipped line, and it's a good idea to show some of the viewpoint
character's thoughts early on so that the reader knows to whom the view
has been switched.

Choosing the best viewpoint character for a scene is an art. Sometimes
you'll want to be clear and explicit about a certain character's
motivations, in which case that one is an obvious choice. Other times
you might want to be more subtle and let the readers wonder a bit, and
pick another viewpoint character who can wonder along with the readers.

Third person limited is sort of the "plain vanilla" of narrator types.
It's a good choice when you want the readers' attentions focused on the
story, rather than the way in which it's told. Fancy, clever narrative
styles often divert attention from the story, making the narrator a
partial focus of things in his own right -- which is fine if that's what
you want. But when you simply want the readers to experience the story
as directly as possible, third person limited is generally the way to
go.

In contrast to the standard omniscient narrator, what the limited
perspective narrator tells us is not necessarily the truth. Let's look
at the same scene (for the last time) with a different viewpoint
character:

***

Soun Tendo watched Ranma and Akane as they stood amidst the wreckage
that had been the Tendo dojo. Finally, they were married! Oh, what joy!

"So... looks like we're, um, married now," Ranma said to Akane.

"Yeah." She smiled awkwardly. "I guess so." She was obviously nervous
about whether she'd make a good wife. Soon she'd get used to it, and
then the two of them would thank Soun for the way in which he and
Saotome had persuaded them to overcome their shyness.

The previous day, Soun and Genma had taken their two loving children to
the local courthouse. Just getting the pre-wedding formalities out of
the way, they said. They told Ranma and Akane to sign a paper, and they
did -- not knowing that it was actually a marriage certificate. They
were legally married then, and didn't know it. When the usual crowd of
ruffians showed up at the widely-announced formal ceremony, the parents
showed everybody a xerox copy of the document. No matter what they did
to stop this wedding, they said, it wouldn't matter; Ranma and Akane
were already legally married.

So they wrecked the ceremony anyway. But in the end, it didn't do them
any good.

Soun shook Ranma's hand vigorously. "I'm so happy to finally have
you as part of the family! So happy!"

"Yeah, me too, whatever." Ranma returned the gesture tepidly. The boy
was shy, but Soun could tell how happy he was.

***

A lot of what we're told in this version obviously isn't true -- and
we'd have known it even if we hadn't read the other three versions.
Ranma and Akane probably won't be thanking Soun and Genma anytime soon,
and Ranma probably wasn't "shy but happy."

How much should we be able to trust a narrator? Generally, the narrator
is honest about direct sensory information -- what the character sees,
hears, etc. This we can count on to be accurate except in extreme cases,
like when the character is hallucinating or some such. However, the
narrator's interpretations and inferences can be totally wrong. The
writer is generally expecting us to figure out the truth from what we
know already, or from subtle inconsistencies and contradictions in what
the narrator tells us. Or maybe we'll learn in a later scene how the
narrator of this one misled us.

As has already been said, it's possible to mix narrative styles. A
limited perspective story might include bits of omniscient narration
when they're necessary to convey extra information, or as ominous
foreshadowing, etc. As always, do what works for your particular story.
But be familiar with the various options that are out there so that you
can make an informed choice.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html