THE ICE PICK

Mastering Point of View, by Sherri Szeman. Cincinnati: Story Press, 2001. 218 p. $16.99. Includes bibliographical references, glossary, and index. ISBN 1-884910-52-1.

This very comprehensive examination of viewpoint might be a bit too difficult for the beginning writer, but for the amateur yearning to improve or the advanced writer reaching to perfect skills, this book may be extremely helpful.

Szeman speaks of mastering or controlling point of view rather than simply handling or using it, and she defines various viewpoints far more stringently than you may be used to seeing.

Where we are often told that we are changing point of view when we switch from our heroine’s third person viewpoint to our hero’s third person viewpoint, Szeman says that is not a change in point of view at all, but merely a different perspective in the same point of view. Only a change such as that from first person to third is considered by Szeman to be a true viewpoint change.

She is also far more strict in what she considers to be a lapse from point of view than most of us are used to or have been taught. Studying what she says should make you much more aware of viewpoint and more able to control your use of it.

Szeman includes advice, like using first person to create sympathy for unsympathetic characters, and tips, like watching movies with the sound turned off to help you learn body language, which is especially helpful if you are writing in outer limited (or camera-eye) viewpoint or trying to "show" rather than "tell."

Along with explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each point of view, she explains how you can figure out which one will best reveal or hide your characters’ motives and how to know when to change viewpoints, as well as how to use point of view to keep a sense of tension and urgency high in your story.

She gives tips for handling setting and dialogue in different points of view and discusses the special problems of viewpoint when writing erotic or violent scenes.

The book is filled with examples from contemporary and classic literature illustrating the various points of view, and there are appendices covering the historical development of viewpoint in literary and commercial fiction. She covers science fiction, alien novels, time travel, alternate worlds, cyperpunk, space travel, fantasy, heroic/sword and sorcery, magical worlds, utopia/dystopia, and animal novels; plus science fiction/fantasy, futuristic, time travel, and paranormal romances; as well as science fiction mysteries/thrillers, and horror novels.

If you are struggling with viewpoint and want to learn how to master it and use it to keep your reader hooked and reading, create atmosphere and mood, and develop realistic characters, I recommend this book.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Feb. 2003.}