point of view

Manipulate Your Readers’ Point of View

December 10, 2019 By Jim Dempsey 3 Comments

After seeing lots of hype in the media, I’ve been catching up with the HBO series Succession. The writers are there are expert at manipulating their audience. Their basic message is straightforward and not subtle.

The main characters – members of a family that owns a multinational media and entertainment empire – are horrible, selfish and self-absorbed. They treat everyone with contempt. But they reserve their true disdain for those outside the immediate family, in other words, those who are not super-rich.

Cousin Greg arrives bright-eyed and eager, desperate to ingratiate himself into the business. He meets Tom, who is also an outsider after marrying into the family. We’ve already seen Tom crave the attention of the patriarch, Logan, to the point of being sycophantic. And yet he still ends up the brunt of many insults as he struggles to fit in. Tom could be the perfect ally for Greg. And Tom appears helpful. On Greg’s first day, Tom tells him in a calm sympathetic tone, “If you need any help, seriously, any help, any advice … just, you know … don’t f***ing bother.” [Read more…]

The Editor’s Clinic: Problem Child

June 18, 2019 By Dave King 9 Comments

Child narrators can be a problem. Children don’t yet have the experience or self-awareness to understand what’s going on around them. So if you write intimately from their point of view, using only language and concepts that they would have available to them, it’s sometimes hard to convey what’s really happening. Granted, you can […]

First Look: WU UnConference Session Descriptions

April 6, 2019 By Writer Unboxed 2 Comments

If you’ve been eager to learn more about the sessions and workshops we’ll have at this year’s Writer Unboxed UnConference (in Salem, MA, 11/4-11/8), this is the post for you. Read on for a more detailed look at our program, and visit our page at Eventbrite for more specifics and to sign up. Hope to […]

The Editor’s Clinic: The Limits of Editing

January 15, 2019 By Dave King 14 Comments

One of the comments in last month’s Editor’s Clinic suggested that the piece I worked on should have been rewritten once or twice before the editing commenced. (Incidentally, I’d encourage you to go back to that discussion. At the time it went up, I was working to get ready for Christmas – a […]

A Hook that Breaks the Rules

December 18, 2018 By Dave King 17 Comments

It’s a given in most writing circles that you should never open your novel with a scene in which little happens, especially if that scene involves a flashback. This is normally good advice, but this morning’s passage is an example of when good advice should be ignored. As always, it’s hard to […]

Catching the Train of Thought

November 20, 2018 By Dave King

The single piece of advice I repeat most often is to get into your characters’ heads — to write with a more intimate point of view. Let’s take a closer look at just what that means. Most writers go wrong by losing track of how everything on the page needs to flow out of a […]

The Editor’s Clinic: Yonder lies the castle of my father.

October 16, 2018 By Dave King

Yes, I know, Tony Curtis never actually said the line. But does sum up one of the problems this morning’s editing is trying to address – language that is meant to create a mood of fantasy and wonder and instead simply comes across as formal and forced. First, a caveat. This passage is taken from […]

The Editor’s Clinic: Promise Fresh Perspective

September 13, 2018 By Kathryn Craft

Kathryn’s post today is part of the “All the King’s Editors” series, in which WU contributors will edit manuscript pages submitted by members of the larger WU community and discuss the proposed changes. This educational format is intended to generate useful comments on what changes work, which may not work as well, and in either […]

When Perspective is the Story

July 12, 2018 By Kathryn Craft

One of the first things an editor wants to know about your novel is how many points of view you’ll use. In the broadest strokes, who gets a point of view will determine the structure of your story; down to the smallest detail, it will determine how perspective will illuminate it. Will this be a […]

The Editor’s Clinic: Building a World in a Hurry

April 17, 2018 By Dave King

This morning we’re looking at another effective opening. Like last month’s example, the first scene isn’t simply dramatic but introduces a likable character (named November) finding a moment of peace in an otherwise miserable life. But even more, it introduces readers quite effectively to an alternate metaphysics. Note how the author ramps up the strangeness […]