Breaking PoV Rules

One of the things that gets drummed into writers very early (usually through critique groups) is the need to keep point of view (PoV) tightly controlled. This helps to build the link between the writer and the reader and allows the reader to get 'into the skin' of the characters.

I am a big advocate of this. However after years of mercilessly going through my manuscripts looking for PoV quibbles, it is interesting to see how very experienced writers sometimes break the rules with PoV.

There is a real temptation to do this. It is certainly a lot easier to simply write from a character's PoV then to stylishly convey the same thoughts or reactions from another characters PoV.

There is also the issue of economy. Sometimes breaking PoV - in a brief aside - helps to keep the pace and maintain the flow. The trick is flagging to the reader that this is coming so they do not get 'jolted'. One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply insert a break between the paragraphs with a '#' or something similar so that the reader knows that this is a new scene. The other thing that I have seen work very effectively is to switch the PoV at natural points in the narrative where the pace changes - for example at the end of the chapter. The main PoV character may leave the scene before the end of the action, so the last few paragraphs can be from another character's PoV.

There still needs to be some sort of signal. If not after a deliberate break, then the first line should clearly signal the change i.e. 'Darius watched Kelly walk away, his eyes narrowing. The cut on his forearm burned as though he had been splashed with acid.'

I have noticed that many of the older genre classics almost tend toward omniscient, describing the action as though from a distance and only dropping the occaisional paragraph that is clearly from one characters PoV. I recently read 'Duke Elric' by Moorcock. It was hard to say at any given time whose PoV I was really in. I was clearly following Elric's actions, but it was almost as though I was listening through a intermediate narrator (no problems drawing me through the story though:)).

Do you ever break the PoV 'rule'? If so when?

Resonance

Resonance is a term from movies meaning 'To evoke a feeling that lingers in the mind'. (Or that is the way I interpret it).

Think of the movie 'American Beauty'. There was that opening shot above the suburbs. It seemed to say, here in Middle America we will peel back the covers and reveal what goes on. The red rose, the American Beauty, has been bred to look beautiful but it has no thorns or scent, which is another comment on the film's theme.

When I'm writing a book I collect photographs and research fascinating details which convey evocative feelings for me.

The book I recently handed over to my agent 'The Shallow Sea' was a fantasy set in a tropical paradise. I collected images of azure seas, exquisite lilies and details about deadly creatures. For me it was the combination of the idyllic tropical setting with dangers hidden below the surface, that was a metaphor for the book. It had a resonance, a flavour in my head as I wrote.

I know many writers play music while they write. It helps them get into the mood to create the resonance for their current work-in-progress. Music bypasses the higher brain and goes straight to our emotional hind-brain.

I used to work as an illustrator, so I think I'm more visually oriented. I can get 'high' on beauty. If I go to the art gallery to see an exhibition, I come away feeling as if I'm floating on air, with images flooding my mind.

Some books evoke a stronger resonance than others. It's not necessarily the characters that linger, it might be a sense of mystery, elegance, or tragedy. It's like taking a mental holiday to another place and time. For instance, 'Perdido Street Station' lingers in my mind. I'd just finished reading a book about London from its earliest times to now. The thought of those pits where they buried the plague victims, then built housing estates over the top, still makes me shudder. Almost anything by Michael Moorcock stays with me years later. I can still remember Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast and I read that thirty years ago. I think it was the layering of backstory, the obsession with detail and the eccentricity of the characters.

Resonance is not something we talk about much as writers, it's hard to pin down.

What books have stayed with you, resonating in your mind and why?

And do you set out to create a resonance for the books you are currently working on?