See Story-Telling Techniques And Conventions.
There is another nuance. A conversation can be described without assigning a point of view. We can be told that either of the participants looked or sounded annoyed without being that he felt that way. Examples are:
the opening chapter of Poul Anderson's War of the Gods (see Literary Styles);
the conversation between Rupert and Sheldrake in A Midsummer Tempest, ii (see POVs in Chapters i and ii);
most of AMT, iv.
In iv, I had to search to find a sentence that definitely expressed one character's pov:
"He tried to shake the mood off." (p. 25)
- as opposed to sentences that could be merely observed, e.g.:
"Rupert grunted annoyance." (p. 24)
"Jennifer stiffened." (p. 25)
"Rupert laughed too..." (p. 26)
"Rupert squirmed a little." (p. 27)
"Rupert hastened to cover her dismay with speech..." (p. 28)
When we are told that:
"She summoned courage to answer..." (p. 29)
- are we being told that it felt to her that she must summon courage or that it seemed to Rupert that she summoned courage? If the former, then the pov has shifted from Rupert on p. 25 to Jennifer on p. 29.
Am I alone in being passionate about povs?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
It is good that you take such an interest in such seemingly small details. In things I, and most other readers, would probably not have noticed.
Ad astra! Sean
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