Novel Beginnings: Deciding on Viewpoint Part 2

In my last blog I discussed the issue of deciding on the type of viewpoint you want for your novel or short story. I mentioned three types of viewpoints but illustrated only two: the single character viewpoint and the omniscient viewpoint.  Both as you recall were very different from one another. 

With single character viewpoint you are looking at the story through the eyes of one singular character.  This viewpoint allows the reader to see the entire story through the eyes of one person or individual. 

  

But, omniscient viewpoint gives us the perspective of the distant all-knowing observer, someone who sees all and knows all.  With this viewpoint we can see what all the characters in the scene are thinking and feeling. I also mentioned that this viewpoint is the least engaging of all the viewpoints.

The last viewpoint I mentioned but did not expound upon was the multiple character viewpoint.  This viewpoint is used quite often in contemporary fiction writing.  It requires a different viewpoint character for each scene.  Each scene is seen from the viewpoint of one character. But unlike the single character viewpoint in which you have one viewpoint character throughout the entire story, the multiple character viewpoint has many viewpoint characters who take turns letting us see the story through their eyes.  I have chosen two scenes taken from Breathless by Dean Koontz to illustrate.  Here is the first:

Henry followed her through the house and onto the front porch.

Descending the steps, she said, “So you’ve never ridden?”

“Only things that have wheels,” he said.

“There’s nothing like saddling up and riding to the high meadows on a crisp day. The world’s never more right than it is then.”

Crossing the yard toward the barn, he said, “You make it sound appealing. Maybe I should learn.”

“You couldn’t find a better riding instructor than Jim.”

“Successful farmer, poet, horseman. Jim is a hard act to follow, even for an identical twin.”

He spoke only to have something to say, to keep her distracted. Nothing in his words revealed his intentions, but something in his tone or some unintended inflection given one word or another must have struck her as wrong.

Half a dozen steps short of the barn, Nora halted, turned, and frowned at him.  Whatever she heard in his voice must have been even more evident in his face, because her eyes widened with the recognition of his nature.

In this passage, we see the situation through Henry’s eyes.  We watch Nora, but we never know what she is thinking exactly.  Like Henry, we can only deduce from her actions what it going on in her mind.  However, because he is the viewpoint character, we know that he is trying to keep her distracted by attempting to make conversation.  We know this because we are inside his head.

This next scene involves a different set of characters and therefore a different viewpoint character:

Merlin leaped to his feet so suddenly that he knocked his head against the underside of the table.  The wolfhound was at no risk of concussion. The table would collapse long before the dog did.

When Merlin padded out of the kitchen, into the hallway that led to the living room, Grady put down his fork, let his book fall shut, and sat listening for a bark. After half a minute, having heard neither a bark nor the thudding paws of the returning son of Ireland, he opened the book again.

As Grady picked up his fork, Merlin thumped along the hall to the kitchen doorway, where he stood in a posture of alarm.  Easily read, his expression said, We’ve got a situation, Dad.  What do I have to do—learn Morse code and beat out a message with my tail?

“All right, okay,” Grady said, rising from the dinette chair.

The dog hurried toward the front of the house once more. Grady found him in the open vestibule, off the living room, his back to the front door, facing the stairs to the second floor, ears pricked.

So here we are experiencing the story through Grady.  We observe his dog, and we know what he is thinking about his dog’s behavior. Same story, different viewpoint character.

I will write more on the subject of viewpoint in future blogs.  But for now, I hope this helps you get started on planning your story’s beginning.