Some of my newer writing friends are baffled when they receive feedback that they've changed POVs. What does that mean?
POV (point of view) is probably the easiest and hardest thing to explain. POV comes from what the character is seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, hearing, or thinking. In fiction, editors want to know what is happening in a scene from ONE character's point of view. The temptation for the writer is to show the scene from every point of view because we, the writer, know what's going on in each character's mind.
Let's look at an example from my romantic suspense novel, FOXFIRE. Tyler is a vet and Grace is his office assistant. She accompanied him to an elderly man's home where Tyler had to euthanize the man's dog. Grace has a dog named Tiffany. She is filled with grief after the incident. After Tyler brings her home, they sit together in her living room. Below is the wrong way to write the scene:
Grace sat in the rocker.
Tiffany came out of the kitchen, her jowls dripping water. She walked to Tyler and leaned against him. He ruffled her fur, thinking again about the poor dog he'd had to euthanize. He wished he could have saved the old man's pet. (This indicates that the scene will be in Tyler's POV because we know what he's feeling know through his thoughts.)
Grace felt awkward. What could they talk about to avoid the issue forefront in both their minds? (Now we see what Grace is feeling. Hmmm. So, Tyler can't be privy to her thoughts unless he's a mind reader. We've clearly switched POV to Grace at this point. This is a no-no. It is called head-hopping.)
He met her gaze. "The first time I had to euthanize an animal, my dad was with me. Later we sat and talked about it. He helped me understand what I'd done was the humane thing." Tyler shook his head. He wanted to walk over and hug her. He wanted nothing more than to comfort her. (Again we've switched POV back to Tyler! Grace wouldn't know that Tyler wants to hug her. That's what he's thinking about out.)
Grace swallowed. The lump kept rising in her throat. She wouldn't resort to tears in front of Tyler. She bit the inside of her mouth, a trick that always worked. She watched Tyler's fingers absently stroking Tiffany's ears. (Again another POV switch. Now we are in Grace's head. We see what she sees, feel what she's feeling.)
"I suppose you get hardened to it," she said.
"Never."
****************
Okay, now that we've seen the wrong way to write the scene, how can we write it to show both POV's without doing that head-hopping thing? How to do it? Remove any instances where we are in Tyler's head and reveal his emotions through dialogue. Here is the scene only in Grace's POV:
Grace sat in the rocker.
Tiffany came out of the kitchen, her jowls dripping water. She walked to Tyler and leaned against him. He ruffled her fur and she dropped to the rug at his feet.
Grace felt awkward. What could they talk about to avoid the issue forefront in both their minds?
He met her gaze. "The first time I had to euthanize an animal, my dad was with me. Later we sat and talked about it. He helped me understand what I'd done was the humane thing." Tyler shook his head. "I still have a hard time dealing with it. No matter how prepared you are, it always hurts to see life fade away."
Grace swallowed. The lump kept rising in her throat. She wouldn't resort to tears in front of Tyler. She bit the inside of her mouth, a trick that always worked. She watched Tyler's fingers absently stroking Tiffany's ears.
"I suppose you get hardened to it," she said.
"Never."
*****
This scene shows that Tyler must have had as hard a time with putting the dog to sleep as Grace did. But, it is strictly in Grace's POV.
I hope this helps a little with understanding how to use POV. Another trick is to write part of the scene in one POV and use a break *** and begin writing in the other character's POV. This is particularly helpful in love scenes.
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