Point of View or Narrative Perspective is a central stylistic choice that is superficially simple but contains hidden difficulties and subtleties. In the two parts of this article I will explore the three main types of narrative mode (first (I said), second (you said) and third (he said) person perspective), how to use perspective to manage the balance between intimacy and clarity, and how small shifts in point of view can be used to position the reader. This won’t be a comprehensive overview, but I will be exploring some of the things I find interesting about the choice of narrative perspective.
First person perspective or Point of View (PoV) is written as if told by one or more of the central characters, either using “I” (first-person singular) or “we” (first person plural); “I said, I picked up the knife, we walked out of the door.” Third person PoV is written from outside of the character; “he said, she picked up the knife, they walked out the door.” But what difference does it make choosing one approach over the other? (more…)
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Early on in the drawing class this morning the teacher brought out some pictures the group had been working with the day before. They were medical diagrams of intestines. I didn’t want to look at them. I didn’t feel good. I had a bad taste in my mouth.
In the break, when everyone else grabbed coffee and biscuits and talked about what they’d been doing, I sat down and did the drawing on the right. It was big and it was fast. I didn’t like looking at it.
The picture didn’t look right. It wasn’t how I remembered it happening. For a start, the only thing that had screamed had been the cable right before it broke. Second, when I think about it, I wasn’t even looking when he fell. I remember him being all crumpled up in the stupid yellow coveralls they gave us, the angles being wrong but the blood all dark and mixed up in the other wet and mess. (more…)
My short story, “Spark“, was shortlisted in the Fowey Festival Short Story Competition 2014. The Fowey Festival celebrates the work of Daphne Du Maurier, 
and author who (like a lot of people) had an enormous impact on me when I was growing up. The House on the Strand remains one of my favourite books (my mother prefers Rebecca). I really enjoyed my take on a Du Maurier story, although I doubt anybody but me would see the similarity. If you’d like, you can read the full story on the site here.
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Our first child was born one month ago today. At least that is what the calendar tells me. The demarcation between days seems to have blurred into an endless stream of bleary eyed triage and trying to remember what it was like to sleep. But it’s brilliant. My wife is brilliant and my little son is brilliant and I’ve never been happier. Which is weird given how desperately I want to sleep. (more…)
A couple of weeks ago I was accepted onto a part-time fine art course at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts – Glacières. Getting to study at an art school in Paris is something of a dream come true (I always wanted to do art but was too scared in case my Dad found out[i]), but it didn’t seem strictly relevant to this blog so I wasn’t going to talk about it here. I quickly found, however, that what I was doing in the course was immediately useful to my writing.
In this article, I am going to talk about the first classes I took at Glacières and share images of my work. The purpose is not to show-off my art, but I think some stories are better told with pictures. I’m sure it will be clear very quickly why these lessons are also applicable to the writer, and how the process of risk and repetition is useful to any creative endeavour.
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