Pernicious point of view by Eileen Padmore

I've only just begun to take point of view (POV) seriously and it's tricky. Never bothered by it before, now it's getting in the way.

There was much the same attitude to music as I sailed through the grades untroubled by theory. In the end I bowed to pressure and tackled it – a paper exercise that failed to enhance performance or enjoyment.

With my head constantly in a book from childhood an instinctive flair for grammar and spelling seemed to serve me well. Avoidance of boring rules (to me) became an art form.

My first NaNoWriMo in 2018 was a romp: launched into with gunging-ho attitude, zilch preparation and virgin (almost) mind. The embryo fantasy novel that came out the other end has now been exhumed and examined more closely. Which is why POV can no longer be avoided.

Question: Why has it not been an issue before?                                                                                               Answer: Because this is my first fiction.

Question: Why not write in my first person comfort zone?                                                                          Answer: Unsuitable for subject.

Fantasy can work in first person but not with what's on my page. Are there too many 'voices'? Have I navigated onto the rocks of over omniscience? POV is closely connected to 'show not tell' apparently – another potential shipwreck.

In retrospect, I could have chosen a much simpler subject than a story that drifts between real and imaginary worlds. But it was conceived out of nowhere, birthed without too much difficulty – now my baby is clamouring to be shared.

Were those greats of English poetry and prose (Eliot, Austen, the Brontes) plagued by writing theory? How many rules did Emily Bronte swallow before she came up with:

'Oh dreadful is the check – intense the agony –

When the ear begins to hear; the eye begins to see;

When the pulse begins to throb; the brain to think again;

The soul to feel the flesh, and the flesh to feel the chain.

None, I imagine, but I could be wrong. I note that these words, clearly generated by intense personal experience, are as fresh on the page as when they were written nearly two hundred years ago.

Like the omniscient voice of Dickens, in Hard Times, prophetically 'telling' his readers about the dark side of the industrial revolution; the side that pitted itself against nature and made people dance to the mechanical rhythms of grotesque machines:

'The Fairy Palaces burst into illumination, before pale morning showed the monstrous serpents of smoke trailing themselves over Coketown. A clattering of clogs on the pavement; a rapid ringing of bells; and all the melancholy mad elephants, polished and oiled for the day's monotony, were at their heavy exercise again.'

Wonderful, evocative economy of words! Am I right – is he 'showing' superbly from omniscient 'telling'?

How much is innate instinct and how much sweated slog? Do I bow out to those who've got it, or in the abbreviated words of Winston Churchill – KBO? 

The latter I think. I've just stumbled across 'Deep POV' – another promising trail to explore.

Eileen Padmore retired some time ago from health care and academia with a vow to indulge in writing more creatively and less academically. Her background in Africa, Eire, Northern Ireland (in the troubles) as well as inner city Birmingham and Leeds has provided plenty of copy. She has had articles published by Woman Alive, Christian Writer and contributed to the popular ACW Lent book.  

Eileen operated a dynamic prayer shawl ministry under the name of Tabitha. You can read all about it here Benedict Unravelled