I love reading stories that take me into a character’s heart and mind, stories that make me feel as if I am the character.
I experienced this phenomenon most vividly when I read my first Conan story, written in the 1930s by Robert E. Howard. REH (as fans call him) was a pulp fiction writer most famous for creating the character of Conan the Barbarian. Conan is a rogue, a wanderer, a black-haired sword-and-sorcery hero. I am a dresses and makeup kind of girl. I’m not tough or barbaric. But in reading those Conan stories, I found myself tramping through deserts, guzzling mead in shifty taverns, battling supernatural creatures with my sword, sometimes with my bare hands! (ARGHHH!) I was Conan.
I mean, come on. You can’t read passages like this and not get sucked in:
“The sun beat fiercely on Conan’s tangled black mane. Waves of dizziness and nausea rose in his brain, but he set his teeth and strode on unwaveringly.” (from “Xuthal of the Dusk” by Robert E. Howard)
I can feel that sun beating down my head, I can feel the dizziness and nausea. I can feel Conan’s struggle and his resolve. This is the kind of experience I want to bring to my stories.
Finally, one day I stumbled upon a book: Writing Deep Viewpoint: Invite Your Readers into the Story by Kathy Tyers. That’s it! I thought. That’s the term I’d been looking for! The term that describes the technique writers use to draw readers into a story, draw us into a character’s heart and mind: deep viewpoint! I bought the book and got to work reading it.
Deep viewpoint is all about immersing your reader into the scene as one of the characters. Tyers lays out the following techniques to achieving deep viewpoint:
- Show don’t tell (Brian was nervous vs Brian’s hands twitched).
- Use vivid verbs (avoid passive and vague verbs).
- Use strong sensory impressions.
- Use all the senses (and avoid sensory clichés).
- Intersperse beats with dialogue to show readers what the viewpoint character sees, thinks, and feels.
- Show the viewpoint character’s thoughts.
These techniques have helped me improve my drafts and revisions. I will sometimes take a chunk of text I’ve written, especially a chunk that’s not working for me, and check it against these points, looking for opportunities to improve the viewpoint (and my writing in general).
Best of all, Writing Deep Viewpoint is short and to the point. 167 pages full of useful information, examples, and techniques written in an easy-to-understand, conversational tone. Tyers gives examples of shallow viewpoint, moderate viewpoint, and deep viewpoint. I thrive on examples, so I really appreciate this. It helps me diagnose my own sentences. Am I being shallow or moderate in my viewpoint? Can I take it to the next level and really immerse readers in my story?
Tyers’s book has helped me and will continue to help me deepen the viewpoint in my stories and improve my overall writing. I tend to write rough drafts quickly, so I’m taking the time to go back and look for opportunities I missed, opportunities to deepen the viewpoint. I’m excited to apply more of Tyers’s techniques and deepen the viewpoint in my stories.
If you are looking to do the same, you should check out her book. Click here!
