It seems that, about half of the time, I’ll start writing a story in one narrative form and then part-way through decide it would actually be better told in another perspective (usually switching from first person to third person limited or vice-versa).
I’m wondering how everyone else chooses a narrative perspective in your fiction writing. Do you have a go-to favorite? Do you arbitrarily choose one and stick with it? Or are you like me and play around with point of view until it seems to “fit” the story?
Truly-professional writing engineers the perspective to the story-requirements…
“Stein on Writing” gave some of it, but “The Story Grid” & Coyne’s analysis-versions of some excellent stories go into it…
Coyne’s go-to one was … “Silence of the Lambs”.
7 perspectives in that one, iirc.
Stein said it best, though, the essence of it: “DON’T give your reader what they want!”
They want you to resolve everything?
Amplify the tension!
They want to find-out what happened here?
Throw in a chapter from another perspective!
Stories’ worth is measured in sentience process, in emotion, in feelings, in sentience-richness, not in plot-points …
So, what engineering-of-perspective can increase the wealth in a story’s experiencing?
( Truby’s 2 books, the 2 books listed in that 2nd sentence, above, & “Presenting to Win” 3rd edition, all are recommended: each identifies principles which cut-through-the-guff, giving leverage for writers.
Lanier’s “Foreign to Familiar” on tropical-to-nordic culture-spectrum, & old-city-vs-new-city culture-spectrum, Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, in his “Exploring Culture” book, these show how different-cultural-roots alter human potential in specific ways, which story-writers need to understand, too… Woodard’s “American Nations” & Fussell’s book(s) on the North American Class System help in understanding how cultures control our meanings, too. )
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