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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/12889-Point-of-View.html
Mystery: December 18, 2024 Issue [#12889]




 This week: Point of View
  Edited by: Annette Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

"Don't become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of their origin." ~ Ivan Pavlov


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

Point of View


The first thing that comes to mind when seeing the words "Point of View" is usually whether a story is told in first person, second person, or third person. Each of these create a different feel for a story.

First person accounts come from one person's limited experience.
Third person can be limited to one character's experience or widened to an omniscient view where the narrator is all-knowing and all-telling.
Second person speaks to "you" and can be used in the same way as the first person or third person narration.

But we are not talking about the grammatical point of view today.

When writing a mystery, a common point of view will be that of the detective. The detective comes onto the scene after the fact. Crime scenes need investigating, clues need collecting, and red herrings need to be parsed out.

Who else has a vested interest in the mystery? Either to solve it or to prevent solving it? Victims, perpetrators, those who stand to gain or lose from the way this shakes out.

Before you really get into writing up a mystery story, whether a short story or a novel with many chapters, ask yourself whose point of view will do the story the most favors. To that end, write three different beginnings. One from the perpetrator's point of view. One from the victim's point of view. And finally one from the detective's point of view. This third option can also be written from a journalist's point of view who tries to uncover all angles.

In each of these, you will find different ways to shed light on the event. The perpetrator knows what they're doing and why. The victim knows what they're suffering and how it makes them feel. The detective/journalist eventually finds out that something happened, but (depending on the state of the victim), they have find out through interviews or observation what happened and they have to speculate about the motive.

Limit your writing exercise to one scene. The facts remain the same, but you will discover that limiting your view of the events as someone who experiences them from within versus looking in from the outside gives you very unique possibilities to tell your mystery story. Afterward, you will be able to narrow down whose point of view should really be the one to tell the whole story.

Who is really telling the story?


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Ask & Answer

Replies to my last Mystery newsletter "Unexplained" Open in new Window. that asked Would you be upset if you read a mystery that was not solved by the end of the story?

Quick-Quill Author Icon wrote: WOW! I watched movies and documentaries on the first 2 you mention. I didn't know about #3 but I read a book called LISTEN and it might have been based on that story. It was good!
I didn't hear about the fallen trees. Wierd. I watch Josh Gates series. Now he's doing Unexplained. He goes to the coolest places to find mysteries and queer stories.

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