 Drama: August 23, 2017 Issue [#8449] |
  Drama
This week: Choosing the Viewpoint Characters Edited by: Joy  
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“What was the point of having a situation worthy of fiction if the protagonist didn't behave as he would have done in a book?”
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
“You could not fence with an antagonist who met rapier thrust with blow of battle axe.”
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island
“The glory of the protagonist is always paid for by a lot of secondary characters.”
Tony Hoagland
“But you became self-aware. Somehow, you began to hear the Narrator’s voice. You realised that you were a character in a story. You tried to fight. These actions have disrupted the flow of fiction.”
Dylan Randall Wong En Lai, this is how you walk on the moon: an anthology of anti-realist fiction
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about choosing the best character to tell the story.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Choosing a viewpoint character isn’t a process that we can treat lightly because he will be the one to carry on his shoulders everything else that will be in the story.
Although in the beginning, the protagonist of any story may seem to be the obvious choice to tell the story, this is not always a sure thing. Some writers go with the protagonist as he is the character who has the most at stake.
Also, rarely, the antagonist is picked to tell what happened because, within his own story, the antagonist somehow can become the main character. His story could have its own story goal, and different characters may take different functions. He may also become an unreliable narrator or he can be paired with the protagonist in a two-viewpoint storytelling.
Sometimes, writers pick a secondary character, a first-person observer, who is also inside the story, like Ishmael in Melville’s Moby Dick. Imagine Captain Ahab telling his own story, instead. Would he be able to create the same visuals and, at the same time, tell what happened from a firm and steady point of view? Possibly not.
Choosing a character from among the lesser characters is a tricky job. This character must have a stake in the works or some motivation to tell the story his way. That is, he has to be interesting or important enough, even if not as involved as the protagonist.
Then, multiple-viewpoint novels also exist in which several characters take turns to tell the story, each in his own chapter or chapters. In multiple viewpoint stories, there might be only two of the characters among several others who tell the story, or several characters telling the story like an orchestra, each having their say at each stage of the story’s development. Here, one thing to take into consideration is to not narrate or show the same scene from every single character’s point of view, unless this adds to the emotional content and is necessary. Repetitive rendering of the same action could be mind-numbing for the reader.
It is also imperative for each scene to be told from only one viewpoint. Especially a climax scene should be told by a character who is most involved in some way. In the multiple-viewpoint storytelling, continuity of action should be the most significant commitment in order to provide a good flow and appropriate pace for the story.
An addition to multiple or single viewpoint stories is the viewpoint of someone who isn’t in the story but knows about it. This observer-narrator has heard the story or knows about it and he also is acquainted either with some important idea in the story or the main characters. He is connected to the story in some way but isn’t taking part in the original story's arc.
Then, there is the third-person omniscient viewpoint narrator as if an existing story-teller god. This is when writers try their hands at writing the story not from any point of view that penetrates into any one character but from high above.
So, how do we pick the character who will best tell our story? This exercise should give a rough idea on the matter. The best way to choose the best point of view character is to write one or two small scenes from your story idea several times per scene, using a different character each time. One thing to keep in mind is, if you are planning only one or two scenes for a character, he usually doesn’t make a good viewpoint character. It may be a better idea to choose the viewpoint character or characters from among those who take part in many scenes.
Who we choose among our characters to tell the story we plan to write is an important one because this choice will result in the reader’s proper identification and emotional involvement with the characters and the story.
Until next time! 
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 This Issue's Tip: When writing characters' responses to events, think about each person's bodily reactions and include them as important indicators of emotion.
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Feedback for "Characters through Their Words & Actions"
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Choconut 
This is a great newsletter. I've been doing a lot of work, exploring my characters recently, so it's really helpful. I love the idea of looking inside their home and the trunks of their cars. Goodness only knows what mine says about me!
Thank you very much, Choco. As they say, little things count a lot.
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Quick-Quill 
I like character outlines. I don't fill them out in detail. I use them as reference when I can't remember if she was 5foot tall or her father's name etc. If sometime fill them in as I go. i don't need everything right at the beginning of my writing.
Thanks, Tina, for the input.
Probably we all do that to some degree because situations arise and characters change and take a personality and voice of their own.
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Azrael Tseng 
Thank you for featuring my story in your newsletter. I found the list of articles you featured on making characters memorable and outstanding very useful. Thanks
I'm glad you find the NL useful, and thank you for the feedback.
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