Lesson Two Discussion

Another Saturday morning. Up early the wife and I untangle ourselves, climb out of bed and head for the shower. Dressed, bed made, room swept and with a banana in hand we exit onto a small covered balcony. We give the banana to a large gray squirrel that has been waiting patiently on a tree branch that passes close by. (Squirrels love bananas; who knew.) We clamber down metal stairs into the cool light dappled garden with its many brightly colored orchids and stop to unlock, open and secure behind us a metal gate. The movement and noise disturb a cloud of contentious emerald and ruby colored hummingbirds vying for spots at a homemade feeder. Passing down the buildings side we cross a small front lawn with its aromatic rose beds baking in the morning sunlight. We pause to open a sheet steel door that exits onto the street. Stepping out we greet the raucous dusty world. Closing the door behind us with a loud clang we lock it and are off. Our destination is the weekly farmers market, five blocks away. We are after a weeks supply of fresh produce. Yep. Just another Saturday morning in the barrio and another farmers market.


This short item is written in First Person. First person seemed to work well in this piece. Maybe because it was always intended to be very short. More likely being VERY new to writing First Person seems to come naturally. (As I look back on the first weeks submissions I realize that all six pieces are, in fact, First Person) In retrospect this may not have been the best POV. I might well have ended up telling rather than describing. Actually I was already falling into that trap. If I had chosen Third Person Omniscient I would have had much greater latitude in the long run and been more likely to describe an event or situation. I would have been able to show scenes in the farmers market from various points of view and added much greater depth and color.

I could well have started the piece with “The gray squirrel had been dozing on the tree branch for more than thirty minutes listening to sounds of movement inside the small second floor apartment.”

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The book I used for Lesson One Discussion was Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

♥ What point of view was the story written from?
Steinbeck wrote this book in Third Person Omniscient.

♥ What type of “voice” did the narrator have?
I have to be honest and admit that I still do not fully grasp the meaning of “VOICE”. I am going to need some advice on this one.

♥ Why do you think it worked well for this story?
In some sense, the book doesn’t have a solid plot. Instead, Steinbeck did a series of what I guess are vignettes to describe life on the Row. He seemed more interested in color sketches than in plot development. By the end of the book all these sketches come together to create a complete view of the Row and its inhabitants. (This truly is what I would call a slice of life book.) Because of this, Third Person Omniscient works quite well. In fact, it is hard for me to imagine the book from another POV.

♥ How can this apply to your own story?
Almost all my writing has been in First Person. I see now that Steinbeck’s use of Third Person allowed considerable latitude. I am currently working on a story. I started it in First Person and ran into problems almost at once. An editor here at WDC advised a change the Third Person Omniscient. The change in POV made getting the story down on paper much easier. Although I still THINK in First Person, I am getting better at TRANSLATING my thoughts into Third Person.