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Deep POV

In general, any use of "felt," "heard," "saw," etc. borders on "telling" and draws the reader out of the character's deep Point of View. You can usually get rid of them, and it serves to tighten the prose, making it more vibrant and emotional.

For example:
He understood how much this would mean to her. He knew she’d be worried.
versus
This would mean a lot to her. She’d be worried.

He prayed she’d understand why he did what he did. He could only hope she wouldn’t walk away.
Versus
Lord, please help her understand why I had to do it. She wouldn’t walk away, would she?

You might want to go through your novel to seek and destroy those kinds of verbs. Although they’re action verbs, they distance the reader from the character. By getting rid of them and rewriting the sentences, you can draw the reader closer to the characters to feel their emotions more.
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Comments

  1. Jim ThompsonFri Jul 14, 05:39:00 PM 2006

    Never have I seen this issue treated more concisely, especially relating deep POV to this type of verb. In fact, "deep Point of View" is a new concept to me, and I'd like to explore it. Can you direct me to a resource that covers it in depth?

    ReplyDelete

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