Basic Point of View, part five

The most important thing to remember about point of view is:

You are the character.

This involves several things. First:

Your character would only see what you would see.

You don’t see your face unless you’re looking in a mirror. You don’t see the color of your eyes. You don’t see when a flush creeps up your cheeks (although you might feel the heat). You don’t see how charming you look when you’re angry. You don’t see the flash or glitter or tears in your eyes.

Your character wouldn’t see any of that, either. So when you’re writing a scene from a certain character’s point of view, only write what the character herself would see.

Susie wouldn’t see the dimples in her cheeks, so don’t write about how Susie’s dimples peeked out at Jim.

Frank wouldn’t see his hair, so don’t write about how his ebony hair shone in the sunlight.

Audrey wouldn’t see her own eyes, so don’t write about how the candlelight made her eyes turn golden.

Next post will be about how to describe your character to the reader.