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One of the advantages of belonging to a writers’ group is that every member has different strengths and areas of expertise. As a result, we are continually learning from one another. For example, I learned about Deep POV (Point of View) from one of my colleagues.
I was already familiar with First Person, Third Person, and Omniscient, but the term “Deep POV” was unfamiliar to me. Now that I know about it, I strive to achieve it, but it’s not an easy technique to master.
Another term for “Deep POV” is limited Third Person. It’s a technique that infuses Third Person POV with the intimacy of First Person
Unlike “ordinary” Third Person, limited Third Person does away with dialogue tags and verbs such as see, notice, understand, feel, realize and think, which suggest “telling” as opposed to “showing.” Compare the following passages. Both are written in Third Person.
Judy ran down the alley. She thought she could hear footsteps behind her. She realized now that she should have stayed on the main street. Her tight skirt and high heels were slowing her down.
Judy picked up her pace. Footsteps sounded in her ears. Imagination? Maybe, but what if that spooky-looking man at the corner had followed her into the alley? Damn this tight skirt. She could hardly move her knees, let alone run. And these heels! What had possessed her to buy anything this high? Momma warned her about vanity.
Writing in limited Third Person usually involves the expenditure of more words, but, if done effectively, the extra words add to the reader’s enjoyment by pulling him more deeply into the events narrated.
Deep POV is to the writer what method acting is to the actor. It requires the writer to submerge herself in the character from whose point of view a scene is being seen. It requires a casting off of all inhibitions. The writer becomes the character.
A useful exercise for the writer who prefers to write in Third Person is to write a scene in First Person, and then change all the nouns and pronouns to Third Person.
For more on Deep POV, check out these links:
Karen Kelley
Women on Writing
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It doesn’t seem that the second example is strictly third person — “Damn this tight skirt” strikes me as a pretty weak display of Deep POV.
Great post! This ‘deep POV’ sounds really engaging to use.
great summing up in such few words!
I have tried to teach others about this POV, but it is hard to get across how it’s done.
I learned about deep POV in a writing class at uni. I can really recommend it also for works that are not actually intended to be written in that POV: it eases you into a story when you’re stuck. Your char becomes so much alive he/she will suggest the next steps to you – hell, they will just run ahead and do some stuff that you never plotted for the book.
This is the POV that comes most naturally to me. Perhpas i’d have been a method actor, if i’d been an actor.
Great to find it’s something that others have to learn! (Like finding backhand easiest in tennis, when i used to play – people saw my backhand and assumed everything else was better, so they got the impression i was very good at tennis. But everything else (forehand, service) was worse than my backhand and i really wasn’t that good. It was still nice to get the compliments.)
“The sound of footsteps sounded in her ears.”
???
I’m very surprised this was not improved before being uploaded!
What does “deep POV” mean? I’m afraid I have never heard the term. As initials go, it sounds like “point of view”. very interesting.
Rick
Rick,
Sorry about that. In one of my early drafts I had “Point of View” in parentheses. I’ve put it back. Thanks.
I love this example; it really inspires me to be ‘alive’ in my writing. Thanks for sending this. My husband often cautions, “Show, don’t tell.”
Thanks for a great summary of this style — I’m trying to master it and this was a big help!
Wow. So all this time I’ve been writing in Deep POV? It’s neat learning that the form of third person I use has a name. XD
Shirley,
Ouch!
If I’d noticed it, I would have changed it.
Thanks.
I heard about this post from the third person……
Sorry.
I write everything in deep pov. When I first started I wrote only 3rd person, and my first editor gave me a few tips. Before I knew it I had absorbed more than she probably intended in that tiny lesson and delved into a world I now know is deep POV. I didn’t even know it had a name. I just wrote what I felt.
It’s exciting to know that for at least this one thing, I have what the publishers are looking for. Now if only NY would look for the TYPE of material I write, that would be even better.
But you are correct – the author must put themselves in the position of the character which is exciting and fun, but when you write borderline horror, like I do, that can be quite nerve wracking. We won’t even whisper about the # of nightmares I’ve had after writing a really rough scene.