Learning to embody your POV (point of view) character is critical to writing impactful scenes, especially action scenes. By action, I don’t mean fist fights and car chases, though they certainly count. I mean any scene in which your POV character is acting.
That’s every scene, isn’t it?
Not quite. Let’s look at it in terms of physical action on the page, action that engages the senses and the body. Descriptions, narrative exposition, rumination, dreaming, and possibly some other things would not necessarily require that you embody your character. When you want your character’s bodily existence, her physicality, to impact the reader, however, it becomes critical that you get inside your character’s skin.
The reader wants to experience the story through the POV character. If you don’t embody your character, you’ll diminish that pleasurable effect of reading. If you do embody your character, you’ll heighten it. Really, that’s what story craft is all about.
Embodying your POV character will engage your reader in the richest experience of your story possible.
What this week’s video tip for an example and full break down, plus the 60 Second Writing Tip.
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