Point of View presentation from March 5, 2020, Intro to Fiction, SFCC Spring Semester, plus information for first workshops.

1. Today
1. Writing Exercise
2. Review of Point of View and
Readings
Break
3. Prepare for workshop, distribute
manuscripts, discuss critique
sheets

2. Let’s do
something
fun!
• Has anyone heard of Ouvroir de
Litterature Potentielle? Known
more commonly as OULIPO
• Literary movement founded in
1960 by French mathematician
Francois de Lionnais and writer
Raymond Queneau
• OULIPO investigates the
possibilities of verse written
under a system of structural
constraints.
• Basically, OULIPO are weird and
illuminating writing exercises

3. The
benefits of
OULIPO
• Oulipo is a chance to slow
down your writing and spend
more time thinking about the
words you are using
• It can be frustrating and fun,
and also help the writer make
unusual choices that breaks
open the actual writing
• It’s also a chance to focus less
on the big parts of writing (plot,
character etc) and delve into
the fine points of diction and
syntax
• I’m going to share some of
them and then we are going to
do one of the easier ones.

4. Types of
OULIPO
• One of the most popular OULIPO
formulas is “N+7," in which the
writer takes a poem already in
existence and substitutes each of
the poem’s substantive nouns with
the noun appearing seven nouns
away in the dictionary. Care is
taken to ensure that the
substitution is not just a compound
derivative of the original, or shares
a similar root, but a wholly
different word. Results can vary
widely depending on the version of
the dictionary one uses.”
• —
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/t
ext/brief-guide-oulipo

5. The
Snowball
The “snowball” technique, where
the first line is one word long, the
second line has two words, and so
on. A snowball can also be made
up of lines comprised of
progressively longer words.

6. Lipograms
Lipograms are exercises in which
the writer chooses one (or more)
letters and then isn’t allowed to
use them in a piece of writing,
thus forcing the writer to become
more inventive with the

7. Lipogram
fame
• Very famous example is
George Perec’s novel of
200 pages, La disparition,
in which never uses the
letter “E”

8. Two
options for
exercise
• Option #1 is kind of hard
• Option #2 is less hard
• Both are designed to make you
think hard about which words
you use in your writing and
maybe find new words
• Try not to use a dictionary

9. Option #1:
The
Beautiful
Outlaw
• Write out the names of two
characters in your story.
• One character will write a letter to
the other
• but CAN’T use any of the letters in
the recipient’s name
• Benefits: requires concentration,
creates unlikely results, pushes
vocabulary (sometimes to the
brink); also stresses
voice/audience, even
subconsciously
• Also: fun!

10. Example
• David is writing Susie a letter
• David can’t use the letters: S, U,
I or E in his letter to Susie
• Or Susie is writing a letter to
David
• Susie can’t use the letters: D, A,
V, or I in her letter

11. Option #2
• Straight-up Lipogram:
• Choose one letter (vowels are
harder, “z” barely counts)
• Write a letter from one
character to the other without
using that letter

12. Exercise Options
Beautiful Outlaw:
Write a letter from one character
to another and don’t use any
letters in the recipient’s name in
the letter
Lipogram:
Choose a letter and don’t use it.
Write a letter from one character
to the other.
Choose a vowel to make it harder!
Choose more than one letter to
make it even more challenging
You have 15 minutes. You can use a dictionary if you need to.

13. Point of
View
• The decision an author makes
regarding who is telling the
story
• First person POV (I/we)
• Second person (you)
• Third person (he/she/they)

14. First
Person
POV
• First person creates a “narrator” in
the story. This can be either a:
• Central narrator
• Peripheral narrator
In either case, a first-person narrator is
not omniscient; he or she is a
character with the same
limitations of knowledge and
character as other characters.
A first-person narrator may be entirely
unreliable, or unreliable in certain
aspects of his or her perspective

15. Second
Person
POV
• Second-person POV is less
common and difficult to
maintain in a story—you know
what I mean?
• Second person exists when a
character in the story is
designated as “you.”
• Is a distancing technique in
narrative
• Is a way of implying a universal
condition

16. Third-
person
POV
• In third-person POV, the author
tells the story, and can do so
from different perspectives:
• Omniscience: The thoughts of
all characters and larger
context can be shown
• Limited: The perspective of one
or some characters or events
are known; others are not

17. Audience
To whom is the story told?
• The reader (most common, and
often not stated)
• Another character (for example:
In epistolary fiction)
• To a fictional self (as in the
conceit of a diary)

18. Choosing a
Form
• Learning a character’s POV
through a letter will take on a
different flavor than hearing it
in dialogue
• Entering a character’s interior
thoughts will create a different
impression than hearing him or
her speak
• Will the narrator directly
address the reader (18th
century fiction)

19. Tone and
Distance
• Regardless of POV, the author
must make a decision about
how close or far the reader
should be from the characters.
• An omniscient narrator may
provide more distance from the
characters’ feelings than a first-
person narrative.
• The more abstract and
objective the use of
description, the more distance
is created for the reader. But
this can be effective when it’s
intentional.

20. Control and
Consistency
While an author can choose any
POV, consistency is important. A
narrative written in the first
person should not suddenly also
include the limited third person
POV of another character.

21. Who’s Irish
By Gish Jen
1. What POV is this story told from?
2. How would you describe the
mother?
3. How does the choice of POV affect
the emotional impact/overall tone
of the story?
4. How would the tone of the story be
different if the author had made a
different POV choice.
5. What do we know about the other
characters? Natalie, John and Bess?
6. The title appears at the end of the
story: “Who’s Irish?” What is the
title telling us about the story?
1. What’s the story about? What’s it
about about?
Clip if time

22. Hills Like
White
Elephants
• What POV is this story told
from?
• How would you describe the
male character?
• How would you describe the
female character?
• What is their relationship like?
• What are they talking about?
• Why white elephants?

23. POV
Exercise
• Imagine (or use from real life) a
major event: wedding, funeral,
Zozobra, baseball game, a
parade etc.
• Write two paragraphs in first
person observing this event.
• Write the same exact scene
from limited third person POV.

24. March 12
First workshop. Instructions. Please listen
carefully.
1. I will be dividing you into small groups
2. Each member of your group should
receive a copy of your story. I also should
receive a copy
3. You should read each story before class
and fill out the critique sheets I will be
giving you.
4. You can print out more critique sheets
on our Canvas class site

25. Critique
Sheets
• The critique sheets are how you will
demonstrate understanding of the
craft concepts so far by applying to one
another’s work.
• This shows me how you’re doing, and
also provides the authors information
on which areas to focus for revision

26. Critique
Sheets
1. Sensory detail
2. Characterization
3. Sense of Place
4. Plot (so far)
5. Point of View

27. Sensory
Detail
• Does the story employ sensory
language to describe: objects,
people, physical surroundings,
emotions, anything!
• Cite examples in which sensory
detail is used
• Provide suggestions of where
sensory language could be
added

28. Characterization
Does this story make good use of
the elements of direct
characterization?
Does it include: appearance,
dialogue, thought and action?
Cite specific instances in which the
author employs characterization to
good effect, as well as places in
which characters could use greater
development.

29. Sense of
Place
• Where is this story physically
and/or geographically located?
• What examples are there in the
story that add to the reader’s
sense of the place
• What could be added to
strengthen the sense of place?

30. Plot
Does the story have a sense of
rising action and complication?
Does it include a crisis action and,
if so, what do you pinpoint as the
crisis action? How do you
experience The pacing in the story?
These are not complete stories, so
all the elements of plot may not be
in play, but evaluate what is there
so far, and what expectations you
might have.

31. Point of
View
Answer these questions:
What POV is being used? Is the
POV in this piece appropriate to
the story, and used consistently?
What observations can you offer
about the use of POV?

32. Other
comments
Please offer observations about
the elements of the story you
found most compelling, as well as
those that were unclear.
This is also a good time to make
observations about language: style,
syntax etc.

33. Critique
Instructions
• You must fill respond to the questions
on the critique sheet for each story.
• Preferably typed, but hand-written is
fine if it’s legible.
• You can fill out the sheet or just write
out answers on a separate sheet.
• You should bring TWO copies of each
to class: one will go to the author. One
will go to me.
• This is part of your graded work this
semester
• The critiques will help guide the
workshop discussions, which I will
explain more next week.

34. Next week
• We will review, again, the
critique elements prior to
workshop
• We will review the workshop
rules
• This is a small group workshop
exercise to prepare for full
workshop after spring break
• Your job is to read carefully and
fill out the critique sheets to
help the author and to
demonstrate your
understanding of these
concepts.
• Questions?