Write Like a Gangster, Class 3: Point of View

Hey, ho, let’s go!

Reading Assignment for this class: “The Prince of Darkness” chapter from Teardrop Road.

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Class Storytelling

Imagine you’re writing the story of this class, and you are telling the story from your point of view, my Grad Student’s point of view, or my point of view.

Your Point of View

As a student, you’re trying to learn. You have real life problems, maybe you just had a bad class, got in an argument with your boyfriend or your girlfriend.

My Poor Grad Student’s Point of View

You’ve gotta work all the media of the class. You have to watch the teacher. Is he getting too twitchy? Has he shifted into a different alter? Are we still looking at Prince, or has Tier entered the room? Oh, and let’s not forget, the Grad Student’s overwhelming thought, “Why did the school saddle me with this lunatic?”

My Point of View

Now imagine you’re telling the story from my point of view. I can’t see your faces. I just see black holes where your face was, and they’re smoking. These walls are not walls. They’re made of muscle and the muscle is heaving. The room is breathing. And I’m just trying to concentrate enough to get this class taught, because I suffer from hallucinations. I also have to keep my focus, because I can’t let Adam come out here right now. He would crumble in the face of all of you. And you don’t wanna meet Slade.

Point of view of the story of this classroom is everything, student, grad student, teacher. Point of view is incredibly important. Your short story, due in four weeks, will tell the entire story from one person’s point of view.

Head Hopping

Head hopping is when the story will jump from one person’s point of view to another. So in the story of this class, you’re telling the story from your point of view, thinking about other classes you’re taking, trying to follow what I’m saying.

And in the next paragraph you’re the Grad Student prepping the next piece of media.

Then back to the student, who is thinking about the fact that their car tire is low.

Then, all of a sudden, you’re looking out over a class full of monsters in my point of view.

We haven’t been in one point of view long enough to gain any sympathy for that character. We don’t know what they’re thinking. We don’t know what they’re experiencing. Most important, we don’t know what they’re feeling. Most times, these kinds of stories fall flat. They just don’t provide enough information.

In the piece you’re reading for this class, Seeds of Tarako, the entire novella is told from the character Tarako’s point of view. You enter his mind and his body in the beginning of the book and you never leave. This is what I’m talking about with head hopping. It’s very dangerous, because you lose a lot when you introduce another character’s point of view into a story. It can be done. But don’t do it for this class.

What the character feels

Emotion, charge your story full of emotion. But you can’t tell us what emotion your character is going through. You have to show us. Let me give you an example of telling.

What are the sensations that you feel when you are in love?
– Invincibility
– Hilarity

What are the sensations that you feel when you are enraged?
– Again, invincibility
– Short sightedness, everything becomes immediate

Now let’s show, and not tell, emotions. We’re talking about the physical things happening to your body while you’re experiencing that emotion.

Love
– Lightheadedness
– Constant potential for giggling

Rage
– Muscles are locking up
– Vision is trembling

If you can do this and you describe the emotion physically as it affects the character, you will create “the sink.” The reader will sink into the character. They will become one with the character, and that is your goal.
(1) Sympathize with the character
(2) Root for the character
(3) Experience the emotions of the character

Think about this class from the viewpoint of the student, the Grad Student, and the teacher. Think about the “Prince of Darkness” short that you read, from the viewpoint of Bekah, Mentor, and Henry. What does that story look like if it’s told from those three different characters separately? Turns the whole thing into a completely different story. All three are outraged and trying to help.

Bekah’s trying to help the man she loves. What does that look like? What kind of emotions is she going through as Prince speaks to her for ten minutes? She’s coming at this from a viewpoint of a lover and partner, and somebody who is talking about her future and the future of her family. Told from Bekah’s point of view, this is a love story.

Now we’re gonna tell the exact same story from Mentor’s point of view. Mentor is a buddy I drink beer with. He’s a friend. Yes, he cares, in a different way. He’s not looking at this from the point of view of a lover. He’s looking at this from the point of view of a neighbor. The story he experiences, if you write it as a writer, is going to be completely different. You’re gonna have to create new emotions, new thoughts. There’s gonna be times when both Bekah and Mentor interrupt Prince and ask him a question. What will one ask that the other one won’t ask? From Mentor’s point of view, this is a buddy story. This is a story of a friend seeing another friend through. That’s what Mentor’s point of view is about.

Henry is a professional. He is looking at this in a detached way. He’s looking at this as a person doing a job. He’s analyzing completely different things. He’s asking completely different questions. If we’re looking at this from Henry’s point of view, it stops being a story altogether and it becomes a journal article. This goes in for peer review. This is an article in a medical journal.

Told from Prince and Artist’s point of view, this is my story. That’s because we’ve made this point of view choice. Told from any of these other three points of view, we’ve jumped three genres of writing. Same words. Nothing changes except whose eyes we’re looking through. And we have jumped genres, if you consider those three and my own, the genre of autobiography, we have jumped genres four times in 1,835 words. I’m here to tell you right now, the most important decision you will make about any story that you write is whose point of view you tell it from. Everything comes after that.

In this particular short, the same story plays out three times. They hear the speech and have the conversation with Prince three separate times. Each time is completely different. And even though Prince’s dialogue will be similar, we are still talking about three vastly different short stories if we write them. That’s the essence of point of view.

Would you like to hear what I said to those three people in that ten minutes? I have that monologue memorized. I can give it to you right now. These are the ten minutes that changed my life forever. That changed my life from melodramatic creative lover into driven, strategic working manager. Would you like to hear those ten minutes? Well, you don’t get to, because I’ve already won. Why go over old shit? I’ve already won. Do you know how I can tell I won? Anybody got a guess?

I can tell I’ve won because I’m standing right here now in front of you, teaching you how to do my job.

Choosing a Point of View

Choosing a point of view is everything. Choosing the wrong point of view always creates a mess.

In my epic novel Onslaught of Madness, there are many points of view, but for one storyline, I had to choose between three. We have three characters: Peter Redfist, Jordai Stonefist, and Aaron the Marked. Whose point of view should I use? When I started writing this book, I had to choose, based on the characters, which point of view would have the most drama.

Peter is the leader. He is very young and he is unbelievably intelligent and wise. Almost everything he does is perfect. (How much drama? How much conflict? How interesting is Peter to the reader?)

Jordai Stonefist, second in command. Raised by a noble father in a noble line. Also wise. Also intelligent. (How much drama? How much conflict? How interesting is Jordai to the reader?)

Aaron the Marked. Doesn’t feel like he’s good enough to be in the group. Not as intelligent. No wisdom. Abused as a child and struggling with it. Haunted by the specter of the abusive father he killed. (How much drama? How much conflict? How interesting is Aaron to the reader?)

Which is the natural choice to tell this story through? What if I add a love story to their tale? Which character is the most interesting and would be most healed by love? What if I turn it into a crime novel? One of them is accused of murder. Which of the three characters here is the character you want to see accused of murder? There are so many different things to consider. But I’m telling you, if Peter is accused of murder, that’s a short story. If Aaron the Marked is accused of murder, that’s a novel.

In the end with Onslaught of Madness, I decided on Aaron the Marked as a point of view character. How could I not?

Here’s the video. I had this class completely designed, and I had this class done. Except this thought came to me and I want to share it with you because of a meme that I saw. Yes, this is a multimedia class. A meme (or it might be tumblr, it’s not Twitter. I’m almost positive it’s not Twitter. I don’t know.) it made its way into our class. I’m gonna play the video for you, and then I’m gonna show you the meme. And this is everything you need to know about point of view.

I’m gonna show you the Primus version because even though this is a country western song, and the Primus version is only a cover, as you will learn, I’m all rock.

This is the story as told from Johnny’s point of view.

As told by the Devil:

And as a student of this class, if you see chickens start dancing around you, grab the nearest instrument because you’re in trouble. And if you see chickens dancing with you, you’re on the right track.

Choose your point of view carefully.

Writing Assignment

Due by Class 6: A conversation with your main character, 4-6 pages
1) Introduce yourself
2) Your statement of intent
Example: I’m going to write a horror story about you. You will die at the end.
3) Ask main character their name. They will tell you.
4) Ask main character:

• Their problem. They might try to avoid the topic, but find out the thing that makes their life dramatic. They will tell you why you’re writing their story. You might have to coax it out of them, but they will tell you why you’re writing their story.
• Likes (not interested in dislikes)
• Hates
• Weaknesses (not interested in strengths) [They will lie to you based on your statement of intent.]

5) Highlight or circle everything you think might be a lie.

Reading Assignment

Reading Assignment for next class: “Pig” and “Rising Winds” chapters from Teardrop Road.

Seeds of Tarako will have to be read by Class 17.

—Prince