SWRT 262 | Non-protagonist POVs

August 11, 2022

person typing on MacBook Pro on brown wooden table during daytime photo

This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss using a non-protagonist as your point of view character. What pitfalls does a writer face in doing this? Will readers engage with a witness POV? And if the POV character does not have stakes in the action, what then? This topic came to us from a listener’s question and made for a juicy craft conversation!

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

What we talked about:

Ashley’s question for the round table. (0:45)

Do we have examples of a point-of-view character who does not have an independent arc? (2:00)

What about the stakes? (3:38)

What is the author’s intent? (5:30)

Attaching a reader to an arc-less point of view. (7:45)

What is the point of view character’s role? (9:35)

What kind of changes can your characters go through? (11:30)

What about agency? (12:48)

Why does pov matter so much? (16:10)

Coming back around to the importance of stakes. (17:40)

LINKS

Get Alida’s Writing Tips here.

Things we mentioned:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Revolutionary Road (Film)
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.

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About Your Hosts

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning author with an MFA in writing from Hamline University. She pursues her fervor for all things story as a writing coach, developmental editor, and teacher. Three times nominated for the Pushcart Prize, she is also a notable in Best American Essays and winner of the Page Turner Award. Author of The Story Works Guide to Writing Fiction Series, Alida lives and writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She camps, bikes, and kayaks in her free time. Unless it’s winter, in which case she drinks chai by the fire. You can find more at www.alidawinternheimer.com.

Kathryn Arnold writes fantasy and anything else that sparks her creativity from her home in Kingston, Washington. She currently earns her living as an insurance underwriting assistant, where she also creates marketing and web copy. When not writing, she plays (and teaches) piano and keyboard in a band (or two), and is working on starting a ministry team with her husband. You can find Kathryn at www.skyfirewords.com.

Robert Scanlon was born in Australia, but whisked off to England when only a baby. After many years complaining about the weather, he did the sensible thing and moved back to Australia. Despite a career in the music industry, followed by decades teaching public speaking, Robert is an introvert who adores reading. Robert grew up on a diet of sci-fi masters, eventually discovering he had read the library’s entire science fiction section. Now he has to write his own. Robert is the author of Constellation, book one of the Blood Empire space opera series. Find out more at www.RobertScanlon.com