by Lisa Jordan, @lisajordan
Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, was one of my favorite movies in the early 90s. In the movie, Swayze played the role of Sam, who was murdered and his spirit stayed behind to warn Molly, his grieving girlfriend played by Moore, of danger. Whoopi Goldberg plays Oda Mae, the psychic Sam contacts to help him.
There’s a scene where Swayze’s character longs to touch his girlfriend one last time so he “jumps” into Oda Mae’s body, taking possession so he can have a final dance with Molly.
So what does this have to do with writing?
In writing Deep POV, which is when the reader sees the story and feels the emotions through the eyes of only one character at a time, you as the writer need to take possession—get into the skin of your character—and view the world through his eyes. You need to think, act, react, and speak as that character would.
Different aspects will affect the thoughts, observations, and dialogue of your POV characters such as age, gender, race, occupation, intellectual abilities, and socio-economic level. For example, a child’s thought process and sentence structure will differ from a middle-aged woman’s. A laborer will have a different vocabulary than a bank president. Men think, speak, and act differently than women.
So, before you begin writing your story, take time to get to know your characters. Figure out their story equations (SEQs) and their goals. Knowing where they came from and where they are going in the story will help you to determine how they observe their surroundings.
Once you’ve established the character work and plotted your story, take time to ask your character a few questions before beginning their scene, which will help to establish the scene tension:
- What do you want in this scene?
- Why do you want that goal?
- What obstacles stand in your way?
- What’s at stake if you don’t achieve your scene goal?
- What are you feeling as you walk into your scene—what is your emotion?
By asking your character what he is feeling when he walks into the scene helps you as the writer to establish his mood. And that mood will color the scene with sensory images, strong nouns, and action verbs that reflect the character’s emotion. For example, if your character is angry or distraught in his scene, then in his deep POV, he won’t be focusing on sunshine, laughter, butterflies…you know, happy things. If he notices those happy things, then he may view them more like annoyances. If your character is angry, then you can show that by how he interacts with his setting and views his storyworld—gray clouds, slamming doors, noticing the negatives in the scene like constantly tripping over the frayed rug or the cat under his feet or the faucet that keeps dripping no matter how many times he fixes it… All of those things can show, rather than tell, the emotions and mindset of the character.
If you’re struggling with getting into the skin of your character, then try this exercise. Grab a pen and paper. Write down:
- Who is the POV character in the scene?
- What does he want?
- Why does he want it?
- What stands in his way of getting it?
- What’s at stake if he doesn’t achieve his goal?
Now close your eyes and imagine the scene.
- Where does it take place?
- Who is in the scene with the character?
- When is it happening—season, time of day, etc? What is happening in the scene?
- Why is this scene important to the story? Remember—every scene needs to move the story forward. If it doesn’t, then cut it.
Once you have those details, now focus on the details through the eyes of your character.
- What is his mood?
- What does he see in the scene?
- Hear?
- Taste?
- Touch?
- Smell?
- If you’re writing Christian fiction, what is his spiritual wellbeing at the time?
Once you’ve completed your lists, you can weave those elements into your scene filtered through your character. By getting into his skin, you’re creating a stronger, more dimensional character who will be more relatable to your reader…and keep her turning the pages. After all, we want to create characters who will linger in readers’ minds long after the story ends, right? And encourage those readers to pick up our other books.
His dreams can all come true…but only if his ex-wife will agree!
Jake Holland’s peaceful dairy farm is a sanctuary—one he wants to share with other worn and weary veterans. He just needs one more piece of land to start his program…and it belongs to Tori Lerner, his ex-wife. A collaboration could benefit them both, but with a past full of secrets between them, is there any hope for renewed love?
Heart, home, and faith have always been important to Lisa Jordan, so writing stories with those elements come naturally. Represented by Rachelle Gardner of Books & Such Literary Management, Lisa is an award-winning author for Love Inspired, writing contemporary Christian romances that promise hope and happily ever after. Her latest book, Season of Hope, releases in March 2019. She is the Operations Manager for My Book Therapy. Happily married to her own real-life hero for almost thirty years, Lisa and her husband have two grown sons. When she isn’t writing, Lisa enjoys family time, kayaking, good books, and creating with words, stamps, fibers, and photos. Visit her at lisajordanbooks.com.