Jan. 25th, 2017

[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Writing Excuses 12.4: Hybrid Viewpoints

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2017/01/22/12-4-hybrid-viewpoints/

Key points: Hybrid viewpoints mean we're mixing first and third person, or present and past tense, or otherwise tinkering with the structure. Frame stories. A journal entry, 1001 Arabian Nights, stories in a bar. Story within a story. The dynamic between the two stories can help establish untrustworthy narrators. Also, to provide backstory. Metaphors, puzzle pieces, and reveals. Flashbacks. They provide much more depth and impact. People really have flashbacks in visceral response, PTSD, trauma. Flashbacks are a tool for organizing the narrative arc to get the maximum emotional effect.

ExpandI remember when... )

[Brandon] All right. Well, I'm going to call this one here. Though I think we could probably keep talking on flashbacks forever. We have talked about them before on Writing Excuses. So you can go through the archives and find those. I'm going to give us some homework. Because I want you to try a frame story. I want you to take a story you've already written, and I want you to set that with a next level of context. Somebody's telling that story. You're not going to change the story you've written at all. You're going to add a frame story. Something at the beginning and the end. Either in a first-person narrative or a third person narrative, where you give context to the story being told. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses. Now go write.

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