Writing Excuses Transcripts

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.

( I 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.

Writing Excuses Season Five Episode One: Third Person Limited

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2010/09/07/we-5-1-third-person-limited/

Key points: third person limited let you have multiple viewpoints. Also, you can portray characters sympathetically because you can show the reader their thoughts and their view of the world. Third limited is less biased than first-person narration. Avoid having too many characters too early. Be careful about withholding information from the reader -- third person limited is expected to be honest. Watch for point of view errors! Keep it limited to what the main character knows and feels. Realize the strengths -- third person limited lets you show different perspectives. Think about which viewpoint to use -- who has the most pain, who has to make the biggest decision, who's got the most at stake, or who can show us what is happening best?
( vampires, werewolves, parasols, and bodice rippers? )
[Brandon] All right. We are out of time. I'm going to go ahead and give us our writing prompt this week. I want you to write a scene where Howard and Dan and me and then Producer Jordo do all walk through a room, and it's in our perspectives, and we are all going to think differently. You have to write this just knowing, having listened and knowing...
[Howard] You just ask people to write HowardTayler fan fiction
[Brandon] Yes, I did. I do it every time. It is accepted practice before I go to bed.
[Dan] Nice. Yeah. We do it anyhow.
[Howard] Jordo. Stop recording, quickly.
[Brandon] So, I want you to do this, and see how the four of us see the world differently. This has been Writing Excuses.
[Dan] What are the bets that my perspective is soaked in blood?
[Howard] My blood!