As an example, I saw this today in F&F. "How does the 6yo POV know that 'none of them know about this tunnel'?"
I don't understand this. If it is written from the point-of-view of a character, then isn't the statement going to be the character's perception of things? By writing this, isn't the author essentially saying, "My understanding is, none of them know about this tunnel?"
Except that, "My understanding" would draw attention to the writing and away from the character, violate immersion, so it should be dropped (in my opinion). Especially since everything in the story is assumed to be according to the character's understanding anyway, unless the story is global.
I feel it's as if if the text said, "Bill Clinton is a woman." That's the character's viewpoint. (Obviously, we'd need to understand why, in that case.) We know it's not a fact of reality, but what the character perceives (somehow.) Or, "It was a hot day." Fact or not, it's still what the character perceives.
I've also seen (here and elsewhere) writers claim "PoV violation" over things like "The door opened" instead of "[u]She saw[/u] the door open."
To me, it seems obvious that the PoV character is seeing things. It seems to me it would be a PoV violation if the character couldn't see it happen, but I don't feel the reader need to be reminded that the PoV character is seeing everything. Again, I feel the tags will break immersion and draw attention to the writing.
I hope I explained my viewpoint well enough. I've been studying statements like that in F&F and on another board for a while, trying to understand what I'm missing. It's not just one person saying it, so I'm trying to assume there's something I'm missing. I'd be happy if someone could explain to me what I'm not seeing in all this.
I do agree with you that "The door opened" is equivalent to "[u]She saw[/u] the door open" when the first is embedded in POV context. The character directly sensed the door, so the statement is easily believable. Where that POV cannot go is into the thoughts of the other person who opened the door.
http://ww3.telerama.com/~joseph/cooper/cooper.html
Ten extra points for anyone who can read it without laughing out loud.
The passage on POV is the one on the shooting match. I read it in high school and have never forgotten it. When I write, it comes to mind often.
[This message has been edited by Rick Norwood (edited July 14, 2007).]
When I, as a reader or a critiquer, ask "how did he know that?" about a character, it's because I feel that the writer has not been clear enough. I need some kind of hint about how a character arrived at the knowledge before I can believe that he knows it.
Writers need to be careful not to insert their own understanding into a character's point of view, especially if the character is not likely to share the writer's understanding.
The author writes according to what is important to the narrator, and the narrator "speaks" according the POV he is following. However, he (the narrator) is not necessarily in the same mind as the POV character, so he does not necessarily have the functional and intellectual restrictions that the POV character has. (Sometimes he might be the child POV character at a later, more mature time.)
The door opened is not necessarily equivalent to she saw the door open. It could simply mean that it opened in that character's presence, and the POV character might not even notice it until a minute later. (Or something like that.)
There are varying degrees of omniscience and points of view that can be used, and the omniscience refers to how much of the POV charater's or *multiple* characters' thoughts the narrator can perceive. But it does not restrict the narration to the characters' thoughts. Varying degrees of restriction can be used for varied kinds of effects.
All that being said, you want to have a tight and consistent plan for your POV. Sloppiness will diminish the story.
Also, by the way, the audience of the narrator is not necessarily the reader. In some books, the reader is eavesdropping.
One thing to beware of is that having a bunch of what amounts to writing students critiquing is that some of the comments can be misunderstandings, either of what the story writer intended, or what the rules/conventions are. As a critiquer, I've been guilty of that (accidentally) more than once.