Colleen Scott resides in Marysville, Ohio with her husband and four children. She has been writing fiction for 10 years. She enjoys reading, writing, walking, and spending time with her family and friends. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Fictionflurry. cscott36@juno.com.
Dawn Kinzer is a freelance editor and a member of The Christian PEN and Christian Editor networks. Her own writing has been published in the Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Backyard Friends, and The One Year Life Verse Devotional, and featured on the radio ministry, The Heartbeat of the Home. She co-hosts and writes for the blog, Seriously Write. Workshop 29: Nitty Gritty POV
Have you ever been told you switched point of view or that you were head hopping? If so, Kristen Heitzmann’s ACFW Conference workshop Nitty Gritty Point of View was for you. ” taught by multi-published, award-winning novelist Kristen Heitzmann.
Heitzmann (right), a multi-published, award-winning author, expertly covered the basics of POV, including:
- Defining POV
- Why staying in the correct POV matters
- Varying types of POV
- Multiple third-person POV
Four secrets for remaining in the correct POV
- Use a proper name before action verbs.
- Use pronouns before being verbs, feelings, and thoughts.
- Don’t use the POV character’s name as the recipient of action.
- Don’t use the POV character’s name as the object of a preposition.
Toward the end of the session, Heitzmann gave hands-on POV exercises and demonstrated how to correct the problem. See if you can spot the POV error in the following sentence. You are reading from Cindy’s POV.
Beth looked past Cindy and groaned.
The correction should be:
Beth looked past her and groaned.
Whether you are just starting your writing journey or a seasoned author, this class would help you master the fine art of POV.