Change Your POV
Friday, September 24, 2010Every story, every situation, is multifaceted. Each side reflects the light - or truth - in a slightly different way. Writers call it poin...
Friday, September 24, 2010
Every story, every situation, is multifaceted. Each side reflects the light - or truth - in a slightly different way.
Writers call it point of view (POV, in writerese). Artists call it perspective. The way we view or perceive our situation can limit us or set us free.
Writing from a character's POV limits us to what that character can see, feel, taste, touch and sense. It's a difficult transition to make as a writer, coming at the story from the omniscient POV of the narrator.
It's even more difficult as a human, with our limitations in knowledge and understanding. But one thing we can do, in every situation, is try to "see" it from a different point of view.
Kept under house arrest for two years in Rome, Paul could have gotten cranky, whiny, and bitter about his situation. Instead, he wrote letters to all the churches he had visited and helped to start. Many of those letters are now what we refer to as the New Testament of the Bible. Paul's ministry has extended far beyond his own life span, or the geographic region to which he traveled. By choosing to look at a limitation he couldn't control, Paul extended the reach of God's love and goodness in Christ through the centuries and around the world.
What limitations have circumstances placed on you in this season of life? Financial restrictions? Physical limitations? Time constraints? How could you look at those circumstances differently?
Writers call it point of view (POV, in writerese). Artists call it perspective. The way we view or perceive our situation can limit us or set us free.
Writing from a character's POV limits us to what that character can see, feel, taste, touch and sense. It's a difficult transition to make as a writer, coming at the story from the omniscient POV of the narrator.It's even more difficult as a human, with our limitations in knowledge and understanding. But one thing we can do, in every situation, is try to "see" it from a different point of view.
Paul had to do that.
What limitations have circumstances placed on you in this season of life? Financial restrictions? Physical limitations? Time constraints? How could you look at those circumstances differently?