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This is the third part in a four-part series. Each part can explored as a stand-alone exercise.
Two months ago we explored different point of views (POVs) in a scene and last month we concentrated on the “shoes” of an individual. This month we are going to look into the “world”. How people see the world and the world sees them changes the plot. The world in this case in genre – the prism of the action.
Boy meets girl seems to be a standard story. But what if the story isn’t a romance, but a horror? How about a YA coming-of-age? Or set in a science fiction?
Each genre creates a structure to the story. Just like the POVs do. As I mentioned in Part 1 of the Power of Point of View series, different genres have different focal point POVs. An Urban Fantasy – whose DNA borrows from thrillers, detective stories, romances, superheroes, and young adults (YAs) – runs into first person a lot with often an emotional focus or mental problem-solving. Science Fiction and Fantasy grew up together, focus more on exploring exciting new worlds, and therefore run to third person.
WRITING EXERCISE: Remember that scene with three different POVs you wrote two months ago and rewrote in first-person last month? This month change up the genre – if the focus was mystery, make it urban fantasy, or science fiction, or romance, etc. For the new genre, choose the best POV style to use (first, close-third, multi-third) and character(s). Word count should be between one hundred and three thousand.