Ithilwen wrote:Interesting. Though, I'm not sure I quite understand. What would be an example of something a camera can't see? Something you wouldn't want to put in your book if you were writing from an omniscient POV?
Well, if you're going with the idea of the knight going down the hallway, first imagine where the camera is. Is it in his head, hearing his thoughts, looking through his eyes? Well, since he's intent on his mission, he's probably looking straight ahead. The gloriously painted ceiling is
not something he's even noticing right now. The length of the hallway, on the other hand, is something he's very much noticing. The crack in the floor he almost tripped over is something he's noticing. The slightly dank atmosphere he's noticing.
But is the camera floating around his body, LOTR Messenger-to-the-King style? You might get a whole ambiance shot of the painted ceiling, the acoustic properties of the hall, the grand marble tiles, the faded tapestries on the wall. But then again, you might only get a very brief glimpse of those because the Knight and his mission is the important part of the scene. You might only get enough time to describe his tattered cloak, dented armor and dirt streaked face before he bursts into the King's counsel chamber.
Going to LOTR again, Tolkien actually did a
really good job with POV when he settles into character interaction and isn't describing the scenery (which he does beyond any rational human's capabilities lol) or giving the current battle overview anymore. Try studying how in Morder, we see almost exclusively through Sam's eyes. Sometimes, out of necessity (because Frodo doesn't tell what he sees sometimes), he slips into Frodo's view, but that never lasts long. Most of what goes through Frodo's head is unknown to us, except that Sam can read him very well.
In Gondor, we see almost exclusively through Pippin's eyes, again after the current battle has been shown us through the hovering cameras above the battlefield. Much of what we know about the state of the other characters is through little Pippin's eyes. We fearfully learn, along with Pippin, of Denethor's madness. We got a few hints as to
why he's mad, thanks to Tolkien's flashback, but we see the same thing Pippin sees.
One of my favorite POV shifts in the whole book is when we go through the Paths of the Dead, and we go to Gimli's "camera". Seeing the ambiance of the mountain, feeling the petrifying fear and watching Aragorn turn a little more into King Ellesar through Gimli's eyes is lots of fun. We would have seen something entirely different if we'd seen it through Legolas's eyes, and I have a feeling we wouldn't relate to it half as well as we do Gimli's.
I know of a few short fanfics off the top of my head that do a good job with POV as well, but they are for Bonanza.
If you'd like to see them, just PM me and I'll find and send you the links.
EDITED TO ADD AN OFF TOPIC BUT EXCITING SOMETHING I JUST FOUND:Ithy, you were asking about getting a "pro" copy of a book without an ISBN number?
http://www.blurb.com/This place will NOT get you an ISBN, you have to do it yourself. And it's optional.