The Review Club Forum POV DISCUSSION

Very interesting last paragraph Leah, concerning the use of dialogue in switching POV within a scene. I just inherited a book, WRITING FICITON, A GUIDE TO NARRATIVE CRAFT, by Janet Burroway. Last night I found the following passages, which speak of the very same thing:

I'm conscious that this discussion of point of view contains more analysis than advice, and this is because very little can be said to be right or wrong about point of view as long as the reader ultimately identifies with the author; as long, that is, as you make it work. SHE GOES ON to quote E.M. Forster speaking of "the power of the writer to bounce the reader into accepting what he says." He then goes on to prove categorically that Dickens's Bleak House is a disaster, "Logically...all to pieces, but Dickens bouces us, so that we do not mind the shifting of the view-point."

Ms. Burroway says, "The one imperative is that the reader must bounce with, not against the author.

One more quote from Ms. Burroway:

Between the extreme stances of the editorial omnisicent (total knowledge) and the objective author (external observation only), the powers of the limited omniscient are immmensely variable. Because you are most likely to choose your authorial voice in this range, you need to be aware that you make your own rules and that, having made them, you must stick to them.