Book Review: Rayne Hall "Writing Deep Point of View"

"Writing Deep Point Of View: 

Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors" 

by Rayne Hall

Review:

Writing in deep POV may sound easy and natural. After all this is what we – as beings – experience every day, don’t way? Right. And wrong at the same time. As writers we may THINK we apply that one person filter that we do on a daily basis in our personal life, alas the secret voices of imagination whispering our brains throw in the more than occasional rock. It hadn’t occurred to me how far I could stray from the truth until observant test-readers asked to put in a “he thought” and “he realized” here and there. 

What? 

Now that was exactly how I did not want to write and 

did this person not understand 

I wrote in “deep POV” and therefore did not need those distancers?
It was no coincidence that when I became aware of Rayne Hall’s “writerly advice series” this book was the first I immersed myself in and – wouldn’t you know – 

she enlightened me in a way no kind critter could have done. 

By not only addressing all aspects of writing in deep POV, 

but pointing at common traps she spelled out where 

“I” erred – and not my readers ;)
While the book also covers the varieties of POVs in general to get the feeling, the focus is on deep POV in 1st, 2nd and 3rd – with the latter my preferred one and therefore I skipped over most other examples. But those examples and the assignments at the end of each chapter offer the chance to really see what is going on and understand what is needed to make deep POV work. I would have liked a bit more on character thoughts as this was what I had been looking forward to the most. In retrospective I struggled more with character descriptions and the biggest AHA moments I had with “similes for backstory” – 

even though other places I’ve been told to avoid...
While Rayne Hall suggests this book is not for the beginning writer – and I agree in parts because of terminology and because a level of experience is expected even in examples – 

I would still recommend it for them: 

what better then to start “deep” and never have to wonder?
Deep POV done right as explained in detailed steps by Rayne Hall gives you the tools to truly connect to your reader – or even better: the reader to your POV character. And with that the chance is there to submerge a reader into your story – and keep him rooted. 

And which books do we remember best? Those we lost ourselves in. 

So, grab the chance and find out how to pass on this experience 

to truly become part of the story – for however long it lasts!

 

My review on Amazon