Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View Paperback – March 5, 2012

What I like best about "Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View" is that it gets right to the point, it explains the point, it demonstrates the point, it summarized the point, and then, it ends. You only get the good stuff! There's no padding to make "Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View" book length. I fully appreciate this.When they asked the philosopher, Immanuel Kant, why his "Critique of Pure Reason" was so darn long, he said that he didn't have enough time to write a short book.There are two big problems with understanding "Deep Point of View".One: You can think you understand it when you in fact don't. And as Will Rogers said, "It's the things you know that ain't so that get you into the most trouble."Two: Deep Point of View doesn't look any different on the printed page than just plain telling.On Point One:I know from many years of teaching adults that the hardest thing to teach anyone is something they think they already know. You start to teach the class and soon you can just see the student's minds close once they think they already know what you are trying to teach them. The students smile and shake their heads indicating agreement and nothing you are saying is getting inside their heads. "Deep Point of View" is one of those subject areas where it seems that those who are most eager to explain it, actually seem to understand it the least.This Book is Different! It Gets it! Jill Elizabeth Nelson really understands Deep Point of View. Her explanations are philosophically sound and she provides countless examples to illustrate her points. More importantly, she provides examples of what Deep Point of View is not. This is a must when teaching in an area where students already think they understand the key concepts.You just have to hit the student on the top of the head by saying: "X is not Y". If you just tell the student what "X" is, many will still think "X" is "Y". Explaining what DPOV is not is a major advantage of "Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View". You simply must know what DPOV is not in order to have any chance of developing a working understanding of what it is. For example: deep POV is not the same thing as First Person POV. If you think it is, then you don't understand deep POV.Reading "Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View" will demonstrate what Deep Point of View is and what it is not and how to use Deep Point of View in its intended way.A Profound Change in MindsetWriting a full novel in DPOV requires a profound change in both one's writing habits and in the reading habits of a life time.The reader will have to read the book several times and then diligently work the exercises to make thinking in terms of Deep POV a more natural occurrence. Thankfully, the reader will be able to do this with practice because everything needed to learn how to do this is provided by the author's explanations and examples. In a way, it's like reading a book on 'How to Juggle' -- you will be told how to do it but you will have to do a lot of practicing to really be able to do it and understand what it is like to do it right.About Point Two:Here's the hard part: Deep POV can look just like ordinary 'telling' on the printed page.Imagine looking at two pictures. The first is a picture of a horse. The second picture is the same picture of the horse. Under the first picture the caption reads, `ordinary telling,' and under the second picture is the caption `deep point of view'.I know what you're thinking! They're the same picture!Welcome to Deep POV!How can the same exact sentence be 'ordinary telling' in one case and 'deep POV' in another?It's because "Deep POV" is not 'in' the words, it's 'in' the mind of the reader. Deep Point of View involves creating and then maintaining a `steady-state' mindset in the reader. Maintaining the DPOV mindset in the reader is like trying to juggle many balls in midair for the entire length of the novel. Any slip up with any of the balls can destroy the mindset and cause a mental crash. But first let's look at some `sentence examples' from Jill Elizabeth Nelson's book. All the below are examples of deep point of view taken from the book. "Jane looked out the window.""If she did that, she'd fail""A pair of strangers in suits and ties goose-stepped up the walk toward the front door."When you read the above sentences, they read just like ordinary telling. They are simple declarative sentences.In the first sentence the reader is being told that, `Jane looked out the widow.' The reader is not `shown' Jane looking out the window. The reader is told this.In the second sentence the reader is told that 'The dew on the roses sparkled in the morning sunlight.'In the third sentence the reader is told, 'If she did that, she'd fail'. I'm not sure you could even `show' this if you wanted to.In the fourth sentence the reader is told, 'A pair of strangers in suits and ties goose-stepped up the walk toward the front door.'This is telling. The author is not showing that the men are `strangers'. The author is not showing their legs kicking up and outward and then coming straight down as happens with goose-stepping. The reader is just told the men are goose-stepping. Of course, the reader is supposed to `know' that the men are not literally goose-stepping.What? 'Goose-stepping' was not in italic in the story. How is the reader to know that this is the POV character's thought and not the author's description? When is 'goose-stepping' not 'goose-stepping'? When? When deep point of view is properly maintained. Now because of this very feature the dichotomy between showing and telling almost disappears in deep pov. (Do you think you understand DPOV now?)Now We're Getting Somewhere!Deep POV is about what's going on in the reader's mind and not what's appearing on the printed page. (Sorry, deep pov is not like looking for the 'ly's' that `give away' telling sequences.)The writer must look to the reader's mindset in order to understand deep point of view.Deep point of view requires a character who is experiencing the story directly in the moment and in a lineal progression. This is not the same as First Person POV. There can be more than one deep POV character in a book. Having the story happen in the mind of a given character (or several characters) is a very difficult writing process. There are many `balls' that must be kept in the air -- all at the same time. Listed below are some of these `balls':The never saying `he/she thought' ball.The never naming that `feeling' ball.The never using `prepositional tells' ball.The never using `he saw/she saw' ball.The writing lively, linear prose ball.The logical motivation /reaction ball.The avoidance of narrative distance ball.As long as this review is so far, I cannot explain Deep POV for you. I believe the minimum method for doing this has already been done in "Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View". However, I can give you an idea of the learning process needed to obtain a genuine working knowledge of DPOV.It's like learning how to juggle many balls at once.Each skill necessary to create and maintain the delicate `mindset' in the reader required by DPOV is explained and demonstrated in the book. The reader will need to learn each of these many skills and then practice them individually and then finally all at once - with all the balls in the air -- to experience DPOV first hand.This kind of understanding takes much practice. It's not like being able to tell the difference between 'showing' and 'telling' after just one lecture. Even simply understanding DPOV takes a lot of practice. It's like trying to lean how to ride a bike by reading a book. The reader simply has to try and ride the bike to really understand it.At this point, I have a philosophical understanding of deep POV which simply tells me what I would have to do to develop a real working understanding of the concept. The book tells how I can go about developing that understanding. I am now going to rewrite my WIP, "Stranded in a Cabin with a Romance Writer" in deep POV. I hope this effort will help me create the habits necessary to feel at home writing in DPOV."Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View" has sufficient information to take you all the way to a working knowledge of Deep POV, if you do the work.Recap:"Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View"The writing is excellent.The system will work if practiced and applied.The arguments are logically consistent and what I call philosophically sound.Everything you need to know is in the book and what you don't need to know has been left out.Highest Recommendation

I have been writing and publishing books for ten years and this stopic of Deep POV is the missing link I've been searching for. Every writer should read this. Seriously. The only other book I've said that about, on the topic of writing techniques, is Stephen King's "On Writing." Yeah, it's that good. 5-Million Stars...

Ms. Nelson offers succinct advice and technique by example, and she is spot on. Her book is easy-to-read yet potent; you'll be turning the pages back and forth, time and again, as she makes it clear how to show, not tell by contrasting Shallow POV vs. Deep POV ... narrator vs. sharing the character's psyche and experience.A couple key points she makes are:"We don't want thoughts or actions told or explained by a third party; we want to live the events inside the POVC's head. The narrative should read like the thoughts going through the character's mind but without the need to italicize as in direct thought quotations."And:"If we are inside a certain character's psyche, why would we need to say he/she thought/knew/realized/felt something, etc., when we can proceed directly to whatever it was that the character thought?"For example, she offers this:** Shallow POV (narrator): "He thought a good bath wouldn't hurt the dog."** Deep POV (character, inside their heart and head): "Whew! A good bath would do this dog a world of good."And, for getting a better feel of the character's emotions ... by referring to the physical effects on the body and the thoughts that are in keeping with the specific emotion:Shallow: "Hot jealousy flashed through me."Deep: "Heat boiled my insides. If that wimp could win a trophy, where was mine?"There's more to this book than I can say. My recommendation ... buy it; you won't regret it.

Price of the book was very fair and it really shouldn't cost more than five bucks because it really is a booklet. I picked it up because I was contemplating changing point of view in my next novel. Currently, I am only comfortable with using first person and I was hoping this book would get me more comfortable with switching viewpoints.This is not that kind of book. If you ask me, the book should have been called "The Art of Show, Don't Tell." It's very basic and more experienced writers might be annoyed at the basics of the book. I would imagine this book would be great for someone who is just starting out and is working on their first manuscript.The only thing that actually really bothered me about this booklet is that it was like reading an advertisement for the author herself. I know they all do it when they do the nonfiction "how to" writing books, but this was nuts. At one point, she even says "From Evidence of Murder, award-winning 2009 Steeple Hill release.) For those who didn't know like me, I had to look up the book she was talking about and what do you know, she's the author of that one. I really like it when I am studying writing and the author of the nonfiction book uses very widely known books that I have probably read and uses excerpts from them. But then again, maybe they are not allowed to do that or something.So here's why I'm giving it four stars. Even if I had only learned one thing, it would be worth the price of five bucks. For me, if one thing that could resurface in multiple pieces of writing is well worth it. Plus, it's a quick, easy read that is also a gentle reminder of what not to do. If you are a new writer, you must read this so you do not commit the most basic crimes new writers commit. Overall, a good review and I did pick up a couple of nuggets of info.

I was a bit miffed after reading the first few pages on my Kindle and noticing I was already 12% through. It's the fastest book I've ever read, except it's not really a book, it's only a fifth of the length, which is reflected in the price.Pros:- It's a useful POV how-to, particularly in relation to fixing show/tell mistakes, and goes into more detail than I've seen in other writing books.- The author expertly brings the subject to life with lots of examples.- The exercises are helpful, especially ones for changing passages of text from shallow POV (bad) to deep (good).Cons:- The formatting issues and typos make it harder to accept the writing advice on offer.- I'd have preferred a few examples from authors we might have heard of, instead of passages from her own writing, which illustrate the point but aren't inspiring.Niggles aside, I recommend it if you struggle with `show don't tell': the advice is sound, well delivered and easy to apply. Plus you can read it in one sitting!

I suspected I was missing something when one day I found myself writing [Rowan wondered...]Wasn't that injecting the narrator?After checking with some writer friends, they pointed out that I was using shallow POV instead of deep POV, and directed me to this book.I'm pleased I found it.I now know what I was doing wrong and how to correct it, and that's what I'll do.Perfect!

This is a great book if you're interested to learn how to write deep point of view and make your prose feel more immediate, pulling your readers into the action and voiding unnecessary filter words.Short but well explained! Definitely worth the money.

I picked up this book from Amazon after seeing a friend link it on Facebook. At first I was a little dubious because I've never held much faith in books that tell you how to write, however this one sounded interesting so I took the plunge and paid the quite reasonable price for it. I'm very happy that I took the chance. This book was nothing at all like I imagined.The book itself is fairly small, and broken down into several sections, each focusing on a different technique for improving your writing style. Each section is easy to understand and take in, and doesn't overwhelm you with information. There are also plenty of examples, as well as a couple of exercises for you to have a go at, with sample answers. Everything that was said in the book made perfect sense, and since reading this book I've found my writing to be a lot tighter.Some of the suggestions in this book are so simple, and yet they were things I'd never even thought about before as a writer. 5 stars for being very informative without over-complicating things, and for making some great suggestions that I was able to pick up almost straight away. If I had to recommend any book on writing to new writers (and established writers, for that matter), this would be it.

Miss Nelson provided answers to the question I didn't know I had.If I were, after a struggle, to put into practice what the author advises and suggests, I might have a reasonable chance of realising my ambition of being a writer.This guide is clearly written with plenty of really useful examples and exercises to follow.I am thus truly grateful.