Who Says?: Mastering Point of View in Fiction

by Lisa Zeidner

Overview

A thorough, illuminating, and entertaining guide to crafting point of view, a fiction writer’s most essential choice.

Who is telling the story to whom is the single most important question about any work of fiction; the answer is central to everything from style and tone to plot and pacing. Using hundreds of examples from Jane Austen to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Leo Tolstoy to Stephen King, novelist and longtime MFA professor Lisa Zeidner dives deep into the points of view we are most familiar with—first and third person—and moves beyond to second-person narration, frame tales, and even animal points of view. Engaging and accessible, Who Says? presents any practicing writer with a new system for choosing a point of view, experimenting with how it determines the narrative, and applying these ideas to revision.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393356113
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	634,873
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Lisa Zeidner is the author of five novels and two books of poems. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, GQ, and other publications. Zeidner teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University and lives in New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

"You Talkin' to Me?" 1

Chapter 2 First Lines and First Paragraphs

"Come Here Often?" 14

Chapter 3 On Omniscience

A Century Plus of Miserable Marriages and Several Wars 31

Chapter 4 Third-Person Limited

The House of Fiction's Many Windows 66

Chapter 5 First Person

Objects in Mirrors May Be Closer Than They Appear 102

Chapter 6 Childhood and Animal Points of View

Out of the Mouths of Babes (Also, Dogs and Chimps) 137

Chapter 7 Narrative Inventions

"You," "We," Epistolary, and Other High Jinks 158

Chapter 8 Point Of View In Fiction Versus Film

Thinking Like a Camera 184

Chapter 9 On Revision

Pitfalls in Point of View 207

Exercises 241

Acknowledgments 249

Authors and Works Cited 251

Permissions 263

Editorial Reviews

04/05/2021

Novelist Zeidner (Love Bombs) delivers an accessible guide to fiction writing in this welcome antidote to fusty academic didacticism. Zeidner argues that making decisions about narration in fiction is “critical,” and she dedicates a chapter to each point of view. She covers godlike omniscience (“the one we all know instinctively”); first person, which can sound the most “authentic”; second person and third person; and even child and animal points of view (wherein she warns against leaning into “faux-naïf”). Zeidner samples generously from the texts of such authors as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Marilynne Robinson, and Leo Tolstoy, and expertly explores such quandaries as “authorial presence,” or how much the author’s voice and the voices of their characters should merge. She also warns of the perils of trying to weave too many points of view in a single work of fiction, as doing so offers less space to develop characters. Zeidner writes in accessible and passionate prose, and exercises round things out and help put her advice to practical use. This is an indispensable supplement for any creative writing student. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"While point of view is the primary subject here, Who Says? is anything but narrow in scope. This capacious volume spins tales about tales themselves, drawing us into the heart of storytelling in ways that feel rich and whole, providing along-the-way insights into language, character, voice, and structure. It’s a great pleasure to read, and at its core inspirational—useful for new writers and writers made new by their latest project, too."

Aurelie Sheehan

"As an experienced teacher and witty, engaging novelist, Lisa Zeidner has a real understanding of what makes fiction tick, and from whose perspective that ticking might arise. Her book will surely be a good resource for anyone setting out to understand the complex and all-important topic of point of view."

Meg Wolitzer

"Lisa Zeidner's Who Says? is as captivating as it is instructive, an enormously useful craft book that is also, miraculously, a page-turner. Witnessing how Zeidner constructs her own erudite and hilarious point of view is a class in itself. An essential resource for teachers and students, writers and readers."

Karen Russell

"In witty accessible prose, drawing on examples from a vivid universe of fiction, Lisa Zeidner breaks down the science of perspective in fiction writing. This volume articulates with stunning clarity so much of what we feel when we read but struggle to explain, offering gems for the author attempting to gain a reader’s interest and trust. Writers, students, lay readers and scholars of fiction will come away from Who Says? with a greater understanding of how to write all of the selves: them, ours and maybe even yours."

Asali Solomon

"Lively and insightful, an indispensable guide for writers of all levels."

Ann Packer

"As a novice teacher thirty-something years ago, I realized that the biggest obstacle for most beginning writers was complete ignorance of how to manage point of view in fiction. I’ve been teaching to that insight ever since, which means that I agree with Lisa Zeidner! Not only on the importance of the topic but also on the key points she makes about it in Who Says?. To have such a well-organized manual on point of view is a tremendous asset, especially with the thousands of examples found here, deployed from Zeidner’s almost intimidating erudition, but softened by her customarily light and witty touch."

Madison Smartt Bell

"Zeidner's book is a joy. Usually books that claim to be about the craft of fiction leave my mouth, eyes and my room full of dust, but this work is actually fun. It's also full of erudition, wit and insight. And it is wonderfully accessible, a helpful text for any writer at any stage of her/his career."

Percival Everett

2020-11-24
A thorough, practical guide for writers focused on the problem of point of view.

Via astute close readings of myriad literary examples, poet and novelist Zeidner argues persuasively that point-of-view decisions “are the very heart of fiction, more central and crucial than plot.” After a chapter devoted to examining first lines and first paragraphs, Zeidner considers a variety of narrative possibilities: omniscience, third-person limited, first person, telling a story from the point of view of a child—sometimes reminiscing as a grown-up—or an animal, the effect of using you or we, and the difference in point of view in fiction vs. film. She offers helpful advice for revision and ends with exercises geared to each chapter. When writers select one point of view rather than another, Zeidner maintains, they determine their relationship to their subject and their characters: “whether you’re moving toward your subject, or whether you’re moving away. Whether you’re going to encourage the reader to bathe in the character’s view of the world, or offer a complementary or even competing one.” Choosing a third-person point of view opens up “gradations with infinite possibilities,” depending on the writer’s “spectrum of closeness and distance from a character.” Zeidner cites novels in which the narrative unfolds from several characters’ views, a popular choice in contemporary fiction and one that creates a complex picture of the fictional world. She nods to the controversy over authenticity and appropriation, which she thinks largely depends on point of view. As much as she focuses on technique, Zeidner asserts that “a fiction writer’s most important tool isn’t technical. It’s profound interest in other people.” As a rich resource for further reading, the author includes hundreds of stories, novels, writing guides, and movies in her comprehensive list of Works Cited.

An engaging and well-informed writing companion.

Kirkus Reviews