Lisa Hall-Wilson's Blog

This post continues a guest article published at Writers In The Storm. If you haven’t read Part One yet, pause here and go read it first—then come back. These examples will make much more sense once you understand the framework behind them.

In Part One, we talked about subtext as what’s left when you remove narrative explanation—the meaning readers infer. Below, we’ll look at practical examples that SHOW how subtext emerges through perception, bias, and prioritization in deep POV.

Do beta readers keep saying, ‘I’m not in her head’ or, ‘this still feels distant,’? You’re not alone. This is by far the most difficult aspect of deep POV to put into practice. What if you learned how to transform character thoughts into forces of internal conflict that reveal personality, deepen emotion, and move the story forward?

The issue at hand then, becomes one of making the most of your character’s internal world. Instead of using the author voice (or the author speaking through the c...

This is part of a continuing series on more advanced posts in the Deep POV Mastery Series.

You’ve been writing for a while, so you already know the basics of deep point of view, but you’re still asking how to go deeper! Emotion is the glue that holds everything together, but many of us are still afraid of overshooting the mark and being melodramatic. And fair enough!

Deep POV is powerful because it magnifies everything. If you’re not careful, readers can feel trapped inside an emotion...

The role of internal dialogue in deep point of view is often skimmed over, but your ability to write a character’s thoughts in a way that captures their voice, emotion, intention drives the emotional journey of the story. The key to great internal dialogue in deep pov is keeping it organic.

How well do you know your character? So many times, the internal dialogue reflects the most surface-level thoughts and emotions your character may be experiencing. There ...

Why Write About PTSD in Fiction?
Trauma adds depth and emotional stakes to a character’s journey. When characters face overwhelming mental struggles, readers rally behind them. Including PTSD in a backstory risks cliché unless you portray emotional consequences beyond occasional memories.

Updated July 2025

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been called shell shock and historically was lumped in with ‘hysteria’ for women. The labels are...

It’s the end of an era for me. I’ve been permanently banned from Facebook (and Instagram) after 17years on Facebook with no infractions, violations, or even a time-out. Want to know why?

I used what I can only assume is a banned word. “Cocaine”

A friend shared a post that showed the labelled key ingredients on a bottle of cough syrup from the early 1800s. As you can probably guess, the key selling ingredients are now banned/controlled substances in most places. Here’s the label (Snopes co...

Writers can be both easy and difficult to buy for, I’ve been told. You can always go with the ever-classic pretty notebooks (that we probably won’t use but love to see lined up on our shelves). We can never have too many pens – especially the cool ones that don’t smear or go through thin paper. The LEGO typewriter seems to be very popular, and again looks cool on a shelf.

BUT – if you’re looking for something ELSE, something they’ll use every time they sit at the desk to write here are my top...

Showing a character’s backstory in deep pov is tricky. It’s always easier to use the author voice to explain or summarize what’s already happened, why the character is acting or thinking a certain way, explain erratic behaviour, etc. and just move on with the story.

Choosing deep point of view means you’re committing to showing WHY the character is making the choices they do by showing their thoughts, actions, and emotions without explanation or summary. To pull this off, you need to know yo...

Over and over, I encounter this phrase (or something very similar): A character says or thinks — ‘I don’t know what to do’ or ‘She didn’t know what to think.’ Let’s explore some pro tips on how to eliminate this type of author summary because it doesn’t serve the story if your goal is deep point of view.

Confession: the fiction novel I published in 2018 with the goal of writing entirely in deep POV — isn’t. I had three different paid edits by professional editors to help with the deep pov, bu...

Over and over, I encounter this phrase (or something very similar): A character says or thinks — ‘I don’t know what to do’ or ‘She didn’t know what to think.’ Let’s explore some pro tips on how to eliminate this type of author summary because it doesn’t serve the story if your goal is deep point of view.

Confession: the fiction novel I published in 2018 with the goal of writing entirely in deep POV — isn’t. I had three different paid edits by professional editors to help with the deep pov, bu...