Method Acting For Writers: Learn Deep Point Of View Using Emotional Layers

by Lisa Hall-Wilson

Are you struggling with writing characters readers care about? Critique partners, editors or agents saying you need to write vivid emotions? Do you want to write deep scenes and emotional arcs into your stories to keep readers engaged and turning the pages? Writing deep point of view is like handing your reader a virtual reality headset; it’s dynamic, visceral, and immediate. This intimate and emotive style of writing resonates with contemporary readers, if you’ve got the guts to “go there” with your characters. This writing skill isn't difficult to master, but it requires a shift in how you tell stories and sometimes those shifts don't seem intuitive. What Will You Learn? • Eliminate unnecessary telling • Create immediacy • Effectively use internal dialogue • Understand and use subtext • Strategies to make words pull double duty • Create unique character voice • Tap into your emotive memory (just like actors do) • Learn tips from psychology to write emotions with visceral authenticity • Learn layering and blending techniques for writing emotions • Identify and eliminate author intrusion • Learn effective pacing strategies to intensify emotional impact • Recognize POV breaks • Know when not to use deep point of view • Recognize areas where you're not going deep enough • Learn what an emotional story arc is and how to employ it Take this deep dive and get back to writing FAST! Put Deep POV to work on your whole novel (or just key scenes) for an emotional punch readers can’t resist.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts, Education

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 3, 2018

About the author

Lisa Hall-Wilson is a writing teacher and an award-winning author and journalist. She loves to get geeky about deep point of view and writes historical and historical fantasy fiction. Her stories often feature Canadian landscapes and blend her love of history, fantasy, romance, and faith.

Reviews

[Shirley Abeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have several books on writing "Deep Point of View (POV). But this is the one I'd been searching for. This book not only explains in depth what Deep POV is but gives the how to and when by adding expansive examples. It was very well written by an author and someone who writes and is published. I highly recommend this book to any writer who strives to take their writing to the next level.

[Roland Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review 5 stars

This short but excellent book was everything that I’ve needed as a struggling advocate of deep POV. I’d attempted to go deep a few times over recent years and tried to use guidance in online articles. Sometimes my writing felt as though it was getting deeper, other times it felt like another failed attempt.

Now, at last, I have a convenient guide on my desk. And as I was reading her book, I was writing another short story, and, with Lisa Hall-Wilson’s guidance, phrases traced salt-runs on my cheeks.

Okay, that’s more purple than deep, but this gem of non-fiction was full of so much immense value that my current writing makes me feel more confident. From simple ways to eliminate unnecessary telling and ways for going deeper, to creating voice and layering emotions, there are so many simple techniques to help a writer tackle deep point of view,

I felt that I was ready to delve far more in my writing with every page I read and I wrote. For me, this was essential and invaluable. (Apologies for weird phrases pulled from a catarrh-addled brain.)

I won’t remove a star for the lack of page numbers as there is great advice on every page. And it doesn’t end there as Lisa Hall-Wilson has a Facebook page – Confident Writers – and she runs courses and offers online help.

[Patricia Bates]

If you've ever wanted to get the depth of deep point of view this is a great book. It really helps authors learn and understand how to use emotion to build your scenes and keep your stories active, engaging, and readable.

[Susan Swiderski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent how-to guide about "digging deeper" to write prose that fosters a tight connection with readers and plucks their emotional strings like well-tuned fiddles. Exactly what every writer wants, right?

The author points out some of the ways writers inadvertently create a distance between readers and the story... by doing things like insinuating their own voices where they don't belong or dropping unnecessary info bombs right in the middle of the action. (You know... that stuff most readers skim read.) She also served up some particularly good food for thought regarding the use of taglines vs. "beats." I've always been more of a "beat" writer, or at least, that's what I thought I was... but as it turns out, it seems that some of my beats are more like stage directions. (oops!) I definitely need to read that section again...

All-in-all, I think this is a book that can benefit any writer, and it's also one I plan to read again... to better absorb some of the ideas that I may have missed the first time around. My only beef, and this is kinda stupid... is the author uses the pronoun "they" when referring to a single individual, and she does it multiple times. I realize times have changed, and using a plural pronoun in this manner has become "acceptable" in some writing circles, but to me, it's worse than fingernails screeching across the blackboard. For that admittedly petty reason, I give this book 4 1/2 stars.

[DJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5, well-deserved ⭐️s for this book.

I learned a lot reading through a deep-dive on the writing technique of deep POV. It's an immersive way to write a novel, that took a typical story to something entirely next-level in feel. How to keep items from being told and gives the reader a whole new view of "being there" within the pages along with the character.

Every chapter is filled with easy to understand explanation and examples of before and after that particular technique was applied. Very to the point. It didn't zig back and forth needlessly, which is beneficial for a reader like myself. I don't want 100 examples of what the better way may be, I want the reasoning and a good clear example or two. This book delivered and then some.

As I read, I could see some of the things I had done a million times that my readers had never pointed out. SO it helps to have that extra eye to find a way to improve the overall story. I look forward to putting this technique into further practice (as some of the things I had already done) and really fine tune my instrument to make this a full fledged orchestra.

Anyone looking to turn up the dial on their writing, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book. Even if you walk away with just one tip from here to use, it was well worth it, IMO.

[Harley Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Already seeing a difference in my writing

I've been reading this book while working on my current WIP and noticed such an improvement in my writing already that I have gone back and rewritten a lot of the chapters.
I write in first person POV so have always tried to utilise DPOV but because I didn't understand it well enough, I fell into the trap of using a lot of mechanisms that pull the reader out of the story (like author intrusion and stage directions, etc). I still have a lot to learn, but this book has given me the tools to understand what I am doing and give my readers a much better, more immersive experience when they pick up one of my books.

[B.R. Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Method acting involves deeply understanding your characters. Their emotions, motivations, flaws, etc... It's these things that make people who they are and behave the way they do. This is a great way to describe writing in deep POV.

While I already had a decent grasp on the concept, the book still gave me plenty of noteworthy bits. Especially in the last few chapters.

Generally, readers want to be immersed in stories, to experience what's going on along with the characters. Deep POV gives them just that. Read this book to learn more about this putting the narrative style to work for your story.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I took a while reading this book but that’s because I would reread chapters not twice but at least three times. The advice and guidance on deep point of view is fantastic and extremely helpful ( I’ve even completed Hall-Wilson’s course and have paid for another one). My personal goal is to master deep point of view as a writer. This book will be my bible and already its pages are tagged to the hilt. Hall-Wilson relays the information in a clear and understandable manner with excellent and helpful examples on what not to do and why and what to do. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

[Juneta Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. One of the best about writing. One of my favorite sections is right at the beginning where she talks about distance words, and then later subtext, using internal dialogue to deepen your characters point of view, how to use backstory as a character filter to enhance DPOV making it natural and an immersive flow within the story. I highly recommend.

[Michelle Cornish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really helpful deep dive into deep POV!

I like how this book explains the different layers involved in successfully writing deep point of view. The examples, what to do and also what not to do, clearly show what deep point of view is and how to use it as part of your writer tool box.

[Kyle West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on the nitty gritty of deep POV writing. It alerted me to a lot of inefficiencies I make in my own writing, especially in regards to showing vs. telling. Most of the advice is incredibly on point, and the reasons given are well-explained. The short length means this will probably be something I reread on occasion.

[Alicia Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a long time, I haven't been able to figure out exactly how to create the intimacy and depth I wanted in my writing. I was thrilled to find this book. It was exactly what I was missing. A short read, packed with valuable how-to information and excellent examples, this book is a must-have in your writer's toolbox.

[Andrea Clough · Rating 5 out of 5]

A GREAT BOOK

Really useful deep dive into point of view and voice for intermediate writers and beyond. This gave me coherent explanations for why things that intuitively felt wrong were pulling readers out of the dream.

[Fatiha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely short and accessible book about deep point of view. I picked up quite a few tips and tricks on how to improve my writing in here. There were moments where things were repeated that led to this being a four star as opposed to a five.

[Jon Stonecash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tightly focused book on close point of view. Filled with specific advice with very little fluff.

This goes on the pile of books to read again (and again).

[Tim Swezey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what I was looking for.

[Pamela Harstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa explored several aspects of the writing craft through the lens of writing them in deep POV. She does provide some examples as well. Worth the read.

[Haditha]

Useful

[David de Felice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important points

Good to read about how to use deep POV and the ways various techniques work or don’t work. I enjoyed this as source material and a refresher.

[Toi Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

My overall take away from this book is that it is an excellent guide for learning how to write in a very specific style. For me personally, using the tools and methods of deep POV have immense potential to increase the quality of my writing, but I honestly can't imagine writing an entire book this way.

I feel as though I need to read more about Deep POV and read more examples of books written entirely using only this method. At this point, it seems that this style of writing would work better for some genres than others. Despite current and popular trends, not all stories are meant to be fast-paced and in the moment. Still, I’m fascinated by the prospect of turning good story ideas into an action-pact product, when applicable.

I liked the tips about using subtext in writing. This is something I’ve often attempted and now feel as though I can do better after reading this book.

Overall, I like this and learned a lot from it. I’m still not completely sold on Deep POV as a singular writing style for me personally, but it’s definitely something I’ll continue to explore.

Recommended to aspiring writers and writers looking to hone new skills.

[K.M. Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful writing book with easy to understand examples to back up its advice. Definitely useful for any writer looking to go deeper with their POV.