Lisa Hall-Wilson's Blog, page 3

Go Deeper Writing Fiction With Personification

I’m often asked HOW to go deeper in fiction. Even if you’re not writing in deep POV, there are always places in many scenes where you’re looking to show insight/motivation/desire, use subtext, create setting – in a deeper way. You’re setting or characters come alive on the page. Personification is one of those tools that every writer can use more effectively.

Personification is giving human-like qualities to non-human things. 

The last piece of pie called his name.

The story jumped ...

Examples of First Person Deep POV

First person POV is automatically deep pov, right? NOPE. They are very different, though first person POV stories may use elements of deep pov, there’s a lot more to deep pov than most realize.

I recently did a guest post on why first person pov is not deep pov (at least, not automatically as some assume). But, over and over my students and readers tell me that what they find most helpful is examples.

So, go read that first post and then come back – or read the recap below.

Quick Re...

17 Things To Know About Deep POV Before You Start Writing

I LOVE deep POV, but there’s a lot of confusion about what it is and what it isn’t, how it works, what genre or tense you must use – lots of questions and a lot of confusion. I wanted to put together a list of things many people don’t realize before doing a two-footed jump in the deep end of deep POV.

Very Few Novels Are Written ENTIRELY In Deep POV

I’m often asked for recommendations for novels written entirely in deep POV, and I struggle to find many. Not many bestsellers use deep PO...

4 Responses To Uncertainty That Create Tension In Fiction

Something I’ve observed over the last two years or so is how different personalities react to uncertainty. Very little about life is certain, that’s always been true, but when the stakes are raised different personalities handle uncertainty in varied ways that can create all sorts of really compelling internal conflict. So how can you use this for your characters?

What Is Uncertainty?

Most of us can probably parse out what uncertainty means, many of us are word nerds after all. Uncerta...

1 Pro Tip To Create Emotional Depth In Deep POV

I have mainly been writing guest posts for other blogs and neglecting my own. *sad face* So, I’m hoping to post here more regularly going forward, but it will mean shorter posts. *mittened fist-bump*

One of the things that writers seem to struggle with a lot when shifting from limited third person to deep point of view is using the character’s whole body to show emotions. We learn to remove the telling emotion and thought words, but don’t add in how the emotion feels – the emotions stay i...

Writing Insecure Characters

Writing Insecure Characters

Hey Hey!! I reached out to Becca at Writers Helping Writers (where I’ve been guest-posting for several months) to help me out with a guest post in the ongoing series on emotions. Don’t forget to check out the Going Deeper With Emotions In Fiction Facebook group for details about the next 5 week deep pov intensive starting up Oct 4, 2021.

Thanks Becca!! *mittened fist-bump*

When Lisa asked if I’d like to contribute a post to her series on conveying emotions,...

Writing Trauma In Fiction: Anniversaries

The anniversary of a past trauma can be a fantastic opportunity for authors to crank up the tension and internal conflict for characters, but it’s important to get it right! There is nothing more annoying than watching or reading a story where past trauma is handled flippantly, or with trite platitudes, with consequences that stray into the annoying rather than devastating realm.

Trauma is anything that overwhelms your ability to cope, give context to, or understand. For the vast majority...

Writing Complex Emotions In Deep POV: Shame

Deep POV is a fiction writing style that aims to remove the narrative or psychic distance between the reader and the point of view character — think first person shooter style. The goal is to completely immerse the reader in the character’s emotional experience, in a way that feels immediate. When done well, deep pov will grab your reader by the throat and not let go. But, deep pov leaves no place for weak writing, poor plotting, or under-developed characters to hide. Deep POV is the black-b...

What Is Your Character’s Emotional Kryptonite?

Emotions are complex, nuanced, and rarely linear. Most of us have a specific, painful, crunchy, emotion we’ll do almost anything to avoid — even if the avoidance is harmful or at the least not helpful. Psychology calls this “emotional avoidance.” When capturing your character(s) emotions, particularly when writing in deep POV, you must be willing to dive into that character’s lived experience in order to offer surprise and authenticity for readers with a visceral impact that creates emotiona...

Use Beats In Deep POV To Convey Emotion

In deep point of view, we want to use beats instead of dialogue tags to attribute dialogue. Beats move the story ahead, they are more efficient, keep the reader deep inside the character’s head, and remove the writer/narrator voice. In limited third person, dialogue tags are encouraged (he said/she said), but they aren’t used much (or preferably at all) in deep point of view.

“Hand me that bowl,” Edith said. (dialogue tag)

“Hand me that bowl.” Edith waved her finger at the large red bo...