Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

by Sol Stein

• Is your point of view consistent? If it slips anywhere, correct it. If it isn’t working, try another point of view. • Is your point of view sufficiently subjective to involve the reader’s emotions? Have you been too objective? • Have you avoided telling us how a character feels? Have you relied on actions to help the reader experience emotion? • If you’re using the first person, have you used another character to convey in conversation what your first person character looks like? • Is the “I” character sufficiently different from you? • Have you told the reader anything that the “I” character couldn’t know or wouldn’t say? Is the author’s voice showing? • Is there anything in your material that is not likely to be known to someone with your character’s background or intelligence? • If you’re using third person or the omniscient point of view, have you used particularity in describing that person? • Would it pay to narrow your focus so that the reader can identify more readily with one of the characters? • Have you established limitations or guidelines for your third-person point of view? Have you then adhered to those limitations?