Dramatica MC point of view versus novel storytelling "POV"

Hmm… A couple more thoughts.

First, I think when doing a scene from the IC’s POV, it’s great to show the potential for the IC’s influence on the MC. (“IC’s mother is dying.”) But I think you should be careful about showing the actual influence, the interactions that affect the MC. (“IC gets MC to betray his friends to help her mother.”) Those moments should probably be from the MC’s POV.

In fact, thinking about this I found an IC POV scene of mine that needs fixing! It was definitely appropriate to begin the scene from the IC’s POV, but then I should have switched to the MC halfway through. I even know the exact moment to switch: a bunch of people draw weapons on the IC, and I think that threat to her is part of the IC influence. (It explains why, even though the scene overall is cool, the MC comes across wrong in the last half.)

EDIT: geez, I just realized that Threat is part of the IC PSR Variations for that act (Signpost 2)!! I guess I should have been looking at the PSR more carefully, maybe I would’ve realized I needed to show that threat felt by the MC!

3 Likes