What writing point of view piques your interest?

A wonderful author named Lisa Yee once inspired me to think about writing point of view and taking on different perspectives. I met her a few years back when she came to speak for the book fair of a school where I was teaching at the time.

She is the author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, and So Totally Emily Ebers. She has written other books that you should be sure to check out, but these three are the ones that first caught my interest. They get at the heart of writing point of view.

These three books are all about the same basic story and plot, but they are all told from the perspective of the name of the person in the title. So, Millicent has a story, Stanford has another, and Emily has the third. They all are participants in all three books, but they all see what happens a bit differently as they tell their own stories in their respective narratives.

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Triple decker perspective writing gets at the idea of writing point of view also, in that you write different stories based on different moods, characterizations, etc. It is interesting to know that when you read books, poems, or other pieces of writing, or when you watch TV or movies, you can have unresolved questions that linger well past the time you are done reading or watching. Some authors leave questions unanswered as a means of ambiguity. They want you to ponder, wonder, and imagine whatever you would like. So, why not use this ambiguity to your writing advantage?

Writing point of view is a thoroughly enjoyable activity that takes you out of the comfort zone of the writing you know or the shows you've watched, and places you right in the midst of it all so that you can come up with your own new ending, or possibly even a new beginning or middle portion.

The following writing is one that I wrote based on an excerpt from Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee. I chose the chapter that details the events of August 15th. The character whom I chose for my writing point of view is the librarian. I chose her because she works at the library where Millicent and Stanford hold tutoring sessions. The way that she sees Millicent's, Stanford's, and Emily's interactions was something I was curious about, as they go to the library a fair amount. So, I chose to come up with the writing point of view I felt she would have if she actually did have a say in Lisa Yee's grand scheme of perspective writing.

I highly recommend Lisa Yee's books for children and adults alike, as even though they are written more for pre-teens and young adults, they capture the essence of writing point of view, capturing characterization, and bringing all of it to a whole new, exciting level of writing. Read more of her work (especially the three books mentioned above) to understand how my writing below follows the same structure, basic plot, and basic themes as in Lisa Yee's version, but takes on a whole new writing point of view that is uniquely my own (since I chose the librarian versus one of the main characters). Try doing this on your own based off of different books, movies, or TV shows, or even off of my own story below. Choose secondary characters and imagine their perspectives. See where your writing takes you.

Librarian's Perspective -
based on Millicent Min, Girl Genius: August 15th chapter

Ms. Min walks with confidence and agility, while Mr. Wong takes his time and dawdles past my desk every time I see him. It is no wonder that Millicent is having trouble and finds reason to yell at him, but I cannot have that on my watch. The library is a quiet, respectful place, and raising voices is definitely not allowed.

“How could you tell her?” Mr. Wong sputtered. “Why did you do it? You swore on your mother’s life!”

I was tempted to go over there right away to dispel the racket he was creating, but all of a sudden the strong smell of cologne wafted my way, and I eased out of my desk to find where the scent could possibly be coming from.

“Did you have a massive brain fart or something???!!!”

It was at this point that I had no choice but to look up from where I was standing at the moment in an attempt to calm the agitated young man down. The noise level was growing alarmingly loud from that side of the room, and I was not about to have any more commotion litter the library. If Millicent couldn’t handle it in due time, I would just have to go over there myself and quell the noise level. No one else was in the library, but the quiet was lovely, and I would not have it ruined by a couple of over-zealous pre-teens.

“I didn’t tell her,” Ms. Min said. She then murmured something about how she thought he would want to know. He looked disgusted.

Now, you may wonder why I, Mary Martinez, Rancho Rosetta Head Librarian, have nothing better to do with my time than listen to a couple of kids discuss their social lives. However, Ms. Millicent Min is always in and out of the library telling me about her life, that I feel compelled to listen to what is happening, as her life is just so fascinating and enjoyable to live vicariously through. A child genius is not something so easy to come by. I must take full advantage of this opportunity to hear how the brilliant mind of a child can also adjust to the social whims of an adolescent.

Mr. Wong fell back in his chair and glared at Ms. Min with narrowed eyes. He seemed even more upset by the fact that some other girl would probably hate him too. I wonder if he was talking about that cute girl who was always around Millicent. She had been coming into the library, batting her eyes at Mr. Wong and feverishly chatting with an aggravated Millicent. Of course the girl never seemed to know that Millicent was annoyed. She was paying far too much attention to the young man that Ms. Min was impatiently tutoring.

The two youngsters, after an hour of verbal sparring, realized they hadn’t gotten any studying time in, and Ms. Min began to pack up her things, looking as though smoke might spew from her ears at any moment. Her frustration had reached its breaking point.

“Why, I ought to…” Millicent declared, as she noticed the young lady with whom they had been so friendly as of late come in and head straight toward them.

The Young and the Restless was the best way to describe them. I remember enjoying that show many years ago, but had to give it up when I began working at the Rancho Rosetta Public Library. This was just like the television show, but the characters were even younger and more restless about their problems. I know it may sound juvenile, but I really needed to know what it was they were talking about. So, I picked up some poetry books, headed over to the 800s, which was the section where the three were about to come to blows, and started shelving the books. They didn’t even notice me as the other young lady began her diatribe.

“Stanford. Millicent. I don’t have much to say to either of you, other than I hope you had fun with your little charade.”

The young lady, whose name must be Emily, based on Mr. Wong’s calling her that in an attempt to settle her down and have her listen to what he had to say, pulled out a novel with a somewhat worn spine. It looked to be a book that I had lent him: The Outsiders. Metaphorically speaking, all three of these young people seemed to be suffering from a case of being an outsider in their little group. Millicent, albeit the smart, sophisticated student, was most obviously not a child with many close friends. She went to the high school and never seemed to hang out with anybody but these two. Her free time was spent at the library, searching for new books to read (a hard concept, since she was always on top of all the new releases), and talking with me about current events. Mr. Wong obviously did not want this Emily to know he was being tutored, so chances were that he hadn’t told anyone else either. He probably felt like an outsider since he wasn’t able to play basketball (it was my best guess that he liked this sport as he always brought a ball with him to tutoring sessions with Ms. Min). Emily, despite having had Mr. Wong and Ms. Min as friends, was now without them, and therefore an outsider in her own right, as the latter two were still talking, despite their obvious animosity toward one another.

The whole time that Emily was going off at Mr. Wong about The Outsiders, Ms. Min just sat by, gawking in amazement at the book that Emily had set down in front of him. She couldn’t seem to believe that he would give her something to read, let alone rave about it to her, as Emily had said he had done. Upon hearing this, I couldn’t help but smile to myself about the fact that he had enjoyed the book. I just had a feeling he might identify with it, or at least find the premise interesting.

After Emily finished with her rant and disappeared through the double doors at the entrance, I waited a few moments before re-approaching my desk. I sat down quietly, and started typing some phrases into the computer to look as though I had no knowledge of what had just occurred. There was no need to do this, of course, as they didn’t even notice I was there. This was evidenced when Mr. Wong blasted Ms. Min with the words, “you’re such an idiot,” and Ms. Min responded in kind with “You’re such a cretin!”

I merely looked over at Ms. Min, but didn’t say anything. She was bending down to pick up what looked like a bracelet off the floor. I hadn’t seen where it had come from, and I couldn’t decide why Ms. Min looked so forlorn about it being there. I turned back to my computer and continued my online filing of the new Stephen King mysteries that had just arrived.

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