Editing Point of View and Voice (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Understanding</span> ==
POV and voice are understood through '''Distance''' and '''Filtering'''.

'''1. Narrative Distance''':
How close are we to the "Action"?
* '''Extreme Close-up (First Person)''': We are inside their head. We feel their heartbeat. We can't see what's happening in the next room.
* '''Bird's Eye View (Omniscient)''': We see the whole city. We see the past and the future. But we might not feel as "Connected" to the individual character.
* The writer "Zooms in and out" to control the audience's emotion.

'''2. The Filter of Voice''':
Two people can describe the same car crash in completely different voices.
* '''Voice A (Detective)''': "The blue sedan struck the light pole at 40mph. Glass scattered for 10 feet." (Cold, factual).
* '''Voice B (Child)''': "The blue car went BOOM and the glass looked like diamonds in the sun!" (Excited, sensory).
* Voice is not just "Flavor"—it is "Character."

'''3. The Power of the Unreliable Narrator''':
Sometimes the most interesting POV is the one you can't trust.
* If a narrator tells us they are "The hero" but their actions show they are "The villain," the audience has to do the "Work" of finding the truth.
* This creates a "Mystery" that keeps the reader thinking long after the book is closed.

'''The 'God' Voice'''': Omniscient narrators used to be very popular (in the 1800s), but modern readers often find them "Arrogant." We prefer the "Limited" view because it feels more like real life—we don't know what everyone else is thinking.
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