This week, I’ve been pushing myself to finish reading my 8th book of the year, and it’s sparked something I keep coming back to as a storyteller, especially from a filmmaking perspective: how POV and language can completely shape character and plot.
The series I’m reading starts simply, with one primary POV. Then it expands to a co-lead, which gives you two emotional lenses on the same story. That alone adds depth.
But what really stood out is how the author uses language within that POV.
At the beginning, we’re inside the main character’s head and everything feels seamless. Her thoughts are clear, expressive, fully formed. Then she leaves her home and enters a new country where she doesn’t speak the language. Suddenly, her dialogue becomes fragmented, hesitant, limited. You feel the gap between what she wants to say and what she’s actually able to communicate.
And as her understanding grows, her voice changes. Her confidence shifts. Her relationships deepen. The evolution of language becomes character development and actively drives the story forward.
Then the structure expands again.
A third POV is introduced, someone completely unfamiliar, in what seems like a different time. At first it feels disconnected, but slowly you realize this perspective is shaping the world the other characters are living in, without overwhelming exposition. Instead of explaining history, the story lets you experience it through another character's journey and experiences.
POV and language aren’t just stylistic choices, they can control what the audience knows, how they feel, and when they understand something. They can create tension, limit information, and deepen connection, all at once.
For filmmakers, writers, performers, etc., even without the internal monologue within a book, making these same choices through perspective, dialogue, and what you allow characters to express or withhold, can make or break the strength of a film and the viewer's experience.
What have you been doing recently that’s pushing you to grow, learn something new, or expand your creative horizons?
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This is a poignant post, Ashley Renée Smith!. Thank you! A quick share on POV that I heard from a mentor once that I think about all the time… Mother Theresa could be driving a leper that the world has shunned down a dirt road taking that human being to a sanitarium to get the care and dignity they deserve and the jeep hits a pothole and splashes mud all over someone walking on the side of the road as they drive by and all that person thinks is “whose the asshole in the jeep?”… Everything is POV and great storytellers can really master its use, like the author of the book you’re reading. I’m currently prepping a Stage 32 Certification cohort that we’re doing in partnership with the Hawaii Film Commission, which I’m excited about, and creatively I am in development on a feature documentary based on a book I was able to get to get film rights to. Getting the rights to a book, graphic novel or article can be a terrific way to motivate a project - I absolutely love this webinar on how to get and protect the rights to IP so thought I’d share :) https://www.stage32.com/education/products/the-quest-for-copyright-how-t...