Trails and Point of View

Yesterday I visited the local state park. Waterlilies filled one of the ponds and I spent some time taking pictures before I set out hiking.

I didn’t have a lot of time, so I decided to do a familiar, short trail. To shake things up, though, I started from the point at which I usually finish.

And the experience was entirely different. For instance, I was astonished to notice this boulder with a tree growing out of it:

How had I not seen this before, when I must have passed this spot a hundred times going the other way?

Easy, as it turns out. Going my usual route, you couldn’t see where the boulder was split. It looked like the tree was simply behind the rock, and it was easy to be distracted by the lichen all over the easily visible side, and the larger tree in front of the boulder.

This got me thinking about point of view and how important it is to storytelling. (What, you don’t find yourself thinking about the craft of writing while out for a walk in the woods? You’re weird! Okay, maybe I’m weird.) Different characters are going to see things from slightly different angles, and so are going to focus on different things. Often when a scene feels off-kilter, it’s because I’m telling it from the wrong point of view; the character I’ve chosen isn’t inclined to notice the aspect of the scene I need revealed.

Which leads to another point. While I was pondering fresh angles and the fine art of choosing points of view, I managed to take a wrong turn. Yes, I should have known the trails better than that, but I wasn’t paying attention because I thought I knew where I was going. (This can apply to storytelling as well. Maybe everything does if you look at it the right way.) Since I was in a familiar park, I realized my error and got back to the trailhead easily enough, but by an unplanned, slightly longer route. It wasn’t all bad, though. The light was perfect for photography.

Sometimes choosing the “wrong” trail or point of view will still get you where you need to go, and perhaps lead to something you might have otherwise missed, such as the sun hitting a familiar pond so it looks fresh and new.

Or maybe you’ll get thoroughly lots and spend a lot of time trudging around in frustration and mild panic. Finally you’ll have to retrace your footsteps to figure out where you went wrong and get back on the right trail or in in the right character’s head. I’ve certainly had those hikes–and those scenes! The challenge, in both hiking and writing, is judging when to forge ahead in the unanticipated direction and when to turn back.