You will find that 99% of what I say in this article relates to the reader. Readers, those people who grant us a bit of their time and if we are lucky a few of their dollars in exchange for an adventure, an experience, an escape from the humdrum, are the people behind what you and I do. They make our work possible, and if we are lucky, lucrative. EVERYTHING we do as writers and editors, every rule we follow, every rule we break, every nuance, every mood we put onto paper is aimed at the reader, the people who pick up our books and either love them or hate them.

That said, it makes sense to look at what readers want when they pick up a novel. Regardless of genre, readers of fiction all want one thing. An Experience! They want to feel like they are experiencing the story with your character.

Readers will choose specific books depending on the type of experience they want. The reader who wants to experience soft, tender, emotions will likely pick up a sweet romance. The reader who wants to experience adventure and drama will more likely pick up a suspense, thriller, or action adventure novel. As writers we craft our novels to give readers a specific type of experience and publishers package them under different imprints so that readers can easily find the type of experience they seek.

The type of experience on a genre level is general. It is what leads a reader to pick one type of book over another.

Experience in the way that it relates to your specific book is more definitive and relates to creating a novel, short story, or other work of fiction that provides a rich vicarious experience for the reader. This is where deep point of view comes into play.

Consider the following two examples.

Example 1:

The sun rose, pink and orange fingers caressing the purple and blue cloud banks as the countryside woke. Birds chirped. The leaves in the trees rustled a morning greeting. Janet sighed. This was her favorite time of day.

Example 2:

Janet pulled her horse to a stop and sat astride its broad back staring at the horizon as the sun rose, pink and orange fingers caressing the purple and blue cloud banks. She inhaled deeply enjoying the scents of morning dew and fresh cut hay. The birds chirped and hopped about rustling the trees overhead as the countryside woke. Janet sighed deeply, she loved this time of day.   

Both examples give you the same general information, and in both examples the same scene is described.

The first example is told from shallow point of view. The viewpoint character is not even mentioned until the end of the paragraph.

The second example is told in deeper point of view. The scene is described through Janet. It is Janet’s thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that are described. It is Janet that sees the sunrise. It is Janet that responds emotionally to this time of the day.

In the first example the sun rises, the birds chirp, and the leaves rustle but those things are not perceived through any character. They are described by an off scene narrator. The reader is left without a conveyance through the story in example 1. In example 2 the reader knows right off the bat who to hitch a ride with. Janet is the viewpoint character. The experiences are Janet’s. Therefore the reader identifies with Janet. The reader is much more likely to hitch a ride and follow Janet into the story in the second example because it starts with an experience that they can be drawn into.

Do you see that the second example draws you into Janet’s world? You share her experience? This is the goal. In fiction the author’s goal is to create a vicarious experience for the reader. Using deep point of view, is the method through which vicarious experiences are created.