V is for Viewpoint

When we write a spanking tale, we recount what happened by telling the scene as one of the participants, or as a "seeing eye" who describes what is going on without actually being there.  The technical term is POV (Point of View) but you know me well enough by now that we can use the less formal term "View Point"

Selecting the view point is important.   Your aim is to tell the reader what is going on, and each viewpoint has its advantages and disadvantages.   Particularly if we want to say "why" the action is unfolding in the way that it is.

The "standard" view point is in the third person past tense, but sometimes authors try the present tense for effect, and on a couple of occasions I have seen the future tense being used:  very out of the ordinary, so use the future tense with care, and only for fairly short pieces.


Take the simple, standard, third person past tense, as in the statement "He picked up the whip and faced her."   We might have to go a long way to show our reader the inevitability of the picking up that whip, and the emotions that the action unleashed on the victim.

We can get around one part of the problem by going to first person. "It was incumbent upon me to show this wretched wench the price of sin - and I had the arm, wit and resolve to show her just how high a price,  I picked up the whip and faced her."    Well, we are finding it plain sailing to explain his motives - but now we are inside his shoes, telling the reader any emotion she is feeling is going to come across, at best, as inspired guesswork.

"He picked up the whip and faced me.   Every nerve end in my body shrank at the horror he would unleash upon me, and, in particular, I became acutely aware how vulnerable my naked buttocks were."   (OK, a bit purpley -  but the aim is to show now that we are able to describe her emotions, telling what he his thinking has become inspired guesswork.) 

We could switch viewpoints back and forth:  if not overdone, that can be very effective.   Just use clear sign posts to let the reader that we have changed point of view.   The free short story in the Free Story section called  "Abuse of Power" uses this technique with remarkable success (advt.)

For every day workmanlike work (or workpersonlike if gender is an issue), third person past tense works just fine.   We have an arsenal of techniques to show what a person is thinking - we just have to deploy them in a workpersonlike manner.

I don't know about you, but I find second person narratives awkward to read "You picked up the whip and faced her"   Or event "He picked up the whip and faced you."     I think this is supposed to make the reader more committed to the narrative but - possibly because of its rarity - it tends to isolate me from the action.   However, what I personally think about your narrative is the least of your problems - if this technique works for you and your readers, you go for it.   Variety being the spice of life and all that.

The other viewpoint I personally have great difficulty is when the narrative is is a future tense.    "You will pick up the whip and face me.   I will become aware just how vulnerable my naked buttocks are."    But again, if it works for you, then that is all that matters.

The point I am trying to make is that the choice of viewpoint will change how your reader reacts to your tale, and your decision as to which one to use may have a profound effect on how the tale unfolds.   One day soon, when this A to Z challenge is over, I shall lead you into a case study of just how different a tale might unfold.    ("Oh no." I hear you all cry - "You're not going to carry on after the A to Z.are you?"    "You betcha," I reply with words full of terrible portent...