Point of View in Fiction with Sharon LaCour

Point of View in Fiction

Point of View can be confusing but is of vital importance in creating compelling prose that will keep your readers engaged and advance the flow of your narrative. In this online writing class, Sharon LaCour will show you the basics, as well as the tips and tricks that’s she learned throughout her career.

---

Who is telling your story? Are you inside the head of one or more of your primary characters?  Or is another narrator sitting on the sidelines describing the scene? Is it wise to leave the head of one character and enter another’s? Are you sure that the ‘I’ of your story is who is actually speaking and not yourself? 

In LaCour’s presentation she will go through the various types of Point of View that are available, offering examples of each from literature and from her own hand. She will focus on First Person and Third Person Close (or limited) as they are the two voices most often used in contemporary fiction. We will discuss the advantages and challenges of each and different options for dissolving problems such as: claustrophobia in first and third close; assuring your character is not the author; and changing POVs. LaCour also shares her experiences with POV as a writer working on her recently published novel as well as her current projects. 

The instructor will leave you with questions in the workshop, as well as a few answers, that will be your companions as you write and assist you in creating more authenticity and interiority in your characters. You will leave with tips and ideas to help you clarify your characters’ voices for yourself, in turn making them clear and easily discernible for your readers. 

LaCour has worked on POV extensively in writer’s workshops and with writing coaches. For this workshop she uses two books specifically, one by Ursula Le Guin, and the other by Nancy Kress. If time allows, she can also include writing exercises for workshop participants.

Class FAQs

• Class will be held September 30th from 6pm until 8pm.
• RoL Member: $48 :: Nonmembers : $60
• What the course is worth: $100
• Please email (info@rolreadlocal.com) if you’re interested, and we’ll save you a seat.

---

Instructor Bio

Sharon LaCour grew up in New Orleans listening to her father and his siblings speaking in their native Louisiana French, sharing memories of their lives as the children of farmers in central Louisiana and their move to New Orleans during the Depression. Her interest in writing began with her mother narrating a new bedtime story every night, some of which she recorded on a Royal classic typewriter. Sharon went on to study music and completed a master’s degree in piano. She began writing fiction in earnest during long winters she spent in Minnesota. Her stories and essays have been published in the Xavier, Sheepshead, Chautauqua and Arkansas Reviews among others. Although her writing is for adults, her stories often feature children and young adults in challenging situations. She also writes about women and the contradictions of motherhood and creativity; historic and current issues of racism and sexism; the influence of spirituality and belief; and the unique spirit of her cultural heritage. Her childhood in New Orleans and the influence of her Acadian background inform her explorations of the Acadian Louisiana way of life from the 1700s and into the 20th century. 

Sharon’s debut literary novel, The Meeting of Air and Water, was a novel-in-progress finalist in the William Wisdom-William Faulkner novel competition in 2019. The novel was inspired by several influences, one, the photographs of Fonville Winans, a Baton Rouge photographer who documented Louisiana Cajun life in the 1920s. Also significant were the lives of two artists—Walter Anderson of Ocean Springs, Mississippi and the writer Virginia Woolf—both of whose creative spirit was inspired by the mental illness from which they suffered. 

The novel follows the lives of two women artists, one grandmother to the other, who struggle against societal and cultural expectations that threaten their need to create. The intense atmosphere of the novel functions as a contributing character that enhances the compelling narrative. The novel makes use of Sharon’s experiences of summer vacations on Lake Pontchartrain in an area of lake camps in east New Orleans called Little Woods. Sadly, none of these camps so beloved by many New Orleanians remains, having been destroyed over the years by hurricanes.  

Sharon lives in Lafayette, Louisiana with her husband and pets. She works as a pianist and piano teacher. She is working on an historical novel set in the late 18th century that is set along Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana, and a coming-of-age novel from Depression era rural Mississippi. 

https://www.sharonannlacour.com