Milo Mind

A writing exercise: exploring point of view and the use of psychic distance.

Milo today – enjoying our love and all home comforts.

Below is a writing exercise I found in one of my notebooks. Those of you interested in creative writing will know of the need to explore different points of view and also how close the narrative comes to accessing the inner thoughts of the character i.e. use of psychic distance. With most fiction there will be shift in the psychic distance, moving closer to the character’s inner thoughts and moving out again to create some distance and a wider perspective, like changing focus. Using the point of view of my dog, Milo (okay, quiet at the back), the first section is more traditional first person narrative; the second section remains in the first person of Milo moving closer to towards his inner thoughts until it becomes stream of consciousness, where rules of grammar and punctuation no longer preside, to privilege his flow of unmediated thoughts/consciousness. The final section returns to a more traditional narrative with glimpses of his thoughts processes, but remaining in third person. I kept the whole piece in the present tense to give it a sense of immediacy, of happening now.

Obviously this is an exercise rather than a polished piece for mainstream publication. But it’s a useful exercise to try as well being a lot of fun – my main reasons for exposing myself today. And, of…