My high school English teacher made me rewrite a scene from a different POV and it actually changed my whole approach

So I was talking to my old English teacher Mrs. Patterson at a coffee shop last week, and she brought up that assignment we had back in 10th grade where she made us take a scene from our own story and write it from another character's eyes. I remember being SO annoyed because I thought my original version was perfect. But she mentioned how that exercise is basically what separates amateur writing from stuff that actually feels real to readers. I wrote a quick scene from my villain's perspective after that conversation, and suddenly he wasn't just a bad guy anymore. Now I'm wondering if I should go back and rework my whole first draft with this in mind. Has anyone else had a simple writing exercise from school suddenly click years later?

2 comments

2 Comments

felixlee25d ago

Three years ago a coworker snapped at me and I realized I'd never seen anything from his perspective.

hunt.quinn24d ago

Wait, I gotta push back a little on the teacher saying that separates amateur from pro stuff. I mean, it's a great exercise for sure, but some of my all-time favorite novels barely switch POV at all and they feel super real. The Road, for example, stays locked in the dad's head the whole time and it's devastating. Maybe it's more like one tool in the box rather than the whole thing that makes writing click. But yeah, totally agree that pulling back the curtain on your villain like that can turn a cardboard cutout into someone you actually feel bad for. I bet that rewrite is gonna make your whole story feel heavier in a good way.