Writing Wednesday Challenge: Two Points of View

This week’s challenge focuses on a writer’s need to shift perspective in order to understand the way different characters view their world.  In light of that, pick a person, place or thing and describe it from two different points of view.

Here are my perspectives (Yes, the object in them is real, and this scene really happened.  The Second perspective is my own.  I’ll leave you to figure out whose mind I’m taking over for the first.):

Perspective 1:  I lay on the carpet, stroking my puppy’s ears.  She wasn’t really a puppy any more than she was mine, but I wanted a dog so badly that I overlooked those small details.  I loved her from her long plumed tail to the tip of her wet black nose.  Her shaggy white hair felt soft beneath my fingers and she looked at me with love.  “Nice Chippie,” I said, “Good dog.”

Perspective 2:  I wondered how my son could stand the smell.  He lay on the floor, nose buried in the old dog’s matted coat.  She looked at him through eyes that cataracts had turned to milk, but her cracked black nose still recognized his scent.  Her tail thumped and she laid her head beside him with a sigh that I remembered from my childhood, when she was a puppy and mine.  My son might have only a second-hand dog, but her heart was still first-class.

Feel free to take on the challenge on your blog or in the comments – I can’t wait to see your choices of perspective!

4 thoughts on “Writing Wednesday Challenge: Two Points of View

  • October 6, 2010 at 10:10 am
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    These are both fantastic! I’m drawn more to the boy’s POV but I loved the mother’s too. Very well written!

    • October 7, 2010 at 1:00 am
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      Thanks, Heather! It’s funny, I’m more drawn to that one myself, even though the second one was actually my thoughts.

      • October 7, 2010 at 8:21 am
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        This is just beautiful!

      • October 7, 2010 at 9:41 am
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        Thank you, and thanks for reading!

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