The mystery novel I've been working on has really worked me over on POV. When I originally started the thing, I started out in third person. At the time, I'd never done anything in first person so didn't feel comfy with it. I was happy with the third person version of it but after playing with first person a time or two started wondering if I had the right POV.
So, I rewrote the start of the novel in first person and while I really liked it, I sent it to a friend who has more practice with first person to get her take on it. And, she loved it. To be sure, I gave it to my oldest daughter (18 and quite a reader)for her opinion. She loved the MC's voice and another writer who read it also commented on her voice and how fun it was. That was all I needed to start over in first person.
I got about 15k on the puter and started wondering if I'd chosen the right POV afterall. I told myself to suck it up, just finish the rough draft and that I could go back and change it back to third later during revisions if I thought I needed to.
But, I'm at right at 45k and still being nagged by the shoulder vultures on whether I picked the right POV. So, last night I chatted with my mentor about it and after much pondering decided that I was using the wrong POV.
This morning I started by adding a scene from a second character whose POV I hadn't been able to use since he wasn't the MC. This scene made up ch. 2 so I revised ch. 1 and started a new novel doc with it in third person. But as I worked on it, I realized he'd have ch. 2, maybe ch. 5 or 6 and then 10.
I also realized I was losing a lot of the MC's voice that I loved and didn't want to lose. So, I scraped all the third person stuff, (well, I saved it in a seperate file, I hate to delete stuff) and now I'm happy with my first person choice.
Not only does it feel right with me, it's the best POV for the story. And, when you get right down to it...it's the story that matters.
I know y'all probably aren't terribly interested in my POV problems but I felt I needed to share this with y'all because it could happen to you.
Settling on a POV for your novel isn't a "decide once and that's it" thing. If the one you start in doesn't work, you can change it. You aren't limited to your original choice.
So, if you decide mid-novel that the POV you're working in isn't working, just change and continue on. You can go back during the revision stage and fix things.
Showing posts with label POV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label POV. Show all posts
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Point of View - Whose
Point of View or POV as we shorten it to, is a complicated matter at times.
First...let's take about POV as it relates to character. The best way to figure out whose POV the story should be told in is to decide who has the biggest stake in the story.
Whether it's the most to lose, most to gain or most interesting story, who will be telling the story is an important decision.
This is something you really can't decide until you get some plotting done. You need to know at least a basic idea of the story and what's going to happen. It doesn't have to be a complete outline, but if you don't know the stakes, you can't know who should be telling the story.
Most of the time, once you get some idea of the story this is fairly obvious. But sometimes, another character may be more interesting or more fun to write.
Another thing to think about is how many characters you want telling the story and what each of them bring to the table.
I once read a novel by a best selling writer that had about ten different POV characters. By the time I got connected with one and into their story, he switched POVs and started with another character. It was seriously annoying.
So, how many POV characters do you like to work with? How many do you think is too many?
Be sure to scroll back to the post on Reliability Buddies and if you'd like to take part, leave a note in the comments. I'll give everyone at least a week or so before doing anything with those interested.
And last of all, be sure to set your daily word count goals but make sure they aren't out of reach. You want to be challenged, but not overwhelmed.
Have a great week and write well!:-)
First...let's take about POV as it relates to character. The best way to figure out whose POV the story should be told in is to decide who has the biggest stake in the story.
Whether it's the most to lose, most to gain or most interesting story, who will be telling the story is an important decision.
This is something you really can't decide until you get some plotting done. You need to know at least a basic idea of the story and what's going to happen. It doesn't have to be a complete outline, but if you don't know the stakes, you can't know who should be telling the story.
Most of the time, once you get some idea of the story this is fairly obvious. But sometimes, another character may be more interesting or more fun to write.
Another thing to think about is how many characters you want telling the story and what each of them bring to the table.
I once read a novel by a best selling writer that had about ten different POV characters. By the time I got connected with one and into their story, he switched POVs and started with another character. It was seriously annoying.
So, how many POV characters do you like to work with? How many do you think is too many?
Be sure to scroll back to the post on Reliability Buddies and if you'd like to take part, leave a note in the comments. I'll give everyone at least a week or so before doing anything with those interested.
And last of all, be sure to set your daily word count goals but make sure they aren't out of reach. You want to be challenged, but not overwhelmed.
Have a great week and write well!:-)
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