Problems with point of view
2 Comments »8th September, 2009; Category: Fiction, Master of Arts course, Novels, Writing a novel, Writing for Children
Writing a novel – a writer’s journal part 17
Problems with point of view
I honestly thought I had this point of view (POV) thing licked.
Not so.
Over recent days I have struggled with my choice of using the third person limited point of view. Initially-way back in chapter 1-I experimented with the first person POV. I wrote the chapter in the third person, then at the suggestion of one of my supervisors rewrote it in the first person. While it was an interesting exercise, it didn’t jell in my thoughts.
Since then I’ve stuck with the third person, and tried valiantly to maintain only the protagonist’s POV. Using the limited POV has inherent problems. Chief among these is the fact that the main character must be ‘on stage’ all the time. At one point in chapter 5 I have him running off away from the other children he was playing with. That’s a no-no. It’s his story-so we have to go off with him.
In other chapters I fall into another trap with limited third person POV. In subtle ways I slip into-without meaning to, of course-the thoughts of other characters. That’s another no-no. Limited POV means just that: limited. I can only let the reader ‘hear’ the thoughts of my protagonist-not everyone else in the neighbourhood. In order to dip into their thoughts, I actually have to make them say what they are thinking. There is no other way of knowing what they are thinking, or feeling. Well, actually, their actions can also convey this in a limited way.
Why didn’t I choose an omniscient POV? Then I could have dipped-God-like-into everyone’s thoughts! This can be very confusing to young readers, of course, so that option is not really one I can take.
Perhaps I could have used a shifting POV. The chapters could alternate the POV from one character to another. Again, this presents problems for both writer and the young reader. Possible, but it has to be done well. I made a decision against this before even writing a word. I had another idea for my novel, where there were two equal protagonists, each having their POV in alternating chapters. I chose not to follow this path as I felt my technical skills were not up the challenge. The plot also needed far more research than I had time for anyway, so I shelved that idea for another day.
All I can say now is that when I come to rewriting and editing, I’m going to have a few nerve wracking weeks trying to eliminate every shift in point of view.
Good writing.
Related articles:
- Writing a novel – a writer’s journal
- Writing a novel part 7
- Writing a novel part 4
- Writing success – well – sort of.
Writing a novel – a writer’s journal part 16: progress report
No Comments »2nd September, 2009; Category: Fiction, Goal setting, Master of Arts course, The Writer's Life, Writing a novel, Writing for Children
I had a fantastic day of writing today.
I actually completely finished a whole chapter. Chapter 12 of my novel for children is now finished and it leaves the reader dangling ready to turn the page to the next chapter. I have been trying hard to finish each chapter on an exciting high like this, enticing the reader to keep turning the pages.
Stopping at a high point of drama like this also helps me as a writer. I’ve planned what happens next already. The scene is not yet complete and so I have the perfect launching point for tomorrow’s writing session.
I have set myself the goal of 600 words per day over the last month. This goal will remain in place for the rest of September too. Over the last four day, however, I’ve managed to achieve just shy of 4000 words, 1990 of them today, my most productive writing day in a long time. I’ve not only passed the half way mark of 20,000 words, I leapt over the 22,000 word marks as well. The feeling is great.
An even greater feeling is that the story and the characters are really taking over. The momentum has been building now for several weeks. The plot is now an unstoppable vehicle heading for the climax.
Good writing.
Writing a novel – a writer’s journal part 10
No Comments »24th July, 2009; Category: Blogging, Competitions, Fiction, Master of Arts course, Novels, The Writer's Life, Writing a novel, Writing for Children
The Frustrations of the Writer’s Life
It has been a long time since my last entry in this series of articles. I have been very busy finishing off my course work for my degree. Then I had a stay in hospital followed closely by my wife having a stay in hospital too. On top of all that, I have had a very serious bout of influenza over the last three weeks with nine consecutive days in bed.
Over recent days I have managed to get back into writing my children’s novel. This will be submitted in November this year as the major part of my thesis paper. I have been getting rather stressed out by the fact that my supervising lecturer would like to see a draft copy of the manuscript by the end of July. Eeek – that’s a week away. Losing much of the last six weeks has put me way behind. I am so blessed to have a very understanding and compassionate supervisor.
Her compassion is very welcome, but the novel will not write itself. In the coming three months I will have to work very hard to get this project completed. The only way to accomplish that is to plonk myself in front of the keyboard and write, write, write. One of the additional frustrations is that I have other projects on the go. I have another two novels and four picture book texts almost ready to submit to publishers, as well as numerous short stories and poems ready to submit or enter into competitions. I need a thirty hour day and a ten day week!
One very practical solution would be to stop blogging and get back to writing the novel. It’s all a matter of application and priorities.
Good writing.
- Writing a novel – a writer’s journal – a series of articles outlining the process I went through in writing a novel.
Writing while in hospital
It has been a while since my last post here on this blog.
During the last month I have been busy finishing off my course work for my Master of Arts in Creative Writing . It has distracted me from blogging for quite a few weeks. Then I had a few days in hospital – kidney stones are no fun. This was followed almost immediately by a stay in hospital by my wife. She had a blood clot in her leg which also was far from fun. You could say we were helping to keep the local medical staff gainfully employed. We are both on the mend now.
During my enforced stay in bed I managed to do quite a few hours of reading – all the in line of background research for my thesis novel. The reading was accomplished despite the fog created by the morphine to quell the waves of pain. Okay – I’ll come clean. I actually had to put the book down quite a few times and take frequent naps.
As I was reading, something triggered an interesting response in my foggy brain. I suddenly had an idea for the text of a picture book based on an experience our family had with a Koala many years ago. The story came to me in a flash – start to finish. That is quite amazing as the ideas I have often take many days – and sometimes weeks or even years – to find that satisfying ending.
Fortunately I had asked my wife to bring me my writing notebook to the hospital. Over the next few hours I jotted down the text of the picture book. Mind you, this is only a very rough first draft. It will probably need to go through many more drafts and rewriting before it is ready to send off to a publisher. Coming up with a unique idea is sometimes the hardest part of writing picture books. This was easy. The hard part will be in refining the text to a publishable standard.
Good writing.