A Crash Course in POV: Part One by Annette M. Irby

camera lens with water view*

Hey everyone, Annette here. Today I'm beginning a series on point of view that will continue the first Monday of next month as well. Read on!

One of the biggest issues I see as I’m editing for others is the technique of POV (point of view). There are many reasons for this. Like with many writing rules, trends influence what readers/editors want to see in regards to perspective. I imagine you could name a classic or twelve that uses omniscient POV—a current no-no in fiction for most genres. (More on the definition of omniscient POV later in this series.) As writers, we are influenced by what we read. (If you wonder about this, consider the use of the word “roil” in 97 percent of manuscripts. Show me a few books where that word isn’t included.) If the published books we read contain omniscient POV as narration, we feel that is the “correct” way to write. Unfortunately, that’s not currently the expectation of readers or editors (or agents, who track trends like editors do). 

Very basically, "point of view" is the perspective from which we view the action of a scene.  Many have said to think of POV as what a camera experiences from within that person's head. The five senses as experienced from that person's perspective.

The current preference in fiction? Deep point of view (deep POV). Raise your hand if your editor or crit partner has ever said “I can’t feel this emotion here.” There’s a relatable reason writers avoid deep POV: the process exacts a lot from the writer. Authors have to put themselves in the character’s mind/heart and feel everything that character would feel so that s/he can represent that emotion on the page. Who’ll be the first to sign up for that uncomfortable delve into the human psyche? Yet none of us are exempt. 

Writing mentors will tell you that your goal is to provide a satisfying emotional experience through your fiction. Deep POV provides that.

Let’s define various types of point of view:

Deep POV: Where the author expresses the emotions, view, layers, and experience of the POVC (point-of-view character). This involves diving deeply and showing what that specific character is experiencing as they would. Only what the POVC is feeling, seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting can be included here. One common mistake I see with lack of deep POV is the author telling us what the outer expression of the POVC is. Since we’re reading and not watching a movie, please give us the internal visceral reaction the POVC is having and express that. Sure, she can scowl, but rather than only give us that, give us what she’s experiencing internally. Focus on the internal experience, not the outward appearance. 

Deep POV accomplishes many goals readers and editors want to see:

• Deep POV lets readers relate with the POVCs, even the villains.
• Deep POV lets characters feel what the POVC feels.
• Deep POV lets readers live vicariously through their favorite characters. 
• Deep POV helps readers sympathize with the characters so they care enough to want to know how things turn out. 
• Deep POV hooks readers b/c of all of the above and keeps them reading and hopefully telling others how much they loved your book and why they should buy their own copy. (Word of mouth is the golden ticket in marketing.)

A fantastic resource regarding deep POV is Rivet Your Reader with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson. I recommend this resource both to my clients and to contestants.

Next month we’ll continue this series, including an explanation of omniscient POV and other POV-related terms. In the meantime, it’s your turn. Do you have any questions on POV? Have you received feedback that helped you, or perhaps confused you? Leave your question/comment below, and we’ll discuss it. There’s a lot to POV, but you can master it and readers will thank you for it. 

Her Nerdy Cowboy

~~~~~ 

Her Nerdy Cowboy

Whoever heard of a bookish cowboy? When Logan McDaniel’s brother-in-law dies, he steps in to help his beloved sister run her ranch. But what does a city boy know of herding cattle? Claire Langley loved her cousin. After he dies, she agrees to serve as a temporary nanny for two heartbroken children. 

Claire and Logan find they share a love of books, and Claire can’t resist the nerdy uncle who is great with children, and who reads to her of pirate romance. Claire’s ailing mother needs her in Seattle. Can she break away? And if she does, can there ever be a future for Logan and her?

~~~~~ 

Annette M. Irby

Annette M. Irby has three published books and 

runs her own freelance editing business, AMI Editing. 

See her page here on Seriously Write for more information.

~~~~~ 

Photo credit: the awesome people at Pixabay.

On Writing by Colleen Coble

Colleen Coble

While searching the web for some writing advice, I found the following post written by award-winning author, Colleen Coble. It's full of great tips and advice to start the new year. She's graciously allowed me to repost it here for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. ~ Angie

A Book for Beginning Writers
I highly recommend James Scott Bell’s book, Plot and Structure. It’s the best book on writing I’ve ever read and takes it down to a nuts and bolts explanation of how to create a novel from scratch. Check it out at www.jamesscottbell.com

Writing Tips
Write what you read. This is a pet peeve of mine. I can’t begin to tell you how many manuscripts I’ve looked at for aspiring writers who are trying to write something they don’t like to read. It never works! There’s something about reading that helps you learn to write. You subconsciously pick up how to structure scenes and the tension and conflict necessary to write in your favorite genre. What works in suspense doesn’t work in chick lit.

Attend conferences. I think this is vital. You can network with other writers, meet editors to find out what they’re looking for, and learn from the masters of the trade. There are several good ones out there. My personal favorite is the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference every September. And you should consider joining the organization. It’s simply the best place to network and learn about the industry.

Learn POV. Ask yourself who has the most at stake in the scene? Once you figure that out, stay in that POV for the entire scene—no headhopping. I’m sure you’ve seen the rules broken, but the better writers don’t jump from head to head.

Always have a book you’re reading on craft. Some of my favorites are: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne, and Stein on Writing by Sol Stein. Right now I’ve been reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. And of course I already mentioned James Bell!

Learn to say no. It’s easy to feel guilty when you’re asked to interrupt your writing time for worthy reasons, but it’s important to prioritize. The sky won’t fall if you miss your two hours of writing (or whatever schedule you set), but do it too many days, and that novel will never get written. When people find you’re home writing, they often don’t think anything of interrupting and asking you to do something for them. Learn to say you’re working.

When plotting your novel, make sure you start with enough conflict. That’s probably the number one flaw I see in manuscripts. When you first look at your conflict, twist it around and see if you can make it even worse. The very best conflict is when two people want the same thing and only one can have it.

Setting is very important. You want a definite sense of place. That comes with selective details that bring the setting to life. Try to actually visit your setting. I went to Kaua’i to research the Aloha serie, and there were wild chickens running everywhere. I never would have known about that important detail if I hadn’t gone to the island. In the Outer Banks I found out it’s very windy! Small details like that make a difference.

Finish that first book before you start sending it off. It’s easy to keep working on the first three chapters and have them polished. If an editor requests the full manuscript, there’s no time to polish the rest. Better to get it all done then see how you can move chapters around and make it better. You want the editor to see the best you can do.

Find a critique partner. I’m not a big fan of large group critiques, but if you can find two friends or acquaintances who see your vision and can read for you without imposing their own style, then you’re in luck. I’ve had three excellent critique partners who are all published writers: Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter and Diann Hunt. They all see the story in different ways and help me immensely. A good place to find a critique partner is by joining ACFW as I mentioned earlier.

Keep a lighted pen and notebook by the bed for middle of the night inspiration. I’m often struggling with a plot point, and God will drop the answer right into my head while I’m sleeping.

For more writing tips and a list of recommended resources, check out the Extras section on Colleen's website, http://www.http://colleencoble.com/.

What's your favorite writing tip? Favorite writing craft book? Click to tweet it below or leave a comment if you have more great advice for writers.

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Always have a book you’re reading on craft.

Keep a lighted pen and notebook by the bed for middle of the night inspiration. 

When plotting your novel, make sure you start with enough conflict. 
My favorite craft book is: (Be sure to insert the title of a book that's helped you.)

About the Author

Best-selling author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 2 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana. Visit her website atwww.colleencoble.com.

Butterfly Palace
by Colleen Coble

Butterfly Palace
Elegance and wealth. Privilege and politics. The extravagance of the Butterfly Palace overwhelmed Lily’s senses and nearly smothered her painful memories. She pushed away her misgivings . . . She was perfectly safe in this huge house.Austin, Texas—1904: Abandoned by the love of her life and still mourning the loss of her mother, Lily Donaldson has turned her back on the pain and come to Austin for a fresh start, working for the Marshall family as a kitchen maid in their luxurious mansion, the Butterfly Palace. The tasks before her are legion, and her mistress less than pleasant, but at least Lily’s new life will be, if nothing else, distracting. But one night, while serving at a dinner party, Lily recognizes the man who abandoned her, Andy, her liaison from the livery stable, the blacksmith’s son . . . sitting among the distinguished guests. Though he recognizes her, Andy does not acknowledge her aloud, and Lily is left reeling, flabbergasted, and irate. But before she can get an explanation, the path of the Servant Girl Killer swerves very close to the Butterfly Palace, sowing terror among the maids. Having come to Austin to start anew, Lily suddenly feels trapped in a spider web. How can she know who to trust in a house where lies come dressed in fine suits and deceit in silk gowns the colors of butterfly wings?

Random Thoughts & Ideas to Spark Your Fiction Writing By Creston Mapes

A friend sent me six pages of his new novel. He wanted to get my feedback. I don’t have time to do this much anymore, but I owed him. I read the first six pages of his first attempt at fiction without taking any notes. Then I stuffed it in a book and am still letting it simmer.

Here’s what I need to tell him, and I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and share some of these insights with you, too.

• The story needs to begin right in the middle of an intriguing, tension-filled moment. Pick right up smack dab in the middle of the situation. Back story can come later, if at all. Who the characters are can come later. What they look like can come later. You must quarantine the reader in the first few pages of the book or you’ve lost him.
  
  On about page four of my friend’s manuscript, there was finally some dialogue and some conflict. “That is where his book needs to start!” I said aloud. The details can come later! His first four pages were all back story. Granted, those pages included a bunch of good ideas and it will all make for a good book. But all of that back story needs to be shown, not told, as the story unfolds. That brings me to my next point.
  
• Please, please, show and do not tell, because if you tell, no serious fiction editors are going to want to publish your book. This might take you awhile to learn, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes habit.
  
  Which gives the reader a better, more vivid and emotional picture of what the character is doing and feeling:
  
  He was nervous and thought about just leaving.
  
  Or…
  
  He drummed his fingers on the table, checked his watch and scanned the room to see if anyone would notice if he disappeared.
  
  The later shows. The former tells.
  
  The whole book needs to show. Just work a sentence at a time, showing. Soon you’ll have the hang of it. And keep adding new things. Don’t just keep rehashing the same old plot. Keep the story alive with new twists and turns that put readers on the edge of their seats.
  
  As for the back story you wanted to include right up front…much of that can be woven in later, throughout the manuscript, as you are showing the reader what happens, like a mesmerizing movie on the big screen.
  
• Write from one point of view (POV) at a time.
  
  I need to tell my friend that he needs to choose one character and to write from that character’s POV for the entire scene or chapter, then switch to another character’s POV. It’s as if you are that character and you are standing behind a video camera. You can see and hear what’s going on around you, but you cannot read other peoples’ minds. You can only write about what you see and hear and what you taste and smell.
  
  There will be more than one POV character. In the novel I’m writing now, I’m writing different scenes and chapters from the POV of 5-7 different characters. It’s a whole lot of fun getting into the mind of a bossy female antagonist, or in the head of an unsuspecting villain, or in the POV of a modern day hero. Again, get POV down and you’ll have mastered one of the top requirements in writing publishable fiction.
  
• Avoid clichés.
  
  Create unique names. Some of the favorites in my novels have included Everett Lester, Twila Yonder, Zane Bender, Gray Harris, Chester Holte, Hudson Ambrose, and Granger Meade. This is important. It sets your book and characters apart.
  
  Create unique storylines. If it’s been done too often and we can predict what’s going to happen, as they say in the Bronx, forgetaboutit! When you’re at a turning point in the book, think up five to seven options of what could happen, and choose the most flabbergasting one! Remember, tension on every page is what you want to keep pulling the reader along with you!
  
• Don’t write too much.
  
  I’ve passed my 500 word limit!

I hope you’ll read my thrillers and connect with me via my website, Twitter or Facebook.

About the Author

Creston Mapes is the author of Fear Has a Name, Nobody, Dark Star, and Full Tilt. A journalist, copywriter, and editor, he works from his home-office in Atlanta for some of the nation’s top media companies, Christian ministries, and nationally-recognized corporations. His early years as a reporter inspire many of his novels. Creston studied journalism at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and began his writing career 30 years ago. 

How Far Would He Go To Keep Them Safe?

It was more than a break-in. More than a stalking. It was personal. When a stalker targets his family, journalist Jack Crittendon must uncover who the person is and what his motives are—if he is to protect the ones he loves. It will lead Crittendon into a world of behind-closed-door secrets and faith gone awry, as does his investigation of a missing pastor, whose apparent suicide is more than it appears. Each move Crittendon makes weaves him tighter and tighter into a web of lies, greed, hypocrisy, sin, and danger. He believed he’d never give in to feareHAnd it leads to. But that was before. And holding on to his faith won’t be easy. Nor will keeping his family safe, and ending the terror. Because that might require him to step over lines he never dared to cross.

www.CrestonMapes.com

www.Twitter.com/CrestonMapes

www.Facebook.com/Creston.Mapes

Do Violence to Your Reader, Part I: Hook ‘Em on the Way In! by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

I love running across new tools, don't you? Hey fellow writers, Annette here. This summer Jill Elizabeth Nelson published the most useful book on deep point of view that I've ever read. I've used it in my own writing, told my clients about it, and recommended it over and over. She's here for the month of August to share a series on point of view with us. Enjoy!

Part I: Hook ‘Em on the Way In!

by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Imagine a fish eyeing a tasty morsel dangling on the end of your fishing line. If you jig that treat just right . . . it strikes! Now the fish is on the hook, and you can reel it in, taking the creature exactly where you want it to go. A hook in a story works much the same way. With every individual scene and chapter, a writer must present a tasty morsel in such a way that the reader is compelled to follow your story wherever you want to take them. A dull hook will lose a potential reader within a paragraph or two, or even a line or two.

Readers who seek primarily to feed their intellect or to gain information will pick up a work of non-fiction. Readers who buy novels are hungry primarily for an emotionally resonant experience that satisfies them at gut level. This emotionally resonant experience hinges on maintaining and escalating tension moment-by-moment throughout the story, but especially in the opening lines of each and every chapter and scene.

Here is an opening hook that does NOT work. (Don’t worry. It’s not from anyone’s published book.) Why does this hook not work? Ask yourself if this opening contains any element that communicates tension or emotion.

Hayley Jones walked off the plane and onto the tarmac of the small airport.

Certainly, the sentence conveys vital information—the name of the character, what the character is doing and where; however, information minus emotion equals stagnation. There is no hint of a story here to intrigue us to read on!

Here is an opening that works in one simple line. (Again, not from a published book.) Why does it work? (Hint: is there any word choice that evokes emotion or tension?)

Aimee huddled in the corner of the room.

This line contains all of the informational elements from the line that didn’t work—the character’s name, what the character is doing and where—but it also captures that all-important element of tension, as well as suggesting the emotion of fear. Someone huddled in the corner of a room cannot be in a good situation, and the reader will crave to know more. There are a gazillion different directions a writer can take the story from here, but the reader is hooked and will avidly follow where the story leads.

Here is your assignment:

Pick up one of your favorite novels and find at least one scene or chapter opening that hooks you and evaluate why the hook works. Remember our keys to effective hooks—tension and emotion.

~~~~~

Award-winning author and writing teacher, Jill Elizabeth Nelson, writes what she likes to read—tales of adventure seasoned with romance, humor, and faith. Jill is a popular speaker for conferences, writers groups, library associations, and civic and church groups. She delights to bring the “Ah-ah! Moment” to her students as they make new skills their own. Her handbook for writers, Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View, is now available at Amazon (see links below). 

Connect with Jill:

Website: www.jillelizabethnelson.com  

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JillElizabethNelson.Author 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JillElizNelson.

(print version)      (eBook version)