Something Shiny

As in, a shiny new WIP. I really didn’t intend for it to happen, but once it popped into my head, I just had to start writing it down. It’s the absolute worst time for it. Not only am I taking a break at the end of the month, there’s another project that I have to edit and a third that I should be editing.

But. I have to give into it. It’s too good not to.

I’ve written horror before, once for a NaNoWriMo project, and then again for that side-blog project I did last year. Both were okay I guess, paranormal in nature, word count below 50K so not even novels. This one however I think will be at least 60K. It’s also not a bit paranormal, but one hundred percent psychological: four kids go to an abandoned house to shoot a movie. Only two come back. And that’s all you get.

I haven’t been able to think up a name that’s good enough for it, so for now, it’s just going to be “The WIP”. It also has, shall we say, unusual POVs. One is first person. The second, the major POV for the book, is third person present (it’s actually narrated by the person doing the first person). And the third is first person past, and a completely different narrator, which means a completely different voice is needed. I haven’t nailed it yet, but after the book is down, I’ll separate out the different narrations and edit-edit-edit until they’re night and day.

So that’s what I’m up to when I should be editing, and it’s sooooo much fun. How’s it going with your projects? What do you think about different POV’s?

PS: I know there were some maybes on my request for guest posts. Is anyone still interested? Please let me know.

A Different POV

Recently, I’ve been writing in a different POV. Usually, I go for third person limited, past tense. But then when I started writing this new book…it came out in first person present.

Like, whoa.

I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I just reread THE HUNGER GAMES a few weeks ago. Maybe it just fits the story (although as a pantser, I only have a vague notion of what that is). Either way, it’s completely different from my usual MO. And I like it.

It’s a lot of fun. The MC, Ember, is very observant (she kind of has to be), so that helps. And she describes everything quick and simple, because she doesn’t usually have time to get into detail.

One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is how involved you get with the character. Not only is it her POV, but it’s happening to her right now. It keeps a lot of tension up. For me, anyway. I should probably have someone else give it a look so I know I’m getting it right.

I’m a little worried about the pitfalls of present tense writing. The one thing I’ve heard over and over again is that the reader should not notice the tense. It should be easy to fall into reading it. For example, take the sentence “I stop and look.” Does anyone actually think “I stop”? No. They don’t. And the reader will notice.

So, does anyone have any tips for present tense writing? I’m still new at it and pointers would be great. And everyone: what’s your opinion on books in the present tense? Yay or nay?

Action!

How do you guys write action scenes? The book I’m currently working on is full of big shoot-em-up, take-em-down scenes and I want them to be good. I’ve read other books with such scenes but there’s only so much they can teach about writing your own.

So much is going on that it’s hard to keep everything from becoming too hectic to read. In this particular scene, ten people are making a getaway in a big, RV type vehicle. They’re being chased down by some pretty vicious soldiers. Bullets are flying everywhere. Two of the people are occupied with driving and aren’t referred to much, and two others don’t get much involved. But that still leaves six characters to keep track of.

Granted, some are more important than others. The main character gets most of the focus and a lot of it is told through his observations as he tries to help. But there are things he can’t see. Unfortunately, I had to cut some of them because there were too many perspective jumps, and I'm still worried about having enough detail for the reader to get a feel of what's going on. That's the thing about writing: you have the picture in your head and you need to show it to someone else!

Perspective

Yesterday's talk on POV got me thinking about another hazard of writing: perspective. Not the perspective of the book, mind you. I mean you, and how what you believe influences your writing. In a sense, I'm talking about the author's point of view in the story. Just like a character will notice specific things and feel a certain way, so will you, the writer.

No matter how objective I try to be, my opinions are still going to come out in my writing. One of the reasons I'm so shy about sharing my work is because it is me, my thoughts and feelings, even if the story takes place two hundred years from now in a vastly different world. Unless I make a specific effort otherwise, the things I like are going to be shown in a positive light, the things I hate are probably going to be the villain's favorite pastimes.

Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. Books are meant to make people think and open minds to new ways of thought. Besides, the writing comes from us; we can't expect it not to carry part of us with it. And I'm not talking about propaganda or one-sided writing, but books in general, fiction and non.

I'd like to know what you guys think of perspective in writing. Do your characters like the same things you do? Have you ever read something you felt was biased towards the writer's point of view? Please let me know.

Point, Counter Point

I collect helpful information when I'm writing, either research or just tips on writing that I know I'll need. One of those tips I wrote down was on Point Of View. I am notoriously bad about switching in the middle of a chapter. Or a paragraph. Bad, right?

First of all, I like third person. I've written two books in first person, although one (still one of my favorites) was actually a constantly shifting perspective that was more akin to third person anyway. In particular, I like third person subjective (or limited) which is the most commonly used mode of narration today. It focuses on one character's thoughts and observations to describe what is going on, and the connection the reader with for the character helps draw the reader in.



I was editing my book the other day when I realized how blatantly I kept switching from one to the other. I was striving for a third person omniscient point of view and failing. It's a hard thing to achieve without detracting from the narrative. See, omniscient is when every character's mind is open to the reader and usually, the narrator is some outer voice a bit distant from the characters and situations. You'd think this would be easy to do, but it isn't. My problem is that most of the time, I stick with one character, but I occasionally bring in someone else's mind to fill in some information the main POV character doesn't have. I can't write in that "other" voice. I have to be part of whomever is telling the story at that moment.

And that just doesn't work. in omniscient It's disruptive to the flow of the story to jump somewhere else, no matter how much I like it. There will be some character switching, no doubt about that, but it will be greatly reduced and always come after a break. Which means once again, I have to go through my book , this time in search of the dreaded POV jump, which I fear will be all to easy to find. A lot will have to go. Other things will have to be added. I'm sure the same thing will happen with my next book, and I say let it. What are second drafts for if not corrections?