Recently, I taught my very first novel writing workshop. Teaching this class opened my eyes to some of the areas new writers are confused about. This blog will seek to respond to some of those areas.
I'll also be interviewing authors, agents, and editors who will share added insight. Hopefully, this blog will help those who are wandering around in the wilderness of "the unpublished writer."
This week, let's address:
THE BASICS
Many writers put together their first (or second, or third) novel, shop it around, and can't understand why they can't find anyone interested in representing or publishing them. The reason? They don't understand THE BASICS.
First of all, before we proceed any further, let me ask these questions:
Do you have a good grasp of the English language?
Do you have strong grammar skills?
Are you a strong speller?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, you have a lot of work to do. You've got to cover the basics. Here are some books I recommend:
Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Browne and King
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)
Other things you can do:
Enroll in an online English course.
Attend continuing education classes at your local college.
Enroll in a creative writing course.
Read books by published authors. You can learn a lot by just studying the way successful authors write.
Join a writers’ group where you can grow and learn alongside newbie writers as well as those who have more experience. You’d be amazed how helpful this can be.
Too many writers try to get a publishing contract before they’re ready. Getting your work out there when it’s not your best effort won’t help you. I encourage writers to learn their craft. Then begin to reach out to agents and editors.
Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at some of most commone mistakes newbie writers make. Today, let’s talk about POV (Point of View) problems.
POV
POV (Point of View) refers to which character is telling the story. If you don't understand POV, not only do your characters seem confused, your readers won't know who is saying what!
Example:
Mary leaned in close to Robert. Being near him made it hard for her to breathe. “I wouldn’t believe a word John says. Everyone knows he’s a liar.”
Robert shook his head. “I’m not worried about John. You’re the one I don’t trust.”He felt repulsed by her and wished he was somewhere else.
What’s wrong with this scene? We jumped from Mary’s head into John’s. This is called “head hopping” and it’s one of the most prevalent mistakes made in fiction. Readers should only be in ONE person's head in any given scene. Let’s try it again:
Mary leaned in close to Robert, her breaths coming in quick, rapid spurts.
“I wouldn’t believe a word John says. Everyone knows he’s a liar.”
Robert shook his head. “I’m not worried about John. You’re the one I don’t trust.”He felt repulsed by her and wished he was somewhere else.
Notice that we're privy ONLY to Roberts thoughts. (He felt repulsed by her and wished he was somewhere else.) I "showed" Mary's thoughts. (...her breaths coming in quick, rapid spurts.) We got inside Mary's mind ONLY through her actions. Not by "hearing" what was happening in her head. This is the proper way to stay in the correct POV.
I could have done this the other way around. Kept Mary’s thoughts and had John show his feelings for Mary by his actions. The important thing is to only let your reader into one character’s head at a time – preferably in a scene.
POV changes can confuse your reader. Your job is to make your story EASY for your reader to enjoy. Reading a novel is supposed to be a fun experience, not a chore!
When writing in third person, (writing your story as if someone outside of your characters is narrating the story) you can change POV, but there must be a transition – a way to separate each POV change. Although this can be done in one scene, most editors are more comfortable when the change occurs between different scenes. There is indicated by a symbol showing the POV transition. It might be:
# or ***
Now let’s look at our first example one more time. Here’s another way to avoid head hopping.
Mary leaned in close to Robert. “I wouldn’t believe a word John says. Everyone knows he’s a liar.”
Robert shook his head. “I’m not worried about John. You’re the one I don’t trust.”
As you can see, there are no inner thoughts at all. Leaving them out is another way to transition point of views. The best advice I can give you about POV changes is to limit them as much as possible – and if you do change POVs, keep them in different scenes.
I write in first person, so head hopping isn't an issue. In first person, the entire story is told through one person's POV. Instead of "he said" or "she said," in first person, I would use "I said."
Hopefully, this makes sense.
Next week we'll talk about author intrustion.
Happy writing!
