How to use this Page

What I’m referring to in the name of this post is not actually this post but another I just found on eHarlequin. Author Michelle Styles writes about POV in a really great way, I think, in her blog post Switching Point of View v Head Hopping.

I went in search of a good article about this because I needed a kind of kick in the pants that says, “Go on, try it. It could work. It’s ok to break the rules.” Michelle gave me just the right way of thinking about it. Although switching point of view isn’t, shall we say, encouraged, especially with middle-grade books, if the writing isn’t confusing (i.e. the reader always knows whose head he’s in), then switching POV is fine as long as it works for the story. Besides, as Michelle points out, Terry Prachett does it brilliantly, and he’s one of my favorite authors.

I love this last part of Michelle’s post:

There is NO hard and fast rule. The only rule is the story. If the story flows and the tension is high, you can shift as the story dictates. If the tension is low, not even slavish devotion to one point of view will save it.

Techniques are there to be mastered, rather than followed blindly.

(But the whole post is great, so click here and read it.)

Once again, story is king!

I wrote about switching POV a couple days ago and got some fabulous, encouraging comments about it. What I really need to do next is start typing and try it, but I was kinda busy today. It was always on my mind, though, and I decided to do a little research and flip through the books on my shelves and remind myself of how they handled their POVs.

I just finished the fourth book in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series (fantastic, if you haven’t tried them), but they’re all first person, and I’m not feeling that style for me as a writer. I’m currently reading the second book in Suzanne Collins’ Underland Chronicles (also fantastic), and that’s solely in the third-person protagonist’s POV, like my first book. Both of these styles work really well to bring the reader totally into the character’s world.

A book I read a while ago, Peter Pan in Scarlett, is in omniscient narrative, and although the book is very entertaining and has some delightful throwbacks to the original classic, I must admit it was a bit of a struggle for me in the first half. I never really felt like I was in the head of Peter, Wendy or any of the characters. I really was just kind of floating above and didn’t feel as though I was in the story, part of the story.

In the Eragon books, Christopher Paolini deftly switches pov every chapter or so (especially in the third book), but he does something interesting: His characters are given a sort of heirarchy, with Eragon at the top. Whenever Eragon is in a scene, it’s in his POV and we see the other characters through his eyes. But when there’s a scene with one of the lesser characters when Eragon isn’t around, Paolini chooses which character has the most to gain (storywise) from the scene and that’s whose POV it’s told in. Again, it works very well. There’s no switching within scenes, and each scene begins with some action, thought, something from the character whose POV we’re seeing through, so no confusion.

Then I spied the last Harry Potter book and something told me to go back and read the opening of the first book, Sorcerer’s Stone. Wow! I hadn’t remembered (and when I read this book I wasn’t dissecting it like I am now), but J.K. Rowling begins the initial scene in Mr. Dursley’s head, then when he goes to sleep, the POV switches to McGonagall as the cat, then to Dumbledore, and finally baby Harry. There are some narratory sentences (”How very wrong he was”), but it doesn’t read like omniscient narrative. It reads like third person switching from head to head, but it’s written so well that as a reader, you’re never confused about who you’re following, who’s head you’re in. And ultimately, it tells the story very well, which is exactly what Michelle was talking about in her excellent post on POV.

Ok, now I know what you’re thinking: Stop analyzing it and go write it! And you’re right. I will. But first, I must get some sleep. I’ll set the alarm for early, even on a Saturday — shudder.

How are you guys coming along?

Write On!

P.S. No word count from me today because all I managed to have time for was 11 words, but lots of research. I’ll post a word count tomorrow.

I’ve been going through a reading spurt lately, after I finished the third (and hefty) Eragon book, and I’ve noticed that you can’t judge the validity of the “rules” of writing based on what’s selling in stores.

There are plenty of “rules” that we hear when we’re just starting. I put the word in quotes because really, they’re not rules, but they’re things that as newbies, we might not be able to get away with as much as an established author. They’re things you’ll hear from fellow writers as well as in critiques, both from agents and editors.

What are the “rules”? Here’s a few that I’ve heard and seen broken in books I recently read:

Stick to one point of view: The first draft of my novel switched POV between my protagonist and his father for the first half of the book, then, after the two story lines had come together, focused on the protagonist. In a critique workshop with an agent, I was told children’s books rarely switch POV and I should rework it to just be from my protagonist’s POV. I did, and it worked out fine. But, if you read bestsellers out now, you’ll see that many don’t do this. Christopher Paolini’s Eragon books are a good example.

Avoid ly words: I’ve heard this one a lot, and as guidelines go, it makes sense. The descriptive ly words can slow down prose. Many times, they’re not needed. This is an extreme example, but you don’t need to write “STOP!” the man said loudly. The STOP! tells us he’s saying it loudly. But, I can’t help enjoying ly words at times. I use them probably more than those who tell the “rules” would like, but I like them. To me, used well, they can be delicious and make a sentence that would have been toast and jam, toast and jam with whipped cream and sprinkles. And guess who uses them a lot: J.K. Rowling. She’s pretty successful.

Never use the word Suddenly: I’ve heard this one a lot too, and actually, I’ve got to say I agree. Never is a bit strong. There’s probably a time and place when suddenly would spark up a paragraph, but not with sentences like: Suddenly, she grabbed him. Using the word suddenly to describe that something, well, suddenly happens, is fine but it’s easy. It’s the quick go to word, but it’s not the most creative way to move the action. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used this word, and in sentences like my example, plenty of times. But when I see them in my revisions, I try to rewrite them. And most of the time, the context of the story, the action, is moving fine and doesn’t need a suddenly thrown in. Recently, I read the first book in the Sisters Grimm Fairy Tale Detectives series by Michael Buckley and was surprised to see that in the climactic scenes near the end of the book, Suddenly was running around lose and fancy free. Now, I really loved this book. The characters were strong, the story fun and many many times Buckley had me laughing out loud. But, to be honest, all the suddenlys stuck out to me, and I don’t know if it’s because I’ve heard the “rule” so much or what, but it actually slowed the pace of the action. They weren’t needed, because the action was doing fine without them.

For newbie writers trying to get a foot in the business, sure, we have to make sure our manuscripts are Mr. Clean clean. They’re going to be scrutinized more than one from an author whose last book sold 100,000 copies. Do we stick to the “rules” or break them? I say, go with your heart. Ultimately, tell a great story in a great way. If it’s a little unconventional, breaking the “rules” so to speak, it might take a little longer to find the right agent and editor, but you will; if you believe in your story, you will. But it’s good to know the “rules” so you can decide whether you want to break them. Some of them are said for a reason.

What “rules” have you heard and seen ignored in the bestsellers?

Write On!