Really, what better way is there?
Last night, right before midnight, my contest deadline hit. And I’ve gotta say, I’ve written better. I’ve written a helluva lot cleaner. And I’ve done a better job with characters. But I tried something new. I blazed a path I hadn’t taken before and wrote in third person. I can’t say that it was fun. But I pushed through it. I learned that I’m a first person writer. That’s for sure. I learned that I can write 20,000 words in 12 hours if it’s after midnight. Most of it was crap and had to be revised, but I put an END on it and went about my merry way rewriting and revising to the point I was cross-eyed.
I’ve spoke about winging it before. Winging it is more like controlled chaos (okay no such thing). I’m a pantser. I wing my blogs. I wing my way through writing. And I wing my way through life (most of the time). I suppose that just shows you that I like to break the rules. So if I have to learn something, well, I just do it. I had no idea how to write in third person. I had no idea how I was going to write a story in 18,000 words or less. I really didn’t know what I was going to write about. I wrote the end, then wrote another ending. Changed the beginning- oh I dunno- six times. Took scenes out. Added them back in. Jumped POV (really, the ability to jump POV is not a good thing for me. I’m seriously ADHD with POV’s) and decided that maybe an erotica in first person would’ve been a better choice.
*sigh* Then I figured that might get kinda pervy and ditched that idea.
All the while, I was working my buns off mentally to get this story right. I had my characters right. I could see them in my mind’s eye. I could hear their voice. Interacted with them while I was sleeping. Spent countless nights being up until way past my bedtime with the laptop on and the Word document up. Discovered a new love for heavy metal cellist. And Borders’ clearance sales. All the while, I was thinking about my story. How was I going to make it work? How was I going pull it together when I couldn’t fight my way out of a paper sack at this point?
I wanted to give up. I even thought about it a few times. More than a few times. It would’ve been easy to pretend the file went “poof” and not be able to write another one. But all things good in life are hard to come by. A story is the same way. You never know when it might come to you on how to make it click. In my case, it was 3am on Monday night last week. I had to write it down on my notebook on my nightstand and I woke up the next morning looking at it like it was written in code.
So I guess the point to this most irrelevant blog today is if you don’t succeed the first time, you better not pretend like you lost the file and walk away. No matter if there is chaos going on inside of that little pantser mind of yours. Keep thinking. Keep going. Don’t give up. Believe in yourself.
My question of the day is: Which POV do you prefer to write in, first or third? Why? And have you ever tried the other just to see what you could do?
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32 comments:
I write in third person, and I'm an awful head-hopper (maybe it's really 4th person, LOL). Recently I began something that I'd like to experiment with, first person by different characters, with the occasional 3rd person narrative thrown in. Sounds like my kind of mess. Like you, I'm a pantser, and I'm continuously surprised at what turns up on the page.
I write in third. I didn't realize until fanlit last year that I head hopped, so now I make a concerted effort to avoid that.
I did mess around with 1st person, but have since discarded. I just found that I wanted to tell the hero's point of view too and I didn't know a good way to do that in 1st. I like seeing both sides of the conflict.
Those of you who do write in 1st, do you include the hero's perspective?
I write in third person and I'm managed to master the NOT head-hopping thing. Well, mastered may be a strong word but I think I've got it down. My problem is that I jump into that omniscient narrator voice. I become a color commentator of the action without being in anyone's head at all. And that is NOT good.
I'm willing to try first person but it intimidates me so. Like Marnee, I want to get into the other character's head but I think there are stories that call for it. And by not getting into the heroes head, we are able to keep up the mystery and intensity of the character which makes the reader want him even more.
For instance - Ranger. LOL!
Honestly...I think I'd rather write in first.
I write in both, but I think I do better in first. (Maybe I'm deluding myself.) I like keeping to one person's POV and neuroses and "things only this person could know"--a lot less confusing. My heroines will always be sarcastic. Not a fluffy bunny in the bunch, but if I keep it to first person, I have a better chance of *only* having the heroine be totally neurotic, bitterly sarcastic, and insanely paranoid--rather than letting it hit all my characters.
I can't say I don't make all my characters sarcastic, just not quite on the level of my heroines.
I don't know if I'm that excited to tell the hero's POV. I don't want to spend that much of my word count talking about how much he really wants to get her into bed, which is what they really are thinking anyway.
I include the hero's perspective through dialogue.
Very interesting blog, Sin.
I just finished a book, Maggie, that had first person from two points of view - the hero and heroine. I LOVED this book! It was The Crossroads Cafe by Deborah Smith and you have to read it if that is what you want to do. I thought it was done very well and I enjoyed both points of view. Their names would appear in bold off to the right margin so you always knew whose head you were in at the time. I really liked it a lot.
I must be different cause I actually like the head hopping. I think I like to know what everyone in the story is thinking, even the downstairs scullery maid! LOL Maybe I've just never read a bad example of the head hopping thing. I know people accuse EJ of doing it a lot, but I love her books.
I write third person just because I feel like I can get more info out there and I'm a big info dumper! One of the short stories I wrote recently I did both. I was reading it and went "hey, that doesn't sound right" and realized I switched from first person to third and back again. LOL
I was also a huge snob against first person books. I didn't want to read them because I was afraid I wouldn't get enough information. I'm finding, though, with the more of them I read that if you've got a talented author it doesn't really matter.
I've read much more third than first person but it doesn't bother me to switch. I read Beach Music by Pat Conroy and if you've never read him, you have to try it. I couldn't believe how well he brought every character and especially the setting to life while telling it all through the protagonist's eyes.
That book is incredible but I will warn you parts of it are difficult to read. That man pulls no punches. He's also the author of Prince of Tides and though I've never read the book, I've never been able to make it through the movie. Certain parts are just too real and too painful to watch.
I write in first person, and Sin we've discussed this numerous times before.
I'm an emotional writer and I feel like a fly on the wall when I write in third person....not a good feeling for me. I like stories that come from one person's POV. I think it takes talent to convey everyone's POV from the narrating voice, but it flows for me.
Yes I've written in third person, and yes it wasn't pretty. *sigh*
I'm a panster also. I write so much better when I let it come naturally. All the planning never works for me because I always stray from an outline. I have a general idea about plot, the rest I find along the way.
I think we need to make the distinction here that third person does not have anything to do with whose POV the story is told through. I wrote my short in third and every scene is from the heroine's POV. Being in third does not prevent you from getting deeply into the character's head or emotions.
The only difference is typing, "I longed for him" and "She longed for him." You can still convey to the reader how much she longed in third person. The person in which we write does not designate the POV though first does limit us from giving more than one. Unless you take Maggie's approach.
Maggie, I thought about doing that at some point. Do the first person through different characters (mostly just my hero and heroine) but I've never read a book like that. Irish, very interesting about that book. I might pick it up just to see how it was done. I like the mystery of not knowing what's going on in everyone else's life though.
Marn: I'd like to include my hero's perspective, but I've not done that yet. I debated it for my current WIP but I probably won't. Even though I know him really well, I want my readers to imagine him they way they want, not the way I tell them, if that makes any sense. Sort of like how Janet Evanovich has done with Morelli and Ranger.
Ter: When you've not written third person before it seems like you're limited on what you can do. Or at least I felt like that. It's all a learning process.
Hellion: I think you do first person really well. I write in first person better too. I dunno what it is about it that makes me feel safe and secure. Maybe it's because it's how I started out.
Mystery/Suspense is just easier to write in first person to me because I can build the story up and drop the bomb at the end. I like that. LOL
Lis: *hug* We'll learn someday. LOL
PS: Capt'n love the new pic. *wink*
Don't you? A little clever crewmember sent that to me! I had to upload it right away and switch over. *LOL*
Terrio I agree with your definition of third person and conveying POV in third. I just don't find it easy to convey the character's POV or emotions as well in third as I do in first. I think it's just a matter of preference.
I agree with Sin, I don't necessarily want the reader to know every little thing that makes my hero tick. I like an air of mystery, not just about his POV but about the plot as well.I like writig the story as if I'm the heroine, and in first person I do it best.
Gee, Lisa, I just read that post again and boy was I bitchy. LOL! It was before lunch - I was hungry. *g*
I just didn't want people to get the two topics mixed up. There are so many technical facets to this stuff. It looks easy when you first sit down - just write something. But goodness is it complicated if you want to do it well.
We all have special gifts (talents) and if we were all the same, that would be so boring. LOL!
Hellion: the new pic makes you look positively dangerous. Totally fitting for you our fearless leader!
Ter: I didn't find it bitchy. And you're right, we all have different talents. That's what makes us so much fun. ;)
Don't let 'em sugar-coat you. We know you're bitchy...even when seized by a hypoglycemic rant.
Moi? Dangerous? Sin, you must be joking. I'm perfectly tame.
It's the mother in me. I sometimes forget I'm not talking to an eight year old. LOL!
There's nothing tame about this blog, period. LOL!
So, would you guys read/write a book in first person totally from the hero's POV? And could that still be a romance do you think?
Ter: If I could pull off the hero's POV for an entire book (I think I'm a little too girly for that, I'd do it. It would still be mysterious enough for me because we wouldn't know what's going on with the heroine.
I have wondered about the whole hero's pov issue. I am not sure if the story was completely from male perspective that as many readers would identify. What do you guys think?
No, I probably wouldn't read one in only a man's POV. I'm not quite that interested in what they think.
I agree with Marnee. Being I'm not a man and I certainly don't think like one--I don't think I could relate to a book just in his POV.
Lots of Charles Dickens books are in the male's POV. I don't find them too interesting...but that could be Chuck's writing voice I don't care for.
I admire those who can write in First POV. I have tried it... to no luck. I think both take a lot of practice to master. When you are in First you have to be able to give a feel for the setting that takes all characters and action into account. Where as in Third, you can skip to the next person to take their view. But I like the idea of maggie skipping to first in another character. It would be interesting to read.
sorry to do this....but I'm begging, if you haven't done so already, will you stop by romance vagabonds and ask some questions for literary erotic writer Louisa Burton? She's truly an amazing writer, and she ranks up their with Anais Nin! Only she's got those mythological creatures...
So how about if the book is not a romance? I mentioned Pat Conroy above. His book is obviously first person through the male character and it's very good. But it's not romance. Though it does go through his love of his wife, his suffering with her death, his love of his daughter, his often strange relationship with his mother and a new romance he finds by the end. All of this is such a part of life it fits into the story perfectly.
Now, I'm not sure I could write it. But it would be interesting to try to think like a man for 200-400 pages. LOL!
I could read a mans first pov... but not so much for a full romance. I think Jim Butcher is first pov... but can't remember at the moment, and he is fantasy... I think a lot of PI books fall under first person though. Am I right? I dunno. I'm sick, can't be sure about anything today : )
I didn't even think about the old detective noir books. That totally counts.
Ter, I didn't think you were being bitchy at all. I totally get what you were saying:)
As for writing from a man's POV, that is my dream, to write a series totally from my hero's POV.
Lis - good to know you got something out of that mess. *g* And I knew that idea would be right up your alley. LOL!
In our near two-year friendship, when have I ever struck you as a person who would willingly read something that smacks highly of a Nicholas Sparks?
Let me explain this again:
Hellion LOVES Chinese, Indian, Thai, vegetables (all sorts), cheese, and stews.
Terri DOES NOT.
Terri LOVES angsty, tear-manipulative novels (a.k.a. Nicholas Sparks).
Hellion would rather be set on fire.
I think J.K. Rowling did a good job of writing from the male POV, and being most of the series was only in Harry's POV, despite it being third person...this was really cool.
I've never read Nicholas Sparks. What smacks of Sparks? What did I miss? You can have REAL LIFE and it still be a good read! LOL!
"But it's not romance. Though it does go through his love of his wife, his suffering with her death, his love of his daughter, his often strange relationship with his mother and a new romance he finds by the end."
THAT, this what you wrote down--this screams Nicholas Sparks. Even though it's the other guy.
I'm not interested in real life. I have enough death and futility in struggling as it is. Thanks, though.
I prefer the pirate way: a short, but MERRY life.
Gosh, that does sound like Sparks now that you mention it. Though I promise, there is A LOT more to this Conroy book than you will ever find in a Sparks book.
I would probably be more cheerful if I stuck to your Merry policy...
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