First POV Pt. III

So shortly after my last post, I finally discovered why my version of first person point of view comes off as if the main character is talking to the audience. It's because she is.

The reason why it took me so long to realize this was because the character does it in a subtle way, or technically, I do it in a subtle way.

Now while I never had the character's narrative address the audience directly by saying things such as, "You have no idea how panicked I was when the werewolf lunged at me," I do have her saying thing such as, "Well, damn. That didn't go as planned."  Even though, the idea is that she is thinking that to herself, the latter bit still engages the audience in a dialogue of sorts.

So now that I know what is making my writing come off like one's best friend is talking to them, the question is: do I want to change that?

At this point, I'm still on the fence, but I am leaning toward not changing the narrative. The character is not supposed to be the most likable of protagonists, and so having the narrative possess that subtle friend-like quality might help the reader get through the story, maybe even cause the reader to like the main character despite the character's flaws.

We'll see though.

First Person Point of View Pt.II

After a month of squeezing in time to practice writing first person point of view between other projects, I think I may have finally realized why my writing style feels different compared to other writers' (besides the obvious fact that we are individuals, therefore there are going to be differences in our writing). I believe because of the way things are phrased and the way the main character's narrative digresses it comes off more conversational than literary. In other words, instead of the reader and main character becoming one, or the reader just being an invisible parrot on the main characters shoulder with access to the character's thoughts, it's more like the main character knows the reader is there and is prattling off his/her experiences.

Is that a bad thing? No. Is it a good thing? Eh, not really sure. It was never my intention to have a narrative like that. I can only think of one positive thing about such a narrative, which is that because it so conversational/friendly it might be more engaging/inviting for the audience. The negative side, though, is that the reader could get jolted out of the narrative. After all, if you are reading a story and suddenly the main character is talking directly to you (so far that isn't the case with my work, but it could be), you may be taken out of the story. Second, the narrative sounds immature, or at least mine does.

Anyway, I will continue with this first person point of view experiment for now.

The Missing Piece of Childhood

I have a confession: I have never read Harry Potter.

Around the time Harry Potter came out I was still resistant to reading, and by the time I was open to reading I found Harry Potter insulting. Why did I find it insulting? Honestly, I don't remember. I just know I loved witches to the point that I took everything I read about them as fact. Well, as factual as one can take any fantastical creature (and before anyone points out that there are witches; they're just not the ridiculously powerful kind you see in movies, TV, or books; I am aware). For whatever the reason, I thought Harry Potter betrayed what witches, warlocks, wizards, etc. were supposed to be.

Then I got older, and I realized I was stupid.

Even so, I didn't bother reading the series because by that point the hype was so big I didn't want to be disappointed. Then eventually it just became a matter of: What's the point? I was no longer the target audience, and I had been subjected to many birthday parties filled with Harry Potter spoilers as my friends discussed the latest release.

So why bring this up now?

After struggling to write from a child's point of view I decided that this week between writing and editing I will read the first book in the series.

Not going to lie. I'm a little excited.

First Person Point of View

So recently I have been trying to write in first person point of view, and all I can say is...why is it so weird?

I have tried so many times to write in first person, but whenever I do something just doesn't feel right. I know part of this is because I it's different from how I usually write, however, it's not just that. When I read through what I've written it doesn't sound anything like how other authors write in first person. It's hard for me to pinpoint what makes my stuff sound so different in my mind--perhaps there is no difference at all? Even so, at times I think that it may be because I'm "telling" more than "showing", but when I focus on making certain that I am "showing" the writing still doesn't feel right.

Sometimes I like to think it is because of the main character, which makes the problem not as worrisome, but I sense this is more of a result of unpracticed writing skills than the awesome and amazing writing skill to make each narrative have its own voice that reflects the character from whose point of view the reader is reading.

Bleh. At this point, I think I should just keep going and see what happens.

Switching It Up

In a previous post I mentioned that I was working on editing two novels, and as you can probably tell by some of my other posts, I have been doing as I said I would (is it just me or was there a chorus of, "No duh," just now? Let's face it, when do I not talk about me writing/editing?).

I can say with more certainty that the novel I labeled as having a similar tone and audience as Turning Curse will be available in some time. I can't give an estimate, nor would I like to say when I hope it comes out, because such a statement may cause false hope. All I can say at this point is it will be published. In addition, I am not saying this because it will be out any time soon. I'm still in the middle of editing it. The editing process just happens to be going well with this novel.

The second novel has gone through many delays, however. At this point, I doubt it will have the same release date as the aforementioned novel. It may not ever be published. I am also debating whether to switch focus to another novel that could be edited. I won't give up on it completely--there are very few novels that I do, but this may be a novel that if it is ever seen by the public that time will be years down the road, unless things drastically change.

As Time Passes

"Time passes, people move... Like a river's flow, it never ends..." so says Shiek in Ocarina of Time. 

Well, time has certainly "flowed" however, a lot of things are still in the works. Things are being written, edited, thrown away, stared at, yelled at, anything that makes me sound crazy and interesting and not like the hermit that I truly am. Though, perhaps I should rephrase that, because such a statement implies that all hermits are uninteresting, which is not true. I don't have any evidence to prove it one way or the other (in other words I have done no research), but I'm willing to take a leap of faith. 

Anyway, I leave you all with the knowledge that things are progressing, just slowly. Better to take my time in an attempt to put something of quality out there (doesn't mean I will succeed) then to throw something out there and hope everything is perfect.

Goodreads and Page99Test

This is probably a little late for everyone, but for those who don't know, I am a registered author on Goodreads. So while I may not be the most chatty blogger, if you feel the urge to spy on what I am reading or have read you now know where to look. I will say this, though, I don't rate or write reviews. While I do have opinions on what I read, I rather not deal with ensuing, "But in your book....", "You're such a hypocrite", and the "You think your book is better than this one?" It's just a headache I don't feel like dealing with.

You can also find me on Page99Test. Sadly, whenever I try to make a link to the my post on the site it doesn't work, so telling all of you this may be for naught.

Anyway, back to the editing dungeon.