Point of View Tips for the Fiction Writer

Last night I was working with my critique group and they stunned me with some of the errors they found still hidden within my novel, “Born to be Brothers.” Two, (count ‘em), of those errors were in Point of View, or as its know, POV. With last night’s lesson clear in my mind, I thought today’s post should encompass that great bugaboo, Point of View.

Let’s first try to understand what POV is. In a sound bite, it’s who is telling the story. Is a single character narrating what is going on, or are a number, or even all the characters, telling the reader what is happening? POV is nothing more than the writer’s method of determining which character is presenting the narrative.

See, it’s not all that mysterious.

As to the types of POV, there are four perspectives for telling your story, though some say there are five. Regardless, my focus will be with the three most common, and then primarily upon the Third Person, as it is the most common in fiction.

Know that each POV has its advantages, disadvantages and typical uses.

They three major types, with primary subdivisions are:

• First Person POV
• Second Person POV
• Third Person POV
o Limited
o Omniscient
o Objective

Keep in mind when you write, you’ll settle into the one or two POV’s that serves your storytelling and writing style. In fiction, the primary POV is Third Person.

Let’s define these POV’s.

• First Person POV

First Person POV has the writer, or narrator, personally telling the story. In effect, the narrator is speaking to his readers about what is transpiring and it can be told in either present or past POV. It is most often used when one is authoring a book about ones’ personal experiences or opinions. You’ll see the writer using the common pronouns of I, me, my, mine, we, our and ours. It can fit into fiction, but is widely used in memoirs.

An example sentence is:

As I looked at Jill, I knew she was upset.

• Second Person POV

Think of this as how to write an instruction manual and extensive use of the word, “you.” This POV is rarely used in fiction as it simply tells the reader what the characters are doing and what they see.

It is an awkward way to write with limited access to creativity. However, it does grab the reader’s attention. It can also exist in past and present forms.

An example sentence is:

You, Jill, will then purse your lips and furrow your brow.

• Third Person POV has three subtypes and we’ll discover each on its own.

o Third Person - Omniscient POV

Third Person Omniscient POV is having all the major characters in your novel telling the story.

What is nice about this POV is the freedom it affords. The author can tell the reader what everyone’s motivations are and what it is they are thinking. It allows the writer to give or withhold information at will.

The difficulties lie in lack of control and its potentially cumbersome nature. If you are not careful, by showing what inside every character’s head, the reader receives too much information and can become frustrated as your POV loses cohesion.

You overcome this issue by consistency in your POV and have only one person telling the story at a time. Also, eliminate any information that is not pertinent to the story. Have each chapter focus on one individual will help eliminate “head-hopping,” or jumping from one character’s POV to another within chapters.

Your example:

Jack wondered what Jill was thinking while Jill knew quite well what thoughts rattled around Jack’s mind. Bill was surprised by what Jill was thinking.

See how this can get out of hand?

o Third Person - Limited POV

Third Person Limited POV is perhaps the easiest to utilize and most popular when writing novels. Here the author writes from a single person’s vision throughout the entire book. In third person POV, you’ll see pronouns such as she, he, her, him, hers, his, it, its, they, them, theirs.

The disadvantages come with the writer’s limitation as to who sees what. The character telling the story cannot get into the head of another to read his thoughts. He can only surmise what the other guy is thinking by that person’s facial expression, actions and such. It’s also very easy to shift out of this POV.

Your example:

Jak understood Jill’s irritation, for her pursed lips and furrowed brow told him everything he needed to know.

o Third Person Objective POV

In this POV, the author only tells his readers what happens by way of action or dialogue. Their characters’ feelings or thoughts are never revealed. It’s not the most effective POV for fiction.

Your example is:

Jack watched Jill furrow her brow and pinch her face.

When it’s broken down into the types that fit your writing genre, it doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming, does it?

The secret to POV is to learn what type works well for your writing style and the types of stories you tell. These factors will drive your POV. Focus on the one or two you need and let the rest go for now.

I hope this has helped a bit, and I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Tips for Establising Setting in Your Novel

Setting is that aspect of your novel that gives the readers a sense of place and time. Read Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels and you’ll see she does a wonderful job of putting her readers in the center of a medieval faire, complete with banners, knights, lords and ladies. You’ll almost hear the rumblings of carts over cobblestones. David L. Robbins jams his readers into the center of a gory World War II battlefield where you can just about feel the heat of the bullet as it zips by your head. How is it these and other authors are so adept at placing their readers in the middle of their novels?

They have mastered the art of setting.

To me, setting can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of novel writing. Think of it like this. You get to control the weather, the landscape and even what people wear. Now ain’t that fun? When you learn to effectively construct setting in your writing, you have developed the ability to bring to life not only your characters but the very ground upon which they walk.

So, how does one go about developing a believable setting?

First, let’s consider how it should be used. Author Joanne Reid says, "Setting should be like good wallpaper. It enhances your story, fits perfectly, and does not overwhelm the people in the room."

With that in mind, let’s introduce several aspects to setting which you create to give your readers a full sense of time and place. They are:

1. The geographical location of your story

2. The time in which your story takes place

3. The climate and/or weather in your story

4. The lifestyle of your characters

5. The atmosphere or emotional quality of your story

The geographical location of your novel is wherever you wish it or whatever is necessary to the story. It helps if you are able to write about a place you know, but it’s often more interesting if you create your own world as a backdrop to your manuscript. It is important your setting is as authentic as you can make it for readers can spot a mistake in less time than it took to write it.

The time in which your story takes place is again, whatever you wish or need to tell your tale. The type of story you craft will often dictate the time. The secret is to learn, or imagine as the case may be, as much about the era in which you write. In my case, I write about people involved in the American Civil War. Therefore, I walk the battlefields on which my stories will take place. I study the land, the roads, the natural defensive positions, locations of fences and the like. I seek out those towns with structures that date to the mid-nineteenth century and even photograph them, so as to better understand their architectural aspects. I visit museums where uniforms, dresses and even quilts of the time are exhibited. Then, as I write, all these things assist me in creating a true to life setting for my readers.

Climate is one of my favorite aspects to setting, though many writers forget to use it to its maximum advantage. To me, it offers so much in the way of establishing the mood of a scene. It also gives a writer any number of opportunities to incorporate sound and visual enhancements to their story.

Lifestyle is the day-to-day experiences of your characters. This is an aspect to setting that generally comes out in the story of its own volition. However, the best writers specifically use this as a tool in constructing setting.

Atmosphere is the mood or feeling of your book. It offers your reader the emotional quality of your story. As with all aspects of setting, it can change as the novel progresses.

How do you introduce setting to your readers?

As with any part of your novel, stay clear of info dumps. Bring your setting to the forefront by using all the tools available to you. Employ dialogue, narration, character actions, speech patterns and so on. Be cautious, however, of establishing your setting by lengthy narration for you never want to sound like a travel guide.

How might the author use setting? The major reasons are as follows:

To advance the plot or enhance conflict.

Think of how the setting might disrupt the plans of your antagonist or protagonist. Say your major character is being hunted by an assassin. How might an eclipse allow your hero to escape his intended murder? If your novel is based on a historical battle, how might rolling hills, like those on the Gettysburg Battlefield, influence the outcome?

Setting Creates Consistency within Plots and Subplots.

Your novel will have its plot points and subplots with delicate threads woven through the pages. A consistent setting can keep it all joined together so the reader mentally stays within a comfortable framework.

Use Setting to Enhance Conflict.

Think about a scene with rumbling thunder and stabs of lightning in the inky sky. Does that create more tension, whatever the scene, than say an idyllic spring day in the park? Should you wish to use that tranquil day among the flowers, how about plopping a flock of buzzards in the middle of that field. You think your reader would have a heightened sense of mood as the birds begin to circle overhead? You betcha!

Use it to Illustrate a Character’s Character.

The manner in which your characters speak, dress, move and curse will evoke in your reader a picture of this person. Imagine a dockhand who never utters a profane word. Would that image provide an insight into your character? What if your hero, Paul, always dressed in plaid and carried an ax? Would that be enough to exhibit his character or would he still need a blue ox to complete the picture?

Before I close, I’d like to offer you one last tip as to setting. Employ your readers’ five senses. All authors seem to work in sight and sound by rote, but many aspiring writers miss the other three senses. Ensure your characters also smell, taste and feel their surroundings and your readers will do the same.

Well, there’s your free writing lesson on setting. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.

I wish you success and best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Believable Characters

I’ve heard there are only a dozen or so stories to write and believe it’s true. You know what I mean, boy meets girl, boy wins girl, boy looses girl, that sort of thing. The ability to retell this limited number of storylines is derived by creating imaginative setting and characters.

So, how is it we create these elusive, yet all-important, characters?

As authors, we’ve all heard the old saw our reader must “identify” with our characters for our stories to fly and our books to fly off the shelves. Yet, despite this sage advice, all this identifying is so very difficult to achieve.

Or is it? Not so much as you might think.

Consider those you appreciate in life. What is it about them that calls to you, makes them interesting or likeable? Now, armed with those thoughts, can you guess what traits your characters require? Yep, those very same characteristic that resonate with you will probably do so with your readers. Personally, I’ve often gravitated to those who color outside the lines, just enough, and my best characters always seem to be those who are a tad irreverent.

Do your friends have a dark side, a weakness, a hidden strength, a freakish mannerism? What is their failing in life? What type of emotions do they possess and what brings those to the fore? What challenges them or excites them?

Once you’ve determined what makes your friends tick, by translating their idiosyncrasies to the page, you’ve got credible characters. They’re believable because they are real.

A cute trick I often use is to mix personalities to create a whole new person. In my newest manuscript, I’ve created a single character with the cross-pollinated personalities of all my siblings. He sort of the priest-who-murders-for-fun type. (Yeah, I did have an interesting childhood…)

You now have all the fundamental tools needed for effective characterization. However, there are a few tricks you can use to enhance your readers’ enjoyment.

Find that universal human experience and put them in it. For example, how do people feel when they lose a love? How about losing a child? (God forbid!) Use this sort of situation to bring their true inner being to life.

Face them with a timeless truth. Is every boss kind and generous? Not a chance! Have them face this type of conflict.

Give him a life-sustaining mantra and kick him in the teeth with it. “Always say something nice or don’t say nothing at all,” is an easy one. Put your character in a situation where there is nothing nice to say. It’s the old fish-out-of-water trick and it’s real effective.

Let your character become a better person. Personal growth is always accepted by your audience and, in fact, necessary for a good story. Let your protagonists learn and people will identify.

Read my previous post for more clues to effective characters.

There are a thousand ways to improve your characterizations, but this is a good start. Take it to heart and you’ll be a better writer for it.

Until my next post, may all your books be best sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

The Monkey IS on Your Back!

If you’re an author, it’s true. We, as writers, have had more than just a monkey jump on our backs. The proverbial eight-hundred pound gorilla has landed with both feet. I’m talking, of course, about how writers are now their own publicity agents, in contrast to the “good ol’ days.”

The antiquated model of an author being picked up by an agent who pitches his book to a publishing house, who in turn gives the author a nice fat check are just about gone. These days, even if the publisher offered an advance, these days a writer can almost be guaranteed less than minimum wage for his efforts. Further, even if you are among the flattered few who sign a contract with a publisher, the odds of him putting some money into marketing your work is nil. What are the net result of these changes in the publishing world? If you want to sell your book, whether represented or not, YOU are your marketing agent.

Many authors can write a wonderful book or novel, but simply don’t have the (M)oney, (T)ime or (P)ersonality, the MTP, to market their work. Those who do have the MTP are fortunate and few, but what are the rest of us writers to do?

Let’s take a quick look at the problems of MTP, money, time and personality. First we’ll touch on the problem of money.

Why is it so many of us write? Of course, the reasons are innumerable, but to those who wish to earn a few bucks the old adage that you must spend money to make money holds true. But, how many of us have the cash lying around to purchase that full-page ad in the Times? We, therefore, must look to other, less expensive, avenues with which to market our books.

And what might those be? The classic and inexpensive method is a web site. Even today it’s necessary, but for writers it has evolved into a static position on the Web from which to sell your books. Sounds okay, but how do we get readers to even find our site? It’s called, “SEO,” search engine optimization. SEO is basically managing your website so others will find it on the web. It does and will work for you, but therein lies another full-time job. Entire companies do nothing but SEO. Now you’re facing both money and time issues. Your answer can be found within other, virtually free, methodologies. I know you don’t want to hear this, but you need to learn how to leverage the Internet and effectively use Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, WordPress and the like. The Internet is your answer, at least early on.

These days you must, and please note the word, “must”, delve into these new technologies to succeed as an author. Even if you have a publisher, he’ll insist you develop what is called a platform and reach out to touch people with these 21st century tools. So, get used to it, face the music and bite that bullet. Pick your cliché, but just do it, jump in with both feet and learn how to reach your buying public with your platform. During later posts, we’ll talk more about how to do this.

Let’s look at Time as a writer’s issue.

Let’s assume you, as a blossoming author, want to try and sell your own books. How would you go about doing so, especially, if you are a working schlep holding down the classic nine-to-fiver? There’s the time-tested and proven method of knocking on the doors of every book store in town to convince them to place your book. Statistically, you’ll find placement in one store of ten. Then there are book signing. Let’s hope you get some, but each one takes hours out of your day. You can join every organization in town even remotely related to the writing industry to see if they open any leads for you. And though joining a writers’ group and a critique group are a good ideas, each organization takes three to five hours a month. Add it all up. It gets to be time consuming. I think you can see where this is going. Even if you’re an experienced or natural salesperson, this route is difficult, trying and time consuming. I’m not saying don’t do these things, for they do work, but again, time is your enemy.

How might you overcome this time obstacle? I recommend you use the Web as your starting point. It’s amazing how many people you can touch with that technique alone. In my case, including writing the articles for my blogs and Twitter and Facebook, it takes a couple of hours a day or ten to twelve hours a week.

Now, let’s take the concept of personality.

The writing business is a lonely one where authors sit at their desk, by themselves, and clatter away on a keyboard for hours on end. Two years later when your novel is complete, you suddenly have to get out of your PJ’s and pound the pavement looking for buyers. Have you ever been a salesperson and faced all that kneejerk rejection? Not a fun thing! The two functions, writing and selling, often take two different personality types. Few of us are both.

How many of us truly have the personality to sell? As a business coach, I keep records and have found less than ten percent are good at sales. The odds are ten to one, therefore, you don’t have that personality, either. However, if you do, you can stop right now and though we’re not supposed to use clichés in our writing, you should hit the bricks ‘cause the ducks are flying as we speak.

If you don’t have the personality to sell, and I suspect most writers do not, how do you overcome that obstacle? You have few options available to you, and they will most assuredly involve time or money and that takes us back to where we started. However, one idea is to hire someone to sell for you. Be careful as to whom this person or organization might be, but if you find the good ones, they’ll earn every penny you pay them. Try to find someone to work on commission, but if you’re unproven as a writer, I wouldn’t bet too many of my hard-earned dollars on that idea. One author I know started her own publishing company. She associated herself with a number of self-published authors who paid her a fee and she hired a sales person. Personally, I think this is a soon-to-crest wave of the future. If you’re looking for a business to start, the timing, I believe, is perfect for a self-published authors’ sales and marketing organization.

If you are the typical author trying to break out from the masses of the unpublished, my recommendation is to learn how to use the Internet and get to work. Learn to leverage Twitter. Learn how to take advantage of Facebook, LinkedIn, the blogosphere and all the other web-based marketing tools. They are not as difficult as you might think, and they are almost no-cost as options. Devote a couple of hours a day to this and regardless the size of your wallet or the time you have available, you’ll be amazed at the huge audience you can develop with the personality you already have.

I’ll follow up soon with more postings to flesh out these ideas, so keep in touch.

Until then, good writing and thanks for your time.

Patrick
Author of "Born to be Brothers"

Twitter.com/CPatrickSchulze

Word Count Parameters

There’s a long list of diatribes as to the length of various types of writing, and everyone seems to disagree with everyone else. What’s a writer to do?

The reality is, people don’t read what YOU want, they read what THEY want. A second grader won’t read a two hundred thousand word tome, and there is nothing you can do about it. If you’re writing romance, nobody will pick up your thirty-seven page booklet. Ain’t gonna happen, bucko!

If you work is too long for your market, it probably needs to broken into two books and you’ve got a ton of unnecessary words. Yes, there are exceptions, but get over it, you are not The One. If it’s too short in length, you probably don’t have a story hidden in there. The lesson is, of course, writing to your market. What will they buy? Write that.

Now, what is the correct length for each type of genre? As mentioned, there is a wide range of answers but according to The Guide to Literary Agents, here are you limits.

Adult novels :

80,000 to 90,000 words is your word count.
110,000 is your upper limit.
70,000 is your lower limit.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy

100,000 to 115,000 is your target word count.
125,000 is your upper limit.
90,000 is your lower limit.

Middle Grade

Upper middle grade or “tweens”,

32,000 – 40,000 is your target word count.

Lower middle grade

20,000 to 30,000 is your target word count.

The Guide did not offer upper and lower limits in these categories so stay within these bounds.

YA (Young Adult)

55,000 – 69,000 is your target word count.
80,000 is your upper limit.
47,000 is your lower limit.

Remember, agents receive thousands of manuscripts a year, but only need a few dozen. They are looking for a reason to say, “No.” Don’t give them that reason. Color within the lines until after you have sold those million copies.

Best of luck.

C. Patrick Schulze
Author of "Born to be Brothers"

Twitter.com/CPatrickSchulze

Hikin' Time!

Katy and I are filling up the ol' backpack to hike our rear ends off on the Spottsylvania Battlefield. Great fun is to be had by the whole two of us.

Also, the trip is tax deductible as I write historical fiction! Woo-hoo!

Strange Dream

I dreamed the first scene of my next manuscript last night.

That is either the start of a disturbing trend or the beginning of a new level of writing in my life.

Personally, I hope the latter...

Should Authors Be Political?

Good question brought up by Alice Tasman on Twitter.

My personal thought are you'll distance yourself from 50% of your market with a few words in this politically charged time.

Try this out for size... "Hey, I think everything you stand for is silly. Wanna' buy my book?"

Keep to writing.

My marketing advice? Save your politics for behind closed doors.

Long Road to Success

I've been doing a bit of research on what else it takes to become a successful author, besides writing novels. In my reading I ran across an idea that made perfect sense to me. This concept is to read widely in your genre. Granted, a simple idea, but one that managed to escape me heretofore.

In that vein, I did something today I haven't done in some 40 or more years. I joined the library and actually checked out a book!

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Editing Hints

I picked up a new tip on writing dialogue this morning. Of course, it means I have to go back and edit AGAIN... In any case, this came from www.writersreliefblog.com.

When using dialogue tags such as, "She said," or, "He snorted," non-speaking actions are not punctuated as tags and should be treated as separate sentences.

Consider the following example.

"No. I do not want to go with you," she said.

The dialogue is enclosed with quotation marks with the trailing comma within them. "She said," follows to end the sentence.

Now consider,

"No, I do not want to go with you," she snorted.

This should be revised as "She snorted." is not a speaking action. It should be its own sentence. Edited, this should read as follows:

"No. I do not want to go with you." She snorted with disgust.

Learn something new everyday... (Damn editing!)

In Need of a Good Agent

Started looking for a new agent today. Way lot of things to consider! Do they accept your type of work? Do they have a track record of substance? If not, what sort of promise do they hold? Are they looking for new authors? What type of books have they sold and do those sales represent your work? Seems like more time on this than the manuscript. I will forge ahead, however, and slay this beast!