Writers have a laundry list of things we pay close attention to, not only when writing our books but when reading others’ works. Putting aside the typos or grammatical errors – we all make those in the first hundred drafts - the two things that I watch are dialogue and info dumps. Dialogue is the force behind a good book. If it’s not done well, it can ruin a good story, no matter how good the story is. Is the dialogue stilted or natural? Would a person say that sentence or would only a writer write it? Would the speaker use that word? Those are questions I ask myself when I’m writing.

This Top Post of 2016 first published on May 17. Just when you think you’ve figured out this thing called Point of View, you get an editor who says “go deeper.” So, what does deep POV mean, anyway? Basically, it is taking the author completely out of the story, leaving the reader inside the head of the character. As readers we want to experience this character’s adventures vicariously. We want to see, smell, hear, taste and touch the same things the character does. The character is interpreting the story for us just like we interpret what happens in our lives. That means that in deep POV even the “less exciting” parts like description become exciting because they show emotion and personality. Part of going deeper into POV is the “show versus tell” technique. Because we want to become Indiana Jones or Bridget Jones or whoever we’re reading about, we don’t want to be TOLD that Indiana is afraid of snakes. We want to FEEL his fear, to taste it, smell it. We don’t want to be told ...

Image by Artur Bergman , via Flickr Before I talk about specifics, let me mention that this particular book I’m talking about was written ten years ago. Resurrecting an old manuscript has its own set of problems, but those tend to be technology and history. Oh, and let’s not forget the quality of writing. The operation I needed to perform was much more complicated. I’ve written all my books in third person point of view, but toward the middle of my current work in progress, my critique partner kept telling me that my heroine was standing on the sidelines, without much emotion. A cardboard character. No matter what I did, I got the same response from her with each page swap. I always have multiple POVs―four in this book―which is the reason first person never worked for me, except for two short stories I wrote for different anthologies. Was writing this one character in first person the solution to my problem? What about the other three POVs? Before I tested the POV switch, I c...

When’s the best time to shift point of view (POV) in a story? There is no hard and fast rule to this, but writers need to think about how POV shifts affect the readers’ immersion into the story and characters. Some writers think shifting POV at the beginning of chapters is the smartest move. Others are fine with shifting POV at the beginning of scenes. Some people are even OK with shifting POV at the start of a new paragraph. What about shifting POV within the same  paragraph, nearly the same sentence? Do writers run the risk of jarring readers out of a story? Although shifting POV can be a pet peeve , cause a manuscript to be rejected , and disconcert readers if handled improperly; writers still shift point of view. What say you about when to shift point of view? ~~~~~~~~~~ Shon Bacon is an author, doctoral candidate, editor, and educator. She has published both creatively and academically. Shon also interviews women writers on her popular blog ChickLitGurrl: high on LA...

I have spent a bit of time reading submissions for publishers, and recently I read a pretty good chapter book that was along the lines of what the publisher was looking for except for one fatal flaw. It was written in first person point of view, and the main character was a nine-year-old boy. Here is a sentence from the opening paragraph. My ears picked up an unfamiliar sound. Dropping the cookie I slid off the bar stool. Does that sound like a nine-year-old talking? I don’t think so. However, the dialogue in this story, whether talking to friends, to parents, to teachers, was spot-on adolescent. When I sent the rejection letter to the author, I pointed out that the first-person voice in a story must sound exactly as the narrator would sound in his dialogue. Otherwise the reader will wonder who is doing the talking. In this case, it was clearly the author’s voice coming through loud and clear. That wouldn’t have been a problem had the narrative been in third person point-of-vie...

Most novels are written in third-person past tense: “He raced through the dark alley, the footsteps getting louder behind him.” First-person is another option: “As I put down the phone, I heard the doorbell ring.” Some new fiction writers opt to write their novel in first-person, as they think this will be easier. But writing a novel effectively and compellingly in first-person is a lot more difficult than it first appears. Some of the advantages to writing your novel in first-person are: 1. More like real life – we experience life around us only from our own point of view. 2. A direct connection from the narrator to the reader, so can create an immediate sense of intimacy and believability. 3. The narrator-character’s voice comes through more clearly, as it is expressed directly. 4. Can portray the POV character’s personality and world-view more easily. Some of the disadvantages of using first-person point of view and narration are: 1. Difficulty dramatizing scenes where ...

Young adult author A.S. King is fearless. Her first novel, Dust of 100 Dogs , begins with dead 17th century pirate Emer Morrisey returning to a human body after living out a pirate’s curse that had doomed her to a hundred lifetimes as a dog. She has retained her original human memories as well as her memories of lapping at water and fighting with litter mates, and all of this accumulated experience contributes to Emer's long-interrupted pursuit of love and riches. And yep (or should I say, “yap”)—we buy all of this, hook, line, and sinker. In her new book, Please Ignore Vera Dietz , King continues to exert an almost defiant creativity. Rather than rely upon prose alone, King employs flow charts, for example, to exemplify the decision making of her 18-year-old protagonist, Vera. The big decision: Vera must decide whether she wants to clear the name of a dead friend—a boy she loved, who she feels betrayed her, yet whose memory won’t stop hounding her. King has Vera use her school vo...

I’ve been editing fiction for years, and the most difficult concept for many of my author clients is to portray their story world mainly through the point of view of the main character(s), rather than hovering above them, and to stick to one point of view per scene or chapter instead of jumping back and forth from one character’s viewpoint to another’s (head-hopping). Point of view (or POV) simply refers to the character through whose perspective the story events are told. We see, hear, smell, feel, and experience events as that character would – with no additional information provided “from above” by the author. This helps your readers identify with the viewpoint character and get immersed in their world. A hundred years ago, novels were often told from a distant authorial point of view, hovering over everything. That omniscient point of view is no longer popular today, and for good reason. Readers want to experience the events of the story vicariously through the viewpoint charac...

L. J. Sellers’ excellent post entitled “ Publisher Evaluations ” provided invaluable information on the various aspects of our manuscripts that publishers review when deciding whether to take on our book (story). One of those areas in particular—point of view—often challenges writers, including some of us with considerable experience. Point of view has been addressed before, but let’s play with it another time to see how different POVs change the same scene. The paragraphs below depict three points of view in this abbreviated lesson from my writing manual. The first one—omniscient—is the most cumbersome and least effective. See if you can figure out why? #1 Spot glanced over his shoulder. The dogcatcher’s vehicle turned the corner and began following him. Sprinting across the street, he headed down the block toward the park. “There he is!” the driver shouted to his partner. “Let me out!” his partner yelled. The man hit the sidewalk at a full run. “I’ll get that mutt if it’s the...

I evaluate fiction manuscripts for a publisher, using a standard form crafted by the publishing house. The form contains a list questions, grouped by subject: opening, premise, plot, POV, character, dialogue, and setting. I’m sharing some of the questions here, so you can see specifically how a publisher might evaluate your manuscript. Opening: Does the first page grab the reader’s attention? Does the first chapter set up the basis for the rest of the story? Premise and Tone: Is the basic premise or theme interesting? Believable? Unique? Is the focus of the work revealed early in the novel? Is the basic premise of the novel well executed? Point of View: Is the point of view consistent throughout? Are shifts in point of view, if any, necessary and simple to follow? Is the point of view used appropriately to convey the thoughts or emotions of various characters? Structure, Plot, and Pace: Is there a planned series of carefully selected interrelated incidents? Are there ...

Many of my clients use first-person POV. When asked why they decide to use it, most claim the POV makes them feel closer to the main character, like they are inside of the MC's head. I often counter that a close third-person POV can be just as intimate as first person. The problem that often arises in many of these first-person stories is writers want to write in first person, but they want a story told in third-person omniscient, meaning they still want to tell what all the other characters are thinking and doing when that's pretty hard to do when stuck in one person’s mind—unless MC is clairvoyant. If you're going to use first-person POV, be mindful of the limitations that can arise in writing the story. What say you? ----- Writing in 140 is my attempt to say something somewhat relevant about writing in 140 words or less. ----------------------------- Shon Bacon is an author, editor, and educator. She has published both creatively and academically, and her debut...