I like to share tips on writing craft on my blog, and today's post is from Julie Eberhart Painter, who is here to talk about that all-important POV. Thanks, Julie!
Point of View, the Keys
to your Kingdoms
Julie Eberhart Painter
One of the most important aides to telling a story
well is a clear and tight POV. It puts the readers in the moment and draws them
in. Recently I’ve discovered an author who does this increasingly well. Jodi
Picoult uses the character as the chapter heading in many of her novels. To
read her work is like having a lover. You forget your obligations until her
last page. (You can defrost meat in the microwave if you cook it within half an
hour.)
In my current WIP, I’ve adopted this style/format. The
POV is tight; the story continues linearly in the voice of the character who
has the most to lose in the chapter’s scene. This can be shown in first, third
or even second person, present or past tense.
Previously I wrote exclusively in third person omniscient.
My recent published book, Morning After Midnight shows two boys whose family portraits are
reversed. Aaron who is white comes from a fractured family. Skillet, who is black,
has a happy, functional two-parent home. His family is surviving together
despite the winds of change that came late to buffet the South.
Tag line and synopsis: Unsettled times and
dysfunctional families force the young lovers to rethink their values and find
love between the States.
Two boys, Aaron who is white and Skillet who is
black are bonded in a friendship forged in secret in the Deep South. Yet it is
the white boy, who must adjust and readjust as his family splinters in the
changing climate of Integration.
Aaron is hard on himself. With Skillet's vision he
finds a place to rest his weary cautions as he struggles though 30 years of
self-doubt and restarts to find his career with the love of his life.
Beth, makes the life she wants, one goal at a time.
Her love, Aaron must resolve his life before she can add him to her future.
The excerpt, 1963:
Aaron slipped through
the hedge to the old depot entrance and sat down, making himself as small as
possible.
Skillet circled the building until
he found him. “Wondered how you were doin’ since you got back, Aaron?”
“I couldn’t get
away any sooner, Gram watches me.”
“We got a phone
now. I’ll give you the number.”
“That would be
great.”
“You looked
messed-with; what happened this time, another crisis? I thought you couldn’t
wait to get back in the States.”
“Skillet, I’ve
got grandparents—”
“Ah know…what
about ‘em?”
“Remember the
ones that were dead?”
“No way! They
ain’t dead?”
“Dead to us, Mom
says.”
Skillet shook his
head. “That’s one messed up family you got, Aaron.”
“Tell me about
it. I talked to them on the phone. They’re real, Daddy’s folks. They live in
Florida.”
“Guess they’re
real old?”
“Daddy’s over
forty, he’s old, too.”
“What’s gonna
happen?”
“Nuthin’ I guess.
You know Mom and Gram, nothing happens in their world they don’t want to
happen.”
Skillet nodded.
“Then that’s the way of it. Sometimes I’m glad I’m black.”
“Yeah, sometimes
I wish I was you. Your life is so…so simple.”
“Don’t ever say
that, man…”
If I had written this book in the manner of Jodi
Picoult, it might have been more intimate but less believable coming from me, the
DamnYankee. Selecting your POV is the most important decision you can make for
focusing your book.
Your options are limitless; your selection is
critical.
By Julie Eberhart Painter:
Morning After Midnight
Two boys, Aaron, who is white and Skillet, who is black, are
bonded in a friendship forged in secret in the Deep South. Yet it is the white
boy who must adjust and readjust as his family splinters in the changing
climate of integration.
Aaron is hard on himself. With Skillet's vision, he finds a place to rest his weary cautions as he struggles through 30 years of self-doubt and restarts to find his career with the love of his life.
Aaron is hard on himself. With Skillet's vision, he finds a place to rest his weary cautions as he struggles through 30 years of self-doubt and restarts to find his career with the love of his life.
About the Author
Julie Eberhart Painter
raised in Bucks Count, Pennsylvania, boyhood home of James A Michener, is the
author of Mortal Coil, Tangled Web, and the 2011 Book of the Year, Kill Fee, and sequel, Medium Rare
from www.champagnebooks.com. Daughters of the Sea.
Julie’s first paranormal romance, and Morning
After Midnight are available from MuseItUp Publishing. Find them on http://bit.ly/1gpaO4R , http://amzn.to/1cQ128L,
http://bit.ly/19D8027,
and
other online ebook venues.
Twitter: @JulieEPainterLinked-In
Julie is a regular blogger on http://thewritersvineyard.com/ , and feature writer for http://cocktailsmagazine.wix.com/fictionandgossip, an online slick. Her flash fiction appears under http://bewilderingstories.com/bios/painter_bio.htm
Visit Julie's Web site at www.books-jepainter.com
