Points of View – First Person
The first point of view we’re going to look at is first person. This is the character referring to himself as I, me, and telling the story as if to a friend about something that actually happened to him.
Pro’s:
-some see first person as the easiest point of view to write in
-only one person’s thoughts to worry about
-only one main character
-the story seems more personal, more real to the reader in some cases
Con’s:
-you can’t tell the reader anything the main character doesn’t know
-first person can feel artificial because no one could realistically remember every single thing that happened in their day, down to what each person said, to tell the reader
-your main character can’t die or be rendered unconscious, because no one else can tell the story
This is a very popular point of view to use, especially among middle grade and YA authors, and is usually pretty easy to handle. Reread some of your favorite novels that use first person to get a feel for it in your own writing.
Random Writing Exercise #21
Rewrite a scene from your life, something that happened today. Choose something that may have not worked out for you, or was even a complete disaster. Rewrite it as you would have wanted it to happen.
Structuring the Climax, Part 8
The next question to ask yourself about your climax is this: does your protagonist learn an important lesson?
In real life, the most difficult events of our lives leave lasting impressions. How will the most intense scene (the climax) of your book affect your protagonist for the rest of their life? The change may not be immediate, but there needs to be something showing the start of a change on how the past events of the book have helped this character to grow.
The scars of our lives can cause us (and our characters) pain, but they also stand as reminders and marks of learning on the pathway of life. In order for readers to care about your characters, they need to grow like real people, and that involves some of both pain and difficulty.
Index Cards
These perfectly sized thick pieces of paper have been used by writers since they were invented. Perhaps writers just used paper before that.
Why do index cards work so well? They give just enough room for a few sentences describing a scene or character or setting, they can be organized and numbered, easily reordered, and they’re travel size, too.
Here are some ways to use index cards with your story:
1. Write a scene on each card from one chapter or your whole story, and lay out the cards on your kitchen table. It’s great for seeing your whole narrative at a glance. Then, try totally reversing everything, reordering the cards, or picking at random and see the possibilities for new characters or scenes.
2. Keep a card for each character in your story. The blank side can be for drawing/pasting a picture of your character, taken from a magazine or website just for your own reference. The lined side can be for likes, dislikes, fears, family background, etc.
3. Write out each setting your story takes place in on its own index card. If it’s a real place, put a picture on the other side of the card, or draw it as you see it in your imagination. Then, take your scene cards from #1 and see how they’d work in each different setting. Look for connections that readers could make, and if there might be a better place for a certain scene to happen than the one you’ve assigned it originally.
Random Writing Exercise #20
Make up a cool title, and then write a book or short story to go with it. Sound backwards? It’s actually a good way to get the ideas flowing.
You could use a line of poetry, a single word, an oxymoron, or just about anything that grabs your attention (and isn’t under trademark).
Structuring the Climax, Part 7
Does your climatic scene rely on flashbacks? It shouldn’t. The climax needs to be the most intense, fast-paced scene in the novel. Here’s a list of literary devices that speed up the pace in any scene:
- dialogue
- short words
- short sentences
- shorter paragraphs (more white space on the page)
- use one very descriptive adjective instead of two or three mediocre ones
- subtle reminders that time is running out
Any of these can be taken too far, but used in the right way throughout your climax can help it garner the attention a good climax deserves from your readers.
Random Writing Exercise #19
Interview someone in person or on the phone who is much older than you. Ask them specifically about a memory that took place before you were born, but don’t take notes while they talk.
Wait a day, and then write down facts and notes on what you remember from the conversation. Wait another day, and then write a short story based loosely on your notes. Keep the place the same, but feel free to change dates or names.
Different ideas of ‘home’ or a place that is close to a person’s heart are very important and can greatly elevate your fiction. Also, don’t be afraid of telling the story the way you imagine the truth of it; you weren’t even alive yet.
Here’s a tip: write down a few questions to ask this person beforehand about their memory.
600 words.
Learning from Mistakes
When writing your first draft, there must be a balance between having high standards for the quality of writing and obsessing so much over perfection that the first draft is never completed.
So where do you draw the line? Let me say this: it is perfectly okay to make mistakes. In fact, you will make mistakes and you should. That’s not to say I’m in the habit of doing it on purpose, but sometimes valuable things can be learned about your writing and yourself through making mistakes.
Would you rather have an okay – even terrible – first draft, or only two chapters done that have been edited to death and perfection? It can be difficult to shut off that inner editor that every writer has sitting on their shoulder while they type.
All good writing is in the rewriting. The phrase ‘first draft’ is just that – a first. It implies there will be a second, third, even tenth draft before any editor or agent gets their hands on it. Once you have something down to work with, you can move to make it better, but you need that initial not-as-good-as-you-want-it-to-be draft in order to do that.
Structuring the Climax, Part 6
Does your climax introduce new material? Does a new character show up, or a new plot detail appear?
There shouldn’t be anything new in the climax. The climax is the highest emotional point in the story and it depends on the characterization and plot elements from the bulk of the book that happens before it.
Nothing new should show up in the climax, because it’s the time when readers want the protagonist to show them what s/he’s got and use their full potential to confront their adversary. Anything not touched on earlier in the novel will only distract from this most important of scenes.
Random Writing Exercise #18
Make two lists of words particular to two professions. Try to think of words that only somebody in the industry would know, or know the meaning of. If you’ve ever had an unusual job, this would come in handy.
You can use journals for researching this, as well as how-to books and encyclopedias.
Now write a short piece of fiction involving two people who do these jobs trying to tell each other in jargon from their jobs, what they do for a living.
There are some jobs in which a dialect is completely unique, like the CIA. They may be telling you in English, but you don’t understand most of it because of the industry insider phrases and contexts.
500 words.
