Writer's Weekend 2007, Day 2

[annathepiper]

Unfortunately I had to bail from Day 2 of Writer's Weekend early--I wasn't feeling too well. So not too long after lunch I expressed my regrets to awritersweekend and took the bus home.

But I did have a good time while I was there. This morning local author Louise Marley was kind enough to chat with me, and we had a pleasant little discussion about Mary Stewart novels--since she's apparently also in the middle of a sweep through her books, which was quite amusingly coincidental. She's done a couple I haven't read yet: Nine Coaches Waiting and The Ivy Tree. I'll look forward to finding those.

Meanwhile I did also attend one panel--Louise Marley's, in fact, on the topic of Point of View, which was mostly familiar territory. It covered the basic concepts of first person and third person and such, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. It went a bit as well into the differences between an omniscient narrator and a limited one, and provided some examples of effective handling of different types of point of view.

But just to review, here are the basic notes:

• The voice of a story is affected by both the author's voice and that of the POV character
  
• First person POV is the most intimate, can involve an unreliable narrator, limits the reader's knowledge, and can sometimes tell someone else's story
  
• Lolita an example of an unreliable first person narrator, also The Ivy Tree
  
• First person works well for thrillers and mysteries (and to this I will also add, it's certainly popular in urban fantasy)
  
• The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird both examples of first person narrators telling someone else's story
  
• Third person can be objective or omniscient (narrator knows everything), or subjective (limited to the POV character's knowledge)
  
• Too many POV characters can dilute drama
  
• Watch out for head-hopping and changing POV in the middle of a scene
  
• Difference between a truly omniscient POV and head-hopping could be a question of whether you as the reader become too aware of the author
  
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenger an example of good use of two POV characters
  
• First person can also change POV's, though it is helpful to make it clear to the reader who's talking
  
• It's okay to change from first to third or vice versa, or to add POV characters; adding new POV characters can sustain the life of a series
  
• Pat Murphy's "The Woman in the Trees" a short story in second person
  
• Second person can imply POV of a group, and mixing POV's in second person can be risky
  
• Third person tends to unfold slowly, pace-wise
  
• The Queen a good example of a film with multiple third-person POV's
  
• Children of Men is limited 3rd person in the film, which is different from P.D. James' book

The most interesting part of that panel actually wound up being the brief writing exercise involving taking a concept and writing it using different points of view. The one I played with was "a girl wants to dye her hair an unusual color, and her mother objects." For giggles and grins, here are my two snippets.


The Girl's POV:

"Blue," I chirped hopefully. "Cobalt blue. C'mon, Mom, it'd be really cool! I'd look totally anime."

She wasn't buying it, I saw, and my heart sank just a bit. "Hon," she began, and then she sighed. "If you think you need to impress him, there are better ways."

I flinched. "Who says this is about him?"



The Mother's POV:

"Blue," Jenny said, offering a smile that was too large and bright, going along with the brittle cheer of her voice. "Cobalt blue. C'mon, Mom, it'd be really cool. I'd look totally anime."

She had a point--the color would suit her complexion, and she'd stand out like a neon sign--yet that was exactly the problem. Her little girl would stand out too well, enough that her father might find her.

I can't tell her that, Susan told herself. Jenny was sharp, and once she latched onto that tidbit of data, she'd never let it go.

"Hon," Susan said instead, "if you think you need to impress him, there are better ways."

Jenny's cheeks flushed scarlet; the distraction had worked. "Who says this is about him?"


And that's my report for Day 2, or at least what bits I was there for, of this year's Writer's Weekend. Hopefully I'll get to pay more attention next time around--and get Karen the various interesting panel ideas y'all shared with me on an earlier post.

(And oh yes--it turned out that I had one of Ms. Marley's books already on my To Read shelf, The Glass Harmonica. I picked up a couple more of hers on the way home, The Child Goddess and Airs Beneath the Moon (which is under the name of Toby Bishop). Looking forward to checking those out as well, especially after hearing that she's acquainted with Sharon Shinn; since I like Shinn's books quite a bit, I'm rather suspecting I'll like all of these as well. More on that as it happens!)

Comments

[eveshka.livejournal.com]

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenger an example of good use of two POV characters

A reader of mine in the UK sent me this in a "thank you for writing" box. She said she had enjoyed it and that I should occasionally enjoy a pleasant diversion from madcap writing. I haven't had the chance to sit and read it yet... still enjoying Dresden and writing.

Watch out for head-hopping and changing POV in the middle of a scene.

My greatest flaw.

[annathepiper]

Cool, if you get a chance to read the book any time soon, I'll be interested to know your thoughts on it. But then, Dresden and your own writing are worthy reasons to not be reading those yet!

I haven't had a problem with the head-hopping thing in a while, though I bet that if I went and reviewed my old writing from school, I'd find examples of it. I suspect that the first thing I finished being exclusively in first person got me into the habit of being solidly in one character's head at any given time. :)

Hrmm. Part of me wants to also compare it to MUSH experience, since you do pose in your character's head exclusively at any given time--but then, MUSH experience can also work against you, if you're used to thinking in terms of a big scene with multiple characters all having glimpses into their heads.

[wrog]

of course, this would not be complete without

The Mosquito's POV:

flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying. damn, hungry. flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying. oh hey, place to land. flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying. getting warmer, moist. flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying. landed, yay. pretty salty. wonder what's underneath? wooooooooooooooooo. jackpot. suckety-suck-suck-sucksucksuck suckety-suck-suck-sucksucksuck. oh shit, too big getting closer time to go. whoosh. flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying. mmmm flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying. that was good.
flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying hey what's this bright thing over here? flying-flying-flying-yay-flying-flying ...

[annathepiper]

.... clearly, there is a joke here I'm not getting. :)

[wrog]

unlikely, but who knows? :)

[lmarley.livejournal.com]

I love what you wrote for the exercise, especially in the mom's POV. This could be a hook for a terrific story. I hope you'll go forward with the idea. I'd love to read it.

And I hope you're feeling better.

[annathepiper]

I do feel better, thanks! I came home from Writer's Weekend and took a very long nap, which seemed to help quite a bit.

Re: the exercise snippet, again, thanks! As I was writing the Mother's POV part, I did start thinking "okay, what's the story here?" I think I'll let them simmer a bit in the back of my brain and see if anything amusing develops. I've got other things tugging for my attention right now that I need to finish first, but I'll keep this on the queue. :)