RSS

Tag Archives: Blue Denim Press

Creating the actual story from real life ideas

14 Feb
Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

In last week’s post I discussed how much of yourself goes into your fiction and listed overall guidelines, especially when the idea isn’t taken from your life. Today, I’m going to show how I gelled a plot idea with the main characters to write a story.

“The Couch,” the first story in my mystery story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, originated with something I kept reading in mystery novels that annoyed me. This was 11 years ago – “The Couch” was previously published in an anthology – but the idea is still relevant today. Too many fictional private investigators seemed to have a hard time making ends meet. I decided to turn that issue around – my PI, named C.U. Fly, called “C.U.”, would be raking in the money from too many clients and was burnt out. C.U. first tried conventional means to downsize and when that didn’t work, C.U. turned to an unusual take on crime. I also used the axiom of “crime doesn’t pay” as my underlying theme. C.U. was 25, so the good fortune wasn’t from many years of work. I threw in one more main “character” an old horsehair couch – that idea came from a horsehair couch that sat in the living room of my late grandfather’s farmhouse. Of course, Grandpa’s couch didn’t have adventures like the fictional old horsehair.

Here’s the beginning of “The Couch.”

I blamed the whole business on that old blue couch. An heirloom on my mother’s side, it was stuffed with horsehair. She’d given it to me when I opened this office. “Old Horsehair” settled in permanently until the bitter crackling end.

How else could I explain my actions? I had no choice. Some days I spent 20 hours in the office. No partner took the load off my shoulders. Only that damn three-seater couch, which sucked in my clients like a magnet. I had repeat clients related to repeat clients.

Or was Ms Everglades to blame?

The story’s theme is set up with the first sentence. The main character’s name and profession aren’t revealed until a few paragraphs down and are done in two ways: first, the PI’s name and a reference to the profession in Ms Everglades’ dialogue.; second, the profession is revealed in a short backstory in Fly’s mind to show how the situation started. How the state-of-affairs progresses is shown in a parade of clients – via dialogue, action and C.U’s inner thoughts. The point of view stays with Fly.

Here’s another excerpt with one of these quirky clients.

Take Guido “Ratty” Rattali, a self-professed blackmailer. Ratty hired me to dig up dirt on well-heeled people. Then he threatened them with their dirt, collected the payoff and limped into my office. He heaved his Blue Jays cap onto the floor, shoved his greasy locks behind his ears and pushed his grimy beige trench coat off his shoulders and down over his ass. Then he dived face-down onto the couch. His sobs alternated with sneezes as his nose rubbed into Old Horsehair.

“I’m only the poor son of a poor greengrocer, achoo, excuse-a-me,” he said.

When his sinuses were completely blocked, he jumped up, tripping on his trench coat, and handed me a wad of cash for my fee—less his take, no doubt. (both excerpts copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford,  from Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, 2012)

 

 You can also see how Old Horsehair fits in. And Ratty is an example of the type of clientele, although he is more bent than some of the others. I also add a dog who chews into Old Horsehair and a furnace repair man who comes in to check the furnace downstairs – all necessary developments that foreshadow and lead to the credibility of what Fly eventually decides to do.

Does it work? You’ll have to read the story to find out.

From the above, we can learn the following:

  1. Use a combination of what annoys, scares, or concerns you with perhaps one other item from your life (I used the complaining poor PI’s from fiction and the horsehair couch from my past.)
  2. Use your imagination for your characters – you don’t want a replica or yourself or someone you know – but you can “steal” a few characteristics here (I used imagination only).
  3. Devise a plot for your characters that is not run-of-the mill. (I turned the situation around, using the “what if?” approach.
  4. Lighten it up with humour – it can balance some of the nastiness in the story (It helped with the presentation of a quirky story with quirky characters).
  5. Make sure your story follows its theme (mine was “crime doesn’t pay) but do it in an original way (sorry, not telling here).
  6. Use “show the reader” features – dialogue, action, inner thoughts but some narrative is okay.
  7. Let your readers be surprised by the unexpected – but make it credible.

The first part of No. 7 occurred in a well, unexpected way. Tuesday evening I did a reading presentation from Beyond the Tripping Point entitled “Where do characters come from?” at the Runnymede Branch of the Toronto Public Library. When introducing me, the head librarian mentioned that her husband had been reading the stories and then looked at my photo on the back cover and said, “I can’t believe that sweet-faced woman wrote those stories.”

It’s the same photo of me as at the top of this blog page. The stories in BTTP contain murder, sexual assault, missing persons, kidnapping, revenge, suicide, vehicular mishaps, etc. You be the judge.

Cheers.

Sharon. A. Crawford

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 14, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Putting yourself into your fiction

07 Feb
Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.

–          André Gide

If you write horror stories does that mean you have to run around with a chain saw chopping up people? If you write mysteries with serial killers does that mean you have to be a serial killer? What about romance writers? Children’s authors? How much of who you are factors in with what you write?

I’ve wondered about that lately because many of my short stories and the prequel novel are on the dark side – both in content and the humour sometimes used to tell them. But my stories also go to the other side of the creativity fence – I use emotions such as hope, love, gratitude, joy, generosity, empathy, even happiness (usually at the story’s end). In other words I make my characters human, characters who often have to overcome great odds to get some sort of hold back on their life and the lives of their family and friends.

For example, in my short story “Unfinished Business” from Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012), the main character Lilly, has something traumatic happens when she is 12 years old. The consequences force her to run away from home at 15 and her life becomes one of too many men and never staying in one place for long. During that time she gives birth to a daughter, Trish, and her motherly instincts kick in, especially when Trish turns 12 and wants to see where Mom was born. The journey back holds bad memories for Lilly and when they arrive at her old home and the cause of the trauma shows up, mistaking Trish for Lilly, Lilly changes. She has to save her daughter from the same fate she had, and in doing so, she can get rid of the albatross she’s carried around on her shoulder, and change her life and her attitude. Besides the dark side of what happened to Lilly (and for the record, did not happen to me), the story shows hope and the indomitable spirit living somewhere in most humans. Lilly just needed strong motivation and mother love was it.

So, if you aren’t a serial killer or a sex fiend, how do you write about these areas and others you haven’t lived through yourself?

  1. Read, read, read on the topic. For serial killers, I’m reading Peter Vronsky’s book Serial Killers and I admit I watch Criminal Minds on TV. I do find the latter is more inventive in their serial killers and motives than some of those in real life. I say “some” because as the saying goes “truth is often stranger than fiction.”
  2. Other Research – interview experts. I’m not saying interview a serial killer but perhaps a profiler or a police officer familiar with catching serial killers.
  3. Put yourself (mentally and emotionally, not actually) in the mind of your character. How would they react to such and such? What is their story? Their background?
  4. Go inside yourself and draw out what is there that you can use? For example, did your parents die suddenly from, say a car crash, when you were a child? Did your father desert the family? Were you bullied in school? Did you grow up in poverty or do you live in poverty now?  Do you have a disability that affects your life? Do you have an affinity for certain people or types of people? For me, it’s the underdog – the one who has a lot of bad going on in their life. In other words, someone who has to overcome much and has a hard time doing so. Will he or she do so? That is what you have to figure out in your story.

The bottom line is this: what you write encompasses you, your life, your feelings – but it doesn’t mean you have to be a serial killer or even a mom. For the record, I am a mom, although my son is now in his mid-thirties; I was a single parent but had lots of parenting help from my ex; I was bullied as a child; my dad died after a long bout with cancer when I was 16; I suffered from depression some 30 years ago, and poverty is no stranger to me. But I don’t wield a chain saw – too heavy to hold and I’ve tried – but to trim trees and shrubs.

How much of you is in your fiction?

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 7, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Keeping your plot and characters consistent

31 Jan
Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Be obscure clearly.

–          E.B. White

Nothing can be more frustrating to a writer (except maybe writer’s block) and a book editor too, than characters and/or plot starting to display inconsistencies. My favourite when doing manuscript evaluations for clients is the lady with short red hair in Chapter 2 who suddenly appears with long brown hair in Chapter 10. Did she suddenly don a wig? If so, say so…if it is consistent with what this character would do.

Or take these scenarios.

Does Tom suddenly appear in a conversation you thought was between Belinda and Sandra? James has a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital in Chapter 2; in Chapter 3 he is jogging down the street. Does Cathy arrive home in her car when in the previous chapter it was stolen? Then there is the “Who he? Who she? Syndrome” where one character makes a splash appearance near the beginning of the novel, does a disappearing act (from the writing, not the story) for the rest of the novel and then turns out near the end to be the murderer.

Oops.

I’m struggling with some inconsistencies in my prequel mystery novel. Part of the problem is the novel is complex. So I run into “How did Bast (one of the fraternal private investigators) find out about Y factor or how would he know? Didn’t I have some videotapes back in an earlier chapter? What happened to them? And one character, a TV reporter, who is not a major character and not the killer, has a history with Bast which creates conflict when they meet up after no connection for a year. After hinting at the conflict from this main character’s point of view and a couple of scenes where the two have an actual confrontation in the first half of the novel, “conflict character” all but disappears from the story. I call this inconsistency by deletion.

Readers will pick up on inconsistencies.

What should a writer do?

I’ve touched on this a few blogs ago, but it is important to have a follow-up list of any inconsistencies you notice as you write or pick up later in the first rewrite. Then, you can go back and fix the inconsistencies and mark “done” on the list.

It might also be a good idea to do an ongoing list of your characters and include their conflicts with each other and/or a brief ongoing chapter outline. When you are creating, your organizational skills take a backseat in your brain. This is not the time to multi-task or tell yourself  “oh, I’ll remember to bring Tom home in a later chapter,” or  “This scenario isn’t going to work with what has  happened before.” You also don’t want to stop the creative flow to fix an inconsistency.

How do you keep track of your characters’ interactions, conflicts and location so your final manuscript isn’t full of inconsistencies? Let’s compare notes. We might all learn something new.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 31, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Dialogue or narrative – that is the dilemma

24 Jan
Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

We care what happens to people only in proportion as we know what people are.

–           Henry James

My publisher wants me to make my prequel mystery novel a bit shorter. Part of the problem is my two main characters, fraternal twins Dana and Bast, get too chatty in some places, especially when they are bringing each other up to speed on their separate investigations.

When do you use dialogue and when do you use short narrative to summarize what characters tell each other so that your novel or short story flows and doesn’t bore your reader? You want to make your reader care about your characters, not have your characters put your reader to sleep. Here are a few (but not only or all) guidelines to consider:

  1. Do you need to show anything with their actual dialogue and any accompanying actions? For example, if one character is giving the other some bad news and their reaction includes what they say and how they say it, you might want to go the dialogue route.
  2. Don’t drag out the dialogue exchange between characters. It can turn into the equivalent of repeatedly driving your point home to your reader. For example, I have Bast and Dana often repeating the same setup ad nauseum when they are comparing notes – each are reacting the same way and sometimes their dialogue covers what is told elsewhere in the novel. Summarizing that Dana brought Bast up to speed on whatever situation would suffice.
  3. A caveat to the above two points: there is a fine line from using dialogue to bring out the character’s reactions to something when necessary and when the dialogue shows as repetition. Ask yourself: is the dialogue best to show foreshadowing and move the plot along? You might be better to use dialogue then. Also dialogue and/or action might work better if the character is changing – perhaps trying to be stronger than wimpy or holding in his or her anger.
  4. With mystery fiction where the police detective or private investigator is interviewing a number of “persons of interest,” summarize in narrative the ones who have little or no information to contribute and use dialogue where something of importance to your plot shows up in the interrogation.
  5. Be careful you don’t overdo the narrative just to contain your dialogue. You don’t want to overdo the telling and bore your reader this way. However, with narrative you can include the character’s inner thoughts and actions.
  6. Sometimes you can combine narrative with summary. Here’s how I did it in the short story Digging Up the Dirt, with the fraternal twins. Instead of Dana repeating to Bast her “interrogation” by the constable and what led up to it, I wrote:

“And you actually let that constable order you around,” my fraternal twin, Bast, said later.

“Well, I had to listen to Fielding’s interrogation, especially of Aunt Doris.” I smiled.

(copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford. Excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, published by Blue Denim Press, 2012)

If you want to show how characters relate to each other under various circumstances and bring out their distinctive traits, dialogue with action might work best. If it gets too long, you can intersperse it with narrative. I do this in another story in Beyond the Tripping Point. Below is the link of my reading the opening scene in “Body in the Trunk,” clipped from my interview with Hugh Reilly on Liquid Lunch from thatchannel. The reading and the short preview before is three minutes long.

Sharon A. Crawford  Reading from Beyond the Tripping Point on Liquid Lunch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgOKYgBfAwY&feature=youtu.be

Now I need to get back to my own novel and follow my advice.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on January 24, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Dialogue in Fiction, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

What motivates your characters?

17 Jan
Click on the book cover to go to amazon.com

Click on the book cover to go to amazon.com

A novelist is a person who lives in other people’s skins.

–           EL Doctorow

Why do your fiction characters do what they do? Are they acting/reacting in character or way out of character? How do you “make” your characters behave?

First of all, you only have some control over your characters. As you are writing, often a character will “take over” and “decide” just what they are going to do. Fine, but you still need to make sure they aren’t acting outside of who they are. Or that you, as the author, aren’t manipulating what they are doing, especially having them do something just to move your story along or worse, just to write something.

Let me give an example.

Take Dana, the PI In “Gone Missing” and “Saving Grace,” two of the four linked short stories in my short story collection, Beyond the Tripping Point. Dana is also the mother of a seven-year old boy. So her dual role must factor in what her character thinks and does. Add to that the fact that her son is psychologically mute because of something that happened to him in the prequel novel (more on that shortly) and my work was cut out for me. In a critique of “Gone Missing” a few years back, I was chastised for not making Dana more professional. But with her problems with David, she wouldn’t be operating as a PI only – all professionalism –unless she is a “bad” mother – finds her son an impediment to her life, etc. Dana is not that and is always torn between her two roles, something readers can identify with in real life. So I have her wrestling with David and helping him as well as trying to solve the missing persons’ cases in those two stories. In “Saving Grace” she has a bit of a meltdown at one point chastising herself for being a bad mother. And to add insult to injury, another character Great Aunt Doris, who is a traditionalist where mothers are concerned, calls her a bad mother.

What is a mother/PI to do? Be human. Act in character.

In the prequel novel which I am rewriting for my publisher to look at, the actual occurrence which causes David’s muteness and all its implications has Dana roller-coasting a lot more than in the short stories. She does some stupid things, briefly goes into a catatonic state and sometimes gets more aggressive than usual. But – and it’s a large “but” all this change, all these actions and reactions come from her basic character and who she is. I don’t pull them out of the air. She is acting in character and characters have to deal with hurdles and change. So do people in real life and maybe that is a bottom line.

Make your characters real. What motivates them? Are they acting in character even when they don’t seem to be?

And go to my publisher’s page for a link to my interview with Hugh Reilly on thatchannel.com where I talk about some of these characters and where they and the plots originated. Eventually I’ll get that video up in the main part of this blog.. For now go to http://www.bluedenimpress.com/sharon-crawford.php and click on the link at the bottom of my bio.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
2 Comments

Posted by on January 17, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Christmas with your fiction characters

20 Dec
Link to Sharon A.'s book on amazon.com

Link to Sharon A.’s book on amazon.com

I do like Christmas on the whole…. In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year.

– E.M. Forster

How do the characters in your novel and short stories spend Christmas? Or do they even celebrate Christmas or any of the other cultural traditions for this time of year? (I’m using “Christmas” generically here.) Maybe you don’t actually set your stories at Christmastime, but it doesn’t hurt to imagine how your fictional characters do Christmas – even write it down – because Christmas can bring out the best and the worst of everyone in real life. And so it should in fiction.

None of my short stories in Beyond the Tripping Point are set at Christmas time, so I’m not sure what that says about me. However, if the fraternal twins, Dana Bowman and Bast Overture (“Gone Missing,” “Saving Grace,” “Digging Up the Dirt,” and “Road Raging”) were to celebrate Christmas, they probably would go to Christmas Mass for the first time in years (and you’ll have to buy the book and read the stories to see why). Great Aunt Doris would make one of her crash-unexpected visits and that would put a damper in the celebrations for Dana, Bast but maybe not Dana’s son David. The Great One, as she is called, is at loggerheads with Dana and Bast but gets along with David. I envision her coming with them to Christmas Mass and surprising Dana with her singing voice when singing the hymns, albeit singing in her gravelly voice. She’ll interfere with Bast and his Christmas cooking and the present unwrapping might turn into a free-for-all. It might end up with no one speaking or all learning something from the shared experience. And my forte being mystery fiction, there would be a murder, a robbery (maybe someone stealing the Christmas church collection) or some crime that the twins, with David’s help, and Great Aunt Doris’ meddling, would solve.

So you can see how imagining your fictional characters’ Christmas can help develop your characters. And maybe just create another story or chapter in your novel.

At this time, I want to wish you all a good holiday season (Christmas or whatever you celebrate). Take some time for family and friends, and for yourself and your writing.

Meantime, click on the book graphic above to link to my book (print or Kindle) at amazon.com

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 20, 2012 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

When your fiction characters take over your mind

06 Dec

Beyond the Tripping Point Cover 72dpiA novelist is a person who lives in other people’s skins.—

–       –    EL Doctorow

I’m rewriting the prequel novel to four linked stories in my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). The main characters are the fraternal twin PIs Dana Bowman and Bast Overture, Detective Sergeant Donald Fielding, Great Aunt Doris, and Dana’s son, David. They appear in some or all of those linked stories and also in the novel I’m rewriting.

Trouble is one of the suspects in the novel has climbed inside my head and demands to be heard – loud and clear. I can see clearly what he looks like and does and I’ve already written him into some chapters, even given him his own Point of View, but he is still not satisfied. It is his story as much as it is the other characters’ story..

So I made some notes to go with the “old novel version chapters” and Friday afternoon I sat down at my computer and started a full-blown character sketch of this fellow. The sketch, when completed, will contain everything from what he eats (or doesn’t eat) for breakfast, to his sordid past, to his feelings and actions for the novel’s time. Not all, but some of this will be incorporated into the novel, bit by bit (without revealing his name until the police and PIs get up to speed about him). He will also get more novel time. After all, I don’t want him coming after me.

So, what do you do if one of your fiction characters seems to be taking over your mind to the point where you do your version of the absent-minded professor? Besides your mind swirling around like it’s going through space, not paying attention to the present/to what is happening can be dangerous. You don’t want to cross the street right in front of an oncoming car or burn dinner to the point where it sets your house on fire.

To give your demanding character his or her due, you need to do the following:

  • Acknowledge the character and his or her right to be in your short story, novella or novel
  • Do an in-depth character sketch – preferably on computer or on paper. You know the old saying about writing it down – doing so not only shows its relevance, but it gets all those swirling thoughts and ideas out of your head and into a more permanent record – at least one easier to access and review. Your head will thank you.
  • What is in a detailed character sketch? You character’s name, background (family, education, current job if he or she has one), physical characteristics, likes, dislikes, traits, What makes him or her angry, sad, happy, etc. What is his driving force in life? In other words all the stuff that he is and what makes him tick?
  • It helps to give this character a tag, i.e., something (or a few somethings) he does when nervous (become irritable, jingle change or keys in pocket, etc.), and something he does or says across the board. For example, he may always use the f-word or have a particular way of handling phone calls (talk to the point and hang up abruptly). Perhaps the character may have multiple allergies and constantly sneezes. The “tag” or “tags” should be something that becomes part of your story.
  • Caveat One: You can get carried away doing character sketches (or the reverse). The former is better because you won’t use it all in your story, and may use very little in your short story. But having full insight into your character and on paper, helps when you sit down in front of your computer to write your story. You feel as if your character is an old friend or old enemy.
  • Caveat Two: As you write your novel or short story, you may be inspired to add more to your character sketch or change something. Do so if it would work better. A character is constantly changing – just like real characters in real life.

Do any of you who are writing fiction have characters taking over your life? How do you deal with these demanding individuals?

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
2 Comments

Posted by on December 6, 2012 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Point of View – Part 4 – The “God” POV

29 Nov

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

–          Nathaniel Hawthorne

The omniscient point of view is sometimes called the “God point of view” because it is the point of view that is see all, hear all and know all. Here, besides various characters’ POV you get the narrator jumping in. The narrator or “God” can do things like give background of a setting or other information that none of the characters would know. The omniscient POV also lets the author step back a little from getting too close to his or her characters, although the latter isn’t obligatory. The author may get close to his protagonist and antagonist.

Just to muddy the omniscient waters more, the rule of one character’s POV per scene (or per chapter if chapters aren’t divided into scenes) still applies, although some proponents of the omniscient POV disagree and say you can be in all characters’ heads at once.  “God” maybe is able to be everywhere at once, but your reader can’t with one exception – that narrator or “God” can work in those setting details – you know the type where one character drives into a town he has never visited and more than just what he can see and know is narrated (town’s history, for example).

When to Use Omniscient POV

You can best get your message across and further your plot by revealing many characters’ thoughts, and feelings.

When your story can’t be told from one person’s point of view because of actions occurring in the plot.

When your story needs information that none of the characters would have knowledge of.

In novels that cover several time periods and that have several characters.

In a nutshell, the author knows all/sees all understands all of what each character thinks, imagines, knows, feels.

It’s complicated.

What Isn’t Omniscient POV

First let’s cover what isn’t omniscient POV, but uses a technique not too common – mixing up first person and third person. Mystery writer Bill Pronzini does this in his “Nameless” detective novels. His earlier novels were told from the first person only and Nameless was just that. In later novels, Pronzini has three POV characters – Nameless (who has a first name now) and two other private investigators in the agency. Nameless is told from the first POV and the other two are in the third person. He sticks to the one character’s POV per chapter and puts the name of the third person POV at the beginning of the chapter. Nameless chapters don’t get this subheading because readers should be able to tell from the first person usage who the character is. Pronzini does this very well.

Omniscient POV in Short Stories

Omniscient, per se, isn’t usually used in short stories, although a variation of it can be used. You can have your narrator come in at the beginning with information about the story, the characters, the setting, etc. but at some point you have to focus on one character’s point of view. Because short stories are supposed to be well, short, you probably shouldn’t use more than two points of view, but no jumping heads – one character’s POV per scene. Otherwise you have the inside of the reader’s head jerking back and forth and getting confused. You do not want your reader to be confused – confused readers give up reading a story (or a novel).

Omniscient POV in Novels.

I use a variation of omniscient POV in my prequel mystery novel which I am writing now. I say “variation” because I put one character, Dana Bowman, in the first person and other main characters’ POV in the third person. I name the POV character at the beginning of the chapter or scene, but unlike Bill Pronzini I do put “Dana” for the first person POV character. However, for obvious reasons, I put nothing at the beginning of chapters with the POV of a maybe suspect.

Dana is put in the first person because she is the character I want the reader to get closest to. She always wears her emotions on her sleeve. Her fraternal twin Bast Overture is in third person for two reasons. He is not so forthcoming in his feelings, even in his own mind, and I want to show the reader this. The other main characters I get close to in varying degrees, but none as close as Dana.

As for the narrator jumping in to do the scene descriptions, etc. I’m still working on that or if I want it strictly from specific characters point of view. I’m leaning towards the latter and there is a technique in that which I’ll cover in a future post.

Meantime, read the beginning of my short story “No Breaks,” and see if you can figure out the Point of View and why? Is it third person limited or is it omniscient?

It’s a scummy Saturday morning and Highway 11 resembles fast food parking hell. If you’re making your last ditch scramble for your reserved spot in the Muskokas, try an alternate route.”

“Yeah, what alternate? Highway 400 is worse.” Millie Browne yells back at the radio announcer. She clicks off the radio.

Most of these Saturday drivers probably have air-conditioned cars. Millie isn’t blessed with air-conditioning. She isn’t blessed. She can’t even remember whether she was baptized as an infant, but today she’s going to remedy that.

Today, on this heat-infested highway, Millie desires only one thing: an even break in life. To obtain this end she plans to jump in the lake. She’s not sure which Muskoka lake but she doesn’t care. It won’t be Baptism by fire, but Millie figures the cold water will clear her head and bring some control back into her life.

Control is Millie’s keyword. She’s organized her life every day from senior year in high school. Her diaries (the truth) speak in contrast to her calendar (the plan).

Not so Jessica Myers, age 30, sitting beside Millie and thumbing on her BlackBerry… (excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press)

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 29, 2012 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Point of View in Fiction, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

POV – First person or third person – Part 3

22 Nov

Cover of Sharon’s book Beyond the Tripping Point

My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel–it is, before all, to make you see.

– Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

So you want to get inside one person’s head (or at least one person at a time) in your story. Should you go for first person singular or third person singular?

Let’s look at how these can work.

First Person Point of View – the story is told from one character’s point of view, using “I,” “me,” “my” and “our.” The character could be a major player who is active in the novel, or the observer, as in F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.  Or an observer/major player, such as Archie in the Nero Wolfe mystery novels.

Anything that happens in the story must be what the character can see, hear, touch, feel, think, imagine or read. He or she can say what he sees about other characters but can reveal only his own feelings. He could imagine what the other character feels, but this must be clear. You can get around some of what sounds like restrictions by using emails, Facebook pages, Twitter – as long as it is either what the  I POV character is doing or reading. To help keep on track, picture a video camera inside this first person narrator’s head.

My short story “16 Dorsey St.” from Beyond the Tripping Point is told using emails between two sisters, Elsa and Sylvia .with newspaper clips thrown in. The POV remains with Elsa even with Sylvia’s replies. Elsa is reading them from her computer. Here’s a short example.

E-mail from Elsa to Sylvia

3/3/1997 9.07 P.M.

Subject: Newspaper story

Sylvia, something disturbing happened. The “someone” at the door was today’s newspaper and I don’t get the paper delivered. An article on the front page of section two was circled in red. I’ve scanned it and am attaching it so you can read it.

Love,

Elsa

Attachment to e-mail:

CRIME FLASHBACK—MURDER ANNIVERSARY TODAY

Today is the anniversary of one of Toronto’s most baffling murder cases. Fifty years ago, a 23-year-old woman was strangled. Lois Harkner was a honey blonde beauty, a lady who would never hurt anyone. Yet someone wanted her dead.

Harkner was found lying beside her dressing table…

(Excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press 2012)

When to use First Person POV

To move the plot forward, your readers need to know the main character’s inner thoughts.

You can reveal your main character best by telling the story from main character’s POV.

Revealing the conflict works best by showing the readers only the main character’s thoughts.

You want your readers to get up close and personal with your main character.

Third Person Point of View – the story is told from the narrator as “he/she” – you can use people’s names. Here the narrator is further from the story than the first person POV. In Third Person the story is told from that one character’s POV with only what he can observe, hear, etc.

Here’s the beginning of my short story “No Breaks” I combine what Millie hears on the radio with Millie’s inner thoughts.

“It’s a scummy Saturday morning and Highway 11 resembles fast food parking hell. If you’re making your last ditch scramble for your reserved spot in the Muskokas, try an alternate route.”

“Yeah, what alternate? Highway 400 is worse.” Millie Browne yells back at the radio announcer. She clicks off the radio.

Most of these Saturday drivers probably have air-conditioned cars. Millie isn’t blessed with air-conditioning. She isn’t blessed. She can’t even remember whether she was baptized as an infant, but today she’s going to remedy that.

(Excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press, 2012)

When to Use Third Person POV

First person POV won’t work because you need to have your narrator more distanced to report your main character’s thoughts and actions. Also use third person if first person gets in the way of showing your main character’s weaknesses. This latter is not always necessary, as some characters seem to be able to get around their egos to show and comment on their weaknesses. For example self-effacing humour, inner thoughts where they present their view as correct but they word it so you can read their weakness between the lines.

Narrator’s objectivity strengthens the main character or the story’s message.

In next week’s post we’ll go into using the omniscient Point of View as that can be complex and confusing.

Meantime, check out my short story collection and maybe purchase a copy. It is now available as an e-book. Click on the book cover above.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 22, 2012 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Plot and Characters, Point of View in Fiction, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Lessons learned from the actual book launch

08 Nov

Sharon A. Crawford reads at the book launch of Beyond the Tripping Point

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.

~ Joseph Pulitzer

The book launch for my debut short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point has happened.and I’m still going around in overwhelm. First off it went well – we filled the backroom of The Rivoli and everyone had a good time. The Rivoli want my publisher and his authors and the entertainment (Sunny and Shane) back next year. So, my publisher is happy.

But I learned a few things from the experience and I’m passing them along for anyone out there organizing and experiencing their first book launch. Some of the points also are pertinent for doing public reading.

First I’d like to state that I was in a state of shock and operated on automatic pilot throughout the three hours. Not from nervousness, not from the time change overnight to eastern standard time, and not even my always time-strapped life. It was a phone call from a friend earlier that morning. And if you want to find out about that you will have to read my other blog’s post this week at http://www.onlychildwrites.wordpress.com

Now on to lessons learned.

When you are on stage at a club or pub, the lights may be too good – you can see what you are reading but you can’t see beyond the lights into the audience. You have a bright-light blockage. I like to connect to my audience when I read.

The next day (and thank you Shane for waiting until the next day) the editor at my publisher’s said I had read too long with the second and last reading. For one story, I had attempted to combine reading story excerpts with filling in a few storyline gaps. My editor said he saw a few people fidgeting. (I blame this one on being in shock/autopilot as I did the practice for this at home after the phone call). However, I am taking my editor’s advice for next readings. So time yourself to the second when you practice and when onstage reading, check your watch at the beginning and glance at it a few minutes later.

Mingle more with your guests. I did a lot of mingling, going around to tables chatting with my guests during the first part of the meet and greet and signing books. Then I sat down with my son and his girlfriend to talk to them. But I invited some friends to the table and also got up a few times to talk to others. I stayed put after that, except to go onstage to read. My police consultant came up to the table just before the music started so we didn’t have time to say much. I can’t carry on a conversation over performances on stage and don’t like to talk when authors are reading. After all the readings, friends and colleagues came up to say “hello” and for me to sign their copy of my book. But I wished I could have talked to them all more. I didn’t even see my cousins from out of town until afterwards – I joined them then. My son said that now I know how it is with him when one of his bands has a CD launch. I know that people do come in late and have to leave early and that can’t be helped. One of my friends later told me she would have liked a longer mingling session.

And connected to my other blog’s post – don’t try to arrange transportation, including car pools, for anyone coming to the launch. Just give them the location and directions there.

It also helps if you get enough sleep, which I hadn’t and still haven’t lately.

Besides the photo at the top, you can go to  http://www.flickr.com/photos/writershane/sets/72157631935084560/ In the audience photo, the fellow who looks like he is napping is my son. I’m not there because I’m on stage.

And if you click on my book photo below, it takes you to Amazon.

Next week back to more of the ins and outs of writing fiction with brief information about my upcoming readings, etc.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

Cover of Beyond the Tripping Point

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on November 8, 2012 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →