Well that got away from me!
Big progress the last couple days with four? Five chapters written?
Yesterday I did something that I haven’t done since grad school or before. I wrote in third person omniscient with more than one POV. What that looks like is the reader can see what is going on in more than one head at a time. Not going to lie, it felt weird. At the end of the chapter however, I loved the results. I have two other chapters where this is going to happen and I am excited to write them.
So why is this weird? It’s not something I see often and there is a trick to seamlessly moving from one person to the next and showing that you are in their head. If you think of POV like movie scenes it would be like the camera switching back and forth to what two different characters are seeing. If you are getting internal thought it would be like adding two voice overs.
This isn’t an uncommon tactic for children’s book, but I would guess modern day adult fiction authors shy away from Omniscient narrators because the reveal is harder. If the narrator knows everything then why don’t they just tell you everything.
Head hopping (limited omniscience) still gives the reader the feel that they are in a specific character’s mind and discovering things as they are.
Today I had an exercise in writing 1000 words in one chapter and realizing that it belonged at the end of the previous…which was in a different characters POV and voice. Spend a bit modifying it and restarted the following chapter much closer to the action.
I’m still discovering a lot about some of my characters. I have maybe seven chapters to write (that includes the short epilogue) and four of those are vignettes that happen out of the main storyline. That is pretty far into the book to still be learning things! But that’s why I love writing.
In both chapters I wrote today there were unexpected chunks—heck the entire second chapter was almost stream of consciousness in a completely different narrative voice and story style and yet I am madly in love with what it does to the entire form of the novel.
There is something so magical about saying “Meh, let’s see where this goes” and then just writing and writing what you find delightful. Sometimes you end up moving 1000 words to a different chapter. Sometimes you delete because it isn’t an important part of the story. In a couple months when I pull this whole draft out of my desk and give it another edit I might have huge changes to make, but for now I am cracking myself up one minute and tearing up the next and then marveling at how everything is coming together.
Today was a good writing day.
Food was not terribly interesting. I went with some Trader Joe’s classic meatloaf for lunch and a broccoli kale salad and toast for dinner. Breakfast was coffee and a muffin. I’m ending the day with chamomile tea in order for a restful night and earlier morning tomorrow. I might even make it out of the house!
Writing Activity: Try head hopping! Choose two characters in a contained setting (jogging, drinking coffee across a table, watching the dog sleep) somewhere where they would be experiencing similar things at the same time. Move from head to head as the action progresses and play around with it.
Happy Writing Folks!
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