{"id":184,"date":"2013-07-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/07\/02\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing-12\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:17","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nWhen I
\nannounced that I\u2019d love to know the questions authors would like to ask an
\neditor, I received quite a few responses. Most of them were about point of view
\n(POV) and the technique of deep point of view (DPOV). I\u2019ve written about these
\nbefore on this blog, but I thought it would be fun to answer the questions they
\nput forth.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHow many POV characters should an author
\nuse?<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe answer
\nto this depends on a number of factors including but not limited to: genre,
\nformula, audience, and guidelines.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen
\nwriting romance, the conflict is usually between the hero and the heroine.
\nTherefore, in most circumstances, those two POVs should be the only ones
\nnecessary to your story. Romances are pretty formulaic, and this formula works.
\nWhy change it unless you can prove that other POVs are necessary? Change the
\ngenre to romantic suspense and there may be another POV necessary to convey the
\nstory: the villain. Some authors utilize this extra POV; others keep the
\nvillain in the background.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOther
\ngenres may allow for more POVs, but the important thing to consider is how
\nnecessary those POVs are to telling the story. It is best to keep the POV count
\nas low as possible. And always check your targeted publisher’s guidelines.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn my character\u2019s POV can he note his own
\nsmile?<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe author
\nwho asked this question went on to say that she was told a character
\ncannot see his smile, so it isn\u2019t natural in that character\u2019s POV to note one. She rightly indicated that she knows when she\u2019s smiling, and thus the
\ncharacter would know he smiled.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI suspect
\nthe reason for this remark goes a little deeper. Slight POV switches sneak in
\nwhen we do have our characters notice something that isn\u2019t natural for them to
\nremark on in their POV. For example, Terra is the POV character and the author
\nwrites: Terra flashed her winning smile in Robert\u2019s direction. For all Terra
\nknows, her teeth might have a piece of parsley in it. Even without the parsley,
\nTerra can\u2019t know if Robert or anyone finds her smile \u201cwinning.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat is DPOV?<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSimply
\nput, DPOV is a technique used by some authors to draw a reader deeply into the
\nstory. To show a contrast, I\u2019d like to share two examples, one scene written
\nwithout DPOV and the other using DPOV.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nExample
\n#1:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n*The Gulf-side
\nrestaurant\u2019s crowd had thinned since the lunch hour, and Christian waited on
\nthe dock outside as Zed paid the bill. The old man had given him grunt work,
\nbut Christian had enjoyed the labor.<\/div>\n
\nChristian had earned
\nhis way through college working construction and several other jobs that
\nrounded out his r\u00e9sum\u00e9. <\/div>\n
\nTrue to his word, Zed
\nhad fed him breakfast and now lunch. The man was generous.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThat\u2019s
\npretty bland, huh? Yet some authors tend to write this way, providing only the
\ndetails and skimming the surface of their creativity.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNow,
\nlet\u2019s look at an example that adds meat to the story by delving into Christian\u2019s
\nthoughts as the scene unfolds.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nExample
\n#2:<\/div>\n
\n*The quaint Gulf-side
\nrestaurant\u2019s crowd had thinned since the lunch hour, and Christian waited on
\nthe dock outside as Zed paid the bill. The work the old man had given him had
\nbeen grunt work, but Christian had enjoyed the labor. While Zed kept him away from
\nthe hulls, the resin work, and the major manufacturing of trawlers and fishing
\nboats, there\u2019d been plenty of cleaning up, stacking, even some inventory to
\nkeep Christian busy and awake.<\/div>\n
\nHe might be an
\nacademic, but he\u2019d earned his way through college with backbreaking
\nconstruction work and several other jobs that rounded out his r\u00e9sum\u00e9: butcher,
\nbaker, candlestick maker. Well, the last was actually soap, and he\u2019d loved that
\njob, working alongside the gorgeous little bohemian he\u2019d made his bride in her busy
\nlittle natural soaps and sundry shop.<\/div>\n
\nTrue to his word, Zed
\nhad fed him breakfast and now lunch. Christian only hoped Dylan was eating as
\ngood. If not, Zed had paid Christian enough to fill up the truck, find a place
\nto stay, and grab a meal or two. The man was generous.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDo you
\nsee the difference? Through Christian\u2019s DPOV the reader learns a little about
\nhim and others. We get the idea Christian and maybe Dylan are passing through
\ntown and that this generous boat manufacturer, Zed, has given him work. We also
\nknow Christian is an academic, that he has a wife\u2014somewhere, maybe\u2014and that he\u2019s
\na bit worried about Dylan.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDeep
\nPOV allows us to explore insights into our character that a lack of depth
\nleaves out of our stories. It also allows us to layer. Layering is the art of
\nblending information into a story without being too obvious. And layering, when
\ndone right, holds a reader\u2019s attention by making us want to know more. For
\nexample, are you curious as to why an academic is doing what he calls grunt
\nwork, and where is Christian\u2019s gorgeous bohemian wife?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat are some words or techniques that
\nweaken DPOV?<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI don\u2019t
\ncare what anyone says, internal monologue, when used for minor details is a
\nkiller of deep POV, and it annoys the fire out of the reader. Outside of
\nunspoken prayer, internal monologue should only be used for thoughts that need
\nparticular emphasis\u2014and I mean something truly important that adds a wow factor
\nto the story.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThere
\nare telling phrases that kill DPOV as well. These effectively place the reader
\non the outside of the action. Those telling phrases are: \u201cHe saw, she watched,
\nhe realized, he knew,\u201d etc. A sentence structured like this: \u201cHe saw her walk
\ndown the street\u201d can easily be remedied by taking out the offending telling
\nphrase and changing the tense: She walked down the street.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe reason
\nso many authors use this form of telling is because they\u2019re failing to grab
\ntheir readers with the deepness of point of view. As stated, when deep POV is
\nutilized correctly, the reader knows exactly whose head he\u2019s in.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nCan I use DPOV in first-person narrative?<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAbsolutely,
\nand why would you not want to do this? The problem that I see in many
\nsubmissions of first-person narrative is that authors tend to want to slip into
\ninternal monologue. There is simply no reason to use internal monologue except
\nfor unspoken prayer and a thought that needs emphasis. The reader understands that
\na story written in first-person narrative is being told through the perception
\nof the lead character. The deeper into POV a writer can go, the better.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIs it acceptable to begin a story with a
\nprologue written in third person and the remainder of the book in first person?<\/b><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMy
\nanswer: If it works, yes. What won\u2019t work is a prologue written in third person
\nthat tells the story. What will work? A prologue that has a clear POV from one
\ncharacter\u2014the one with the most to win or lose from the scene.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd
\nthere we go, a little bit more information on POV and DPOV.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy
\nediting.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n*Please
\nnote that the examples used in this blog are the original work of Fay Lamb and
\nshould not be used without permission of the author.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I announced that I\u2019d love to know the questions authors would like to ask an editor, I received quite a few responses. Most of them were about point of view (POV) and the technique of deep point of view (DPOV). I\u2019ve written about these before on this blog, but I thought it would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[158,107,70,4,23],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-author-intrusion","tag-deep-pov","tag-self-editing","tag-writing-advice","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}