Craft 2: On Jumping POV
Since someone said about my last post on craft they looked forward to more... Don't worry--in no case are these pointers my own. I don't have the hubris to think anyone would be interested in what I think about writing. And trust me, I know I get it wrong. You can know the principles, applying them is still... well, not always easy
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Heh. So do I. What's the Big Bad is a POV jump--when you've, say stayed in Draco's POV whole scene, and suddenly there's a stray thought of Hermione's.
I'm actually very proud of my 2nd person story in Trek--it's a favorite. And I have favorite 2nd Person's by other ficers--it's just that it got to be TOO MUCH. (And btw, it's a hard POV to sell professionally)
Have you ever read Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City? It's an entire novel done in 2nd person--and I loved it.
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I used to know his ex-girlfriend, though...
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Meanwhile, as one who overdoes rotating POV, I can tell you that headhopping is the easiest writing mistake to make. The scene marker is your friend!
Thanks for posting these writing notes...they are very helpful!
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It's supposed to be the hardest to do--when I was going over the "handbook" to pick out the craft pointers--choose ones addressing what I'd seen problems with most often--well, Dean Smith said not to "even attempt [omniscient] unless you have a few million words of fiction under you."
It really is tough--it's hard to think of even one work of fanfic where I've seen it done well--the only one I can think of is bambu345's "The Fullness of Time". I can't for the life of me think of another in Trek or HP I've read.
Meanwhile, as one who overdoes rotating POV, I can tell you that headhopping is the easiest writing mistake to make. The scene marker is your friend!POV jumps are among the most annoying of problems I often see--I think along with the dialogue tics (saidisms, swifties, dialect) and overenthusiastic use of elipsis, dashes, exclamation points, italics, etc). And even for someone not too new to writing, yes, it' ( ... )
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Reviews are a funny thing. I rarely see a useful one. When its critical, it's so often a flame, or someone imposing their agenda on a fic.
But many times, its just squeeing. Which I don't mean to put down--I love squees as much as any writer. And I don't believe in giving crit w/o balancing it with praise. Among other things, I think it makes it much harder for the writer to accept it if they perceive it as only an attack rather than someone who basically liked their fic and means well. But if you can find some good to say about the fic, I'd give the crit too.
It could resonate with the writer--maybe its something her beta has been telling her but she's refused to change and mentally (or even literally) pointed to reviews and said: "well, no one else has said that."
As for JKR, her POV shifts don't bother me too much because when she's not following ( ... )
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Anyway, as we discussed, here's a lovely little icon to inspire you!
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Good luck with short-and-sweet. (or sour if that be the case--or sweet-and-sour? *cocks head*)
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There are rules, and then there's what's advisable, and there the things you have to approach with an awareness of the difficulties.
Please understand, I wouldn't advise NOT playing with POV. In Trek I wrote dramatic monolgues, second person, and a lot of first person. I even did a diary format story that was one of my best received. And right now, I'm writing a WIP that alternates viewpoints between Snape and Hermione.
There's a difference between multiple point of views and POV jumps The point here, is that each time you shift a point of view, unless you do omniscient (which itself must be grounded early) you must do at least a shift of scene ( ... )
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