Thursday This n That

I was reading about the Milgram experiment again this morning.  I find psychological stuff fascinating.  One thing I hadn't known about the experiment before was that Milgram had polled both psych students and colleagues beforehand about what they thought the results might be, and few of them guessed the truth.  In retrospect, and knowing what we know now, it's unsurprising to me that a majority of people would follow authority even against their own consciences.  

Just now, I was at a friend's blog talking about POV choices, and it reminded me of a tense-choice I made years ago.  I had originally written Wish in One Hand in third person with a totally different general storyline.  A whole novel, shitcanned in favor of a tense change.  In case you're not a writer, that's a LOT of work in the dumper there.  I think the first draft of that was like 236 pages.  Useless and doomed to sit forever in the labyrinth of my folder system.  

I took yesterday off.  Of like everything.  I watched TV and I ate.  Bacon cheeseburgers with french fries cooked in bacon grease and store-bought cheesecake.  Yum.

Oh, we did make the decision to bite the bullet, raid the savings, and schedule a full brake job on old Cally Cavalier.  In this super-hilly country, it's definitely necessary.  That's set for tomorrow.  I drop the car off in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon.  Time to dust off The Jeepster for a little shuttling work.  Thank goodness for the second vehicle or I'd be stuck sitting at either the shop or the bar down the highway a piece for 5-6 hours.  It's too far out in the middle of nowhere to walk anywhere else.  I could take a book, but sitting for that long on questionable seats would wreck me.

Cross your fingers for me.  This is an untried mechanic for us.  I mean, he came highly recommended by a guy who knows him and knows vehicles (a retired truck mechanic actually), but there's always a concern when dealing with any new [professional, doncha know.

I'll be sitting here tomorrow like a worried mama who's baby is in the hospital.  I've had Cally for 19 years now.  

I joked with Hubs yesterday that I'm going to name the new brakes Rover.  Cuz I could've used that money to get a dog.  We laughed and laughed.  LOL, I kill me.  And he might if I keep joking that way.  Ba dump bump... ting.

And on that note... What's on your this-n-that list today?

Switching POVs

Okay, so all I needed was some tough love - thanks for the kick in the pants, Kristen.  Once I got my gumption hump in gear, I managed to turn out 2300 words in this endeavor.

So, what's that got to do with anything, you ask.  Well, I've said before that this book has been trying to get me to write it in first POV since the beginning, but I didn't feel confident in my ability to do it.  So far, everything I've finished has been either third omniscient or third limited.  First was outside my comfort zone.  Or so I thought. 

Anyway, I wrote the entirety of DLN in third limited.  You see everything from Jo's point of view, but it's like someone else is reporting things through her eyes.  Not always the easiest way to write - considering that every sentence I have to think whether she would actually know what I wrote.  I mean, if Jo can't sense it in some way, it shouldn't be in the book, right?

Shifting from third limited to first shouldn't be all that hard.  Of course, it isn't like Daughter assumed - which was that all I have to do is change all the pronouns.  Changing 'Jo sidled along the wall' to 'I sidled along the wall' doesn't quite work.  I had to consider whether Jo would actually use the word 'sidle' when thinking about her own movements.  She might think someone else would sidle, but it was out of character for her to think that about herself. 

Aside from that, though, the process of switching to first POV has been really freeing.  For a couple hours last night, I had to be Josephine Mayweather.  I had to see things from her eyes, and remember things as she remembered them.  What fun!  Nothing like slipping into the persona of a supernatural being to get the old heart pumping. 

I still don't know how I'm going to handle those few flashback scenes.  I might still write them in third - showing the reader how the character feels distances from her own past, or in one case, letting the MC listen as another character relates his own distant past.  Or I may cut those scenes altogether.  We'll see what happens when we get there.

So far, though, this seems like it's working.  And from what Daughter said after I made her read the first few pages, my feelings on the subject are correct.  She gave me two thumbs-up, after all, and being the paranormal junkie she is, I'm taking that as a positive sign I'm on the right track.

Wish me luck.

How are things going with your writing?

Let's Talk About POV

Let's talk about first, baby.
Let's talk about POV.
Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be.

Ummm... sorry for the impromptu song. The minute I typed the subject, the old song popped into my head - with new words. (I do that all the time, btw, but that's a story for another day.)

Anyway, onward to POV. When I first started this writing thing, I thought 3rd omni was the only way to go. What better way to show everything you need to show then by becoming the god of the book and narrating everything from outside the story? After all, the majority of my favorite books were third omni. Weren't they?

Uhhh. I must've missed that day in English. Thinking about it now, some are third limited. But still...

My first two books are written in third omni. I don't think I did a bad job of it, really. Those people who've read Spectacle and Caldera told me I did a good job with third omni. But (there's always a 'but' isn't there?), a few kind hearts told me people aren't really interested in third omni anymore. I guess it's dated. (Which makes sense since most of my favorite books at the time date mid-20th century and earlier.)

Okay, fine. I can do third limited. It took a little work to shift away from the omniscient view of my worlds, but I did it. Every book I've finished* since Caldera has been in that POV. I like it and it works for me. I still catch myself dancing through a little head-hop every now and then, but if I don't catch it during editing, my beta readers and crit partners usually do.

I'm a big proponent of 'write the book the way it needs to be written'. Usually the story tells me where it needs to go. (Okay, okay... Put away the 'I love me jacket'. I know the books aren't really talking to me.) Except when it doesn't.

You see, this new WIP - the one I just trashed 30K word for - is having a split personality disorder. The words in my head are first person, but when they hit the page, they're third limited. I tried to write it in first. Really I did. I thought that since the muse was talking to me in first, the book wanted to be written in first and my fingers were rebelling.

Nope.

I tried writing a scene out in first, and the process made pulling teeth without anesthesia look like a fun endeavor. I got a page and a half written in a half hour (keeping in mind I'm still writing longhand, that's still way too long for so few words). Then I rewrote the same scene in third limited, and the sucker just flew out onto the pages.

What does this mean? I'm not sure really. My brain is still feeding me snippets of scenes in first - like I'm inside Jo's head - but the words come out through my hands in third. I may write the whole damn book, and then go back to switch it all into first. :shrug: Whatever gets the job done.

Maybe this is the way this particular book needs to be written. Third at first and then First in the end. Confusing? Heh. To paraphrase the ever-wise Steven Wright: I'm like this all the time.

What do you think? Ever written a book in one POV and changed it? Ever tried to write the same scene from different POVs? How'd it work for you?

What's your favorite POV to write in, and which POV do you prefer to read? Are they the same?

* I have an unfinished novel in first. It's still a viable story that works in first POV, I just have to finish it.

(Darling Daughter pointed out that she didn't have any clue what song I was talking about. If you don't recognize the song from the paraphrasing, it's Let's Talk About Sex by Salt n Pepa.)