Saturday, May 28, 2011

So Much for That

You know how a few days ago, I blogged about how I planned to take a red herring character and turn him into a point of view character? Through his thoughts, the reader would learn he wasn’t guilty, which would remove that source of tension, but they’d gain more sympathy for him and things wouldn’t seem so bleak for the heroine because here was a guy the reader knew she could trust.

So much for that plan. I tried writing a scene from his POV. I got maybe half a page into it and it just wasn’t working. I mean, he’s a nice guy and all, but switching into his head wasn’t adding much to the story. For a scene to carry its weight, it needs to advance the plot, and this scene was feeling like repetition, not plot advancement. What could we learn from getting into his head here? He’s interested in the heroine—well, we already figured that out when he approached her in her POV scene. He’s frustrated and angry over unfair accusations of guilt? Already got that too, when he was talking to the heroine. The only difference would be that now, since we’re in his head, we could find out that he wasn’t lying to the heroine; he really is innocent. But now that just didn’t feel like enough of a gain to justify dipping into his POV. Moral of the story: not all ideas that seem like good ideas at the time end up working out.

In this particular situation, I think there are two good choices: 1--get out of his head, go back to plan A, and just use external actions to make him sympathetic (while he remains slightly suspicious) or 2—come up with some new, exciting, plot-advancing information that the reader learns from being in his POV.

If I brainstormed long enough, maybe I could come up with something for choice number two. It’s an interesting thought—what does he know that would add a new thread to the story and give the reader plot-advancing information she didn’t have before and that she couldn’t learn better from another POV character? But right now, I’m going with choice 1: revoke his point of view license and let him be a red herring again. Back to the fish pond, dude.

9 comments:

  1. Okay, I know you've made your decision about ditching his POV, and that you don't think being in his head can add anything, but could this be because in the previous scenes you did such a good job of writing the way he felt through his actions in anticipation of it being only from one POV? If you knew in advance you were going to write through is eyes too, then maybe you would have held back some emotion that the reader would've only known about after you wrote about it. In my current WIP I'm writing in a single POV (first person), something I've never done before, and I'm having to do a lot more description to convey perceived emotions from who my MC is interacting. It would be redundant to do it all over again with another POV. If I do one, I don't do the other. Its a balancing act, of sorts, don't you think?

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  2. LOL. Great points about POV characters. I hate reading a POV character that doesn't do anything for us readers.

    Makes me think about my own work, too. I have a "drawer manuscript" that has more POVs than I've ever used before (5). One of the big reasons why I used so many was because if I didn't, the main characters were going to have to either a.) eavesdrop via telephone or b.) have everything recounted to them by other characters. I hated to do it, though. If ever I get back to that book (which, BTW, was inspired by a twist on Methods of Madness!), I'll definitely reexamine it.

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  3. Interesting thought, Debra! I hadn't even thought of that. And I agree--it's a balancing act to get that needed information out there without either giving too little to the reader or being redundant. I started a book in 1st person POV but then didn't finish it; someday it would be fun to try 1st person again. So far, my finished books have all had a few different 3rd person POVs.

    Jordan, I'm honored that a twist on MoM inspired your manuscript! And now I'm curious how many POVs I'm using. Let's see . . . in Rearview Mirror I use . . . five, I think. One of those doesn't come in until the very end where I'm no longer trying to hide from the reader whether or not he's the bad guy.

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  4. I was thinking the same thing as Debra, but she expressed it really well. =D

    As to option 2, if he's just there to serve as a red herring, will giving him too much screen time make him seem more important than he is?

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  5. Good point, Donna. Good news is, he's actually an important character, so he's not just there to be a red herring and if I wanted to give him more screen time, I could. But for now (unless I change my mind again!) I think I'll stick with option 1 and stay out of his head (unless I decide to jump in there at the very end . . . ).

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  6. Hi Stephanie! Just found your blog...great post. I loved "not all ideas that seem like good ideas at the time end up working out"--too true.

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  7. Thank you, Becky! So glad you stopped by my blog.

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  8. They say if you want a bigger goldfish, you put them into a bigger pond. Perhaps Mr. Red just needs a little more breathing room to grow. =)

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  9. I'm still stunned I have one starting junior high this fall. College is going to blow my mind.

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