Welcome Wednesday – Everyone’s Got a Point of View

Welcome Wednesday – Everyone’s Got a Point of View

Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays.  Today’s topic is about the process of writing – why do we tell our stories the way we do.  Specifically, how do you choose what point of view to tell a story from?

So the question for this morning is: take one of your books/series, tell us whether it’s written in the first or third person (or, I guess, second person, if you’re really adventerous), past or present tense…and why you chose to write it that way?

Be sure to tell us a little about the book, too, and leave a link so we can learn more about it!

I’ll begin!  if you’ve read any of my Dream Series books, you know they’re (mostly) written in the first-person present tense.  The stories are told directly from Sara’s point of view (except for her dreams, which are told in a very tight third-person POV, to distinguish them from her waking thoughts).

They didn’t start out that way, though.  The original draft (and a second draft) of what eventually became DREAM STUDENT was told in the third person.  It also gave us the perspective of several other characters – Beth, Brian and some minor characters, too.  When I began rewriting it into the novel you can read now, though, I realized that didn’t work.  Third person just didn’t feel right.  The story had to be told from Sara’s perspective, and I liked the present tense because that gave it immediacy – it really makes you feel as though you’re right there in Sara’s head (at least, I hope it does!).  But I did keep the dreams in third person, just to set them off a little, and I think (hope!) that works, too.

And now it’s your turn!

(when you’re done here, please stop by Exquisite Quills, where there are daily memes just like this one and plenty of fantastic authors you can discover!)

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7 Replies to “Welcome Wednesday – Everyone’s Got a Point of View”

  1. My Wyrd Bound series is told from the first person point of view, because it’s Thalia’s story. It’s told in past tense because that’s what I’m happiest with, to be completely honest.

    The first person point of view allows me to really get into Thalia’s head and show her journey, the action, the development from her perspective. It pulls the reader into her head, and given she’s a tri-shifter there’s a lot to see in there! It shows the nitty-gritty of how her new pack comes together, her views on the Wyrd Sisters (whom she belongs to), and the villains. I feel like it gives the reader a stronger hold on her complex personality and world-views, it puts them right in the action.

    Book 1 in the series can be found here for those who’re curious:

  2. First person perfect was the natural choice for my Russ Morgan series. It’s a traditional POV of private investigators because the reader has to follow the detecting without knowledge of anything other than what the PI knows. Russ is fifty-something, gay, and psychic enough to read auras. He’s also got a strong philosophical streak, so this POV choice gives him a chance not only to evaluate information, but to ruminate about the life issues he encounters–including his fears at being pursued by Colin Stuart, a man half his age.

    In Blood and Dirt, Russ is hired to investigate damage done to a legal marijuana grow in western Colorado. Five siblings fight over the family ranch as it staggers on the brink of bankruptcy, marijuana its only salvation. Not everyone agrees, but only one of them is willing to kill to make a point.

    Link at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Dirt-Russ-Morgan-Mystery-ebook/dp/B014610PDK/

  3. In my Central Galactic Concordance science fiction series, I use past-tense third-person close (meaning it’s only what that person experiences & thinks), mostly on the main characters, but a few other key characters from time to time. My series tends toward space opera with romance, action, suspense, and mystery, and I needed the expansive feel. I have two novels out so far (Overload Flux and Minder Rising), and a novella coming out in a couple of weeks, plus a third novel in the outline stage. I have at least six more novels sketched out for my Big Damn Story Arc, which is what inspired me to write all these books in the first place. Peace and stability have reigned for 200 years, but underneath, trouble is brewing, and it will take extraordinary people to survive the coming conflagration.

  4. The POV question is kind of baffling to me. I always write from the heroine’s point of view which is usually a woman in my books. Past tense for historical romance in some parts. So I guess I would say that I have a mix in my books. I was taught to do third person past-tense. I try to stick to this method, however sometimes I drift.
    All of the time travel books Troianne, Diana’s Magic and Rheanon’s Heart are all third person past-tense. Her Soul to Save is first person. I run the gamete on this POV situation. I ask you to read and judge for yourself. 🙂

    Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Miles-Gauthier/e/B00MEFQN6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1425413180&sr=1-2-ent

    Website: http://www.crystalmilesgauthier.com

  5. I have to be careful not to put too many POV’s in a story. I particularly love to involve the POV of the villains, because I like to explore their motivation. I always pick third person and I try to go deep…but my characters resist analysis (like lots of us do) 🙂

    FEAR LAND has a hero who suffers from trauma. He is in denial about his symptoms until I put him in a situation when he can’t ignore them anymore. That’s my job 🙂

    FEAR LAND: “I see fear in a handful of dust.” T.S. Eliot. FEAR LAND #Suspensest #paranormal #mystery #romance #military #kindle http://amzn.com/B012JE75ES

  6. I write my Kadence MacBride Mysteries in first person. The tag line for the series is : If you like an amateur sleuth with attitude, you’ll love Kadence MacBride. I chose first person because I felt it was the best way to express that attitude. This is how Kadence describes herself:

    “I’m a thirty-something African-American with junk in my trunk and a chest that women go under the knife for; I always dress to downplay that. I want folks judging me for my mind, not my body.

    In this stuff, every time I stood, my chest ended up in some man’s face. And when I walked, my butt swished like a Whirlpool on agitate.”

    In first person I think (I hope) the reader is right there with her. I think we’d lose that “intimacy” in third. As Lloyd has already alluded to in the detective/mystery genre first person lends itself to playing fair with the reader IE the reader knows everything the detective does whether that detective be a private investigator or amateur sleuth.

    Both books in the Kadence MacBride series, Death of an Idiot Boss and Death of an Island Tart are available on Amazon.

    Death of an Idiot Boss: http://amzn.to/1NE8S5t
    Death of an Island Tart http://amzn.to/1GAA5k5

  7. I write in third person past tense, mainly because it’s what feels most natural to me. Third person allows me to switch point of view between characters more easily (this can be done in first person, but it’s more difficult; it works best if you can make the characters’ voices distinctive), and past tense allows me to spread out a little, be more reflective, and put events into context.

    There’s a strong romantic compenent in my books, so I alternate between the male and female main characters’ points of view, and often I’ll bring in a couple more POVs from the villain or a supporting character. I don’t think I’ve written more than four POVs in any of my books.

    Kyra Halland’s Books

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