This week, Ava Jae looks at simple POV mistakes to avoid, while Jo Eberhart explains the difference between foreshadowing and callbacks and how each can be used in your story.
Over at the Kill Zone, James Scott Bell calls out writing flubs that throw readers out of stories, Mythcreant writer Oren Ashkenazi offers tips on creating immersive fantasy settings, and Susan Perabo expounds a method for developing characters with background and experiences entirely different from your own.
All that and a little more. Enjoy!
10 Books Every Leader Should Read to Be Successful by Deep Patel
Amazon Author Insights – Understand Your Formatting Options by Honorée Corder
Is 99¢ Too Cheap a Price for Your Book? by Dana Isaacson
Different Kinds of POV Slips and How to Avoid Them by Ava Jae
Foreshadowing vs. Callbacks by Jo Eberhardt
Creating Fully Developed Fictional Characters (That Are Not Secretly You) by Susan Perabo
Stuff That Takes Readers Out of a Story by James Scott Bell
Six Tips to Make Your Fantasy Setting More Immersive by Oren Ashkenazi
The New Face of Vanity Anthologies: Z Publishing House and Appelley Publishing by Victoria Strauss
Agatha Christie was Investigated by MI5 Over Bletchley Park Mystery by Richard Norton-Taylor
I enjoyed the (all-too-short!) article on POV by Jae. But it didn’t really address one POV issue that I’ve discussed with many an author. Namely – is it OK for the POV to interpret another’s expression or action?
Here’s an example that I hope explains my “yes” position. Consider the 1st person narrator writes “His eyebrows furrowed in anger.” Oftimes the more rule-obsessed critiquers cry out “POV shift!” I say “no, it’s OK”, because the speaker is voicing his/her interpretation of what the action means.
Otherwise, we get bogged down details that slow down the reader – what eyebrow is tilted how, how many wrinkles in his corrugator muscle, etc.
Opinions?
I agree, Chris. I find it acceptable to permit brief and sparse moments where a POV character’s observation or inner monologue interprets another character’s body language. Used sparingly, you can avoid the accusation of “head hopping.” However, another way would be to avoid that altogether and use a combination of narrative and dialogue. Something like: His eyebrows furrowed. “Do you have any idea the damage you caused? What the hell were you thinking?” Now the reader doesn’t need to be told that the other character is angry. It’s evident in both facial expression and dialogue. If there is no dialogue, then perhaps add an additional action: His brows furrowed just before he punched the wall.