by Joanne Wadsworth | Dec 10, 2012 | Author Blog
Random Picture Alert! I simply couldn’t find any image on Deep POV. Hope you enjoy this one.
Before I jump into covering the header’s topic, stay tuned, for at the end of this post, I’ll be announcing the winner of last week’s critique offer. I also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who commented and “liked” last week’s post. I was blown away by your kind wishes and congratulations–they truly meant the world to me. 🙂
Okay, now to this week’s post– For Those Writers After DEEP POV — Tips For You.
As writers we all know which POV we like to write in. Often our POV also depends on our story’s genre or how it needs to be told. I love writing in 1st Person as much as I love writing in 3rd Person, but, what about DEEP POV? Where does DEEP POV fit into a writer’s world? And for some of you, you may even be asking what the heck is DEEP POV?
Ah-huh, let me catch you up on this, because writing in DEEP isn’t anything new, but so often today, publishers are asking us to take our POV, whether 1st or 3rd, and Deepen it. If you want to know more about DEEP POV because you’d like to try it, then here are loads of tips to help get you there.
We’ll begin with the five senses of:
- Sight
- Sound
- Smell
- Taste
- Touch
When going DEEP:
- The author must describe all scenes from what the character can perceive with their own senses.
- There is no remoteness, and even the character’s internal thoughts and feelings form part of the writing.
- Certain distancing words are removed. Examples of these are words like:
- Watched
- Noticed
- Heard
- Felt
- Saw
- Wondered
- Decided
- Knew
- Thought, etc.
You’ll need to do a search and find these if you want to go DEEP, ensuring you rewrite the sentences to take them out. I’ll give you an example, from the heroine’s POV, and I’ll remove the underlined distancing words in the second bulleted point.
- She felt her heart beat faster as she watched him lift the gun. He won’t kill her, she thought.
- Her heart raced as he lifted the gun. He wouldn’t kill her. (In DEEP)
Did you like that Deeper sentence?
- Now let’s cover emotion, for in DEEP we take out words like:
- Anger
- Sad
- Fear
- Happy
- Shock
- Bothered, etc
There are a ton of these. Instead we use body language (wherever we can) to convey emotion–and this is truly important. I’ll give you an example, from the heroine’s POV, and I’ll remove the underlined words of emotion in the second bulleted point.
- Anger lanced through her. She was not happy to have her choices taken away.
- She raised her chin and stared him down. He would not take her choices away. (IN DEEP)
As you can see, these small changes Deepen the POV, and prevent the reader from being pulled out of the head of the person whose POV they’re in.
- And lastly, don’t forget that characters rarely refer to themselves by name. When you go DEEP, ask yourself would the character use her name, over and over? If not use her/she, but only if the dialogue is strong and the reader can see who speaks.
–0o0–
Okay, it’s time to get down to the serious business of the offer I made last week. For those who left a comment asking for a critique, they had their name put into a hat. What could they win? Yours truly will be their second set of eyes to go over the first four pages (or 1500 words thereabouts) of their novel. That’s the first four pages. Not four pages from the middle of the book, but the first four pages. Right, so for this fabulous critique, the winner is:
*** Kozo ***
Hey, congratulations, Kozo. Please email me the first four pages of your novel as a word document attachment so I can insert “review bubbles” for personalized editing advice. My email address is located under the “Contact tab” on my website, or of course it’s joannewadsworth007@gmail.com
I’ll be making this offer again in the near future as I had a great response–and I’m all for authors supporting authors. You guys rock with the way you support me on my website. I’m feeling the love all the way to where I am Down Under.
Have a wonderful week. Catch ya all later.
* * * *
PROTECTOR–BUY THE BOOK: Amazon Kindle / B&N Nook / iTunes / Lyrical Press / Kobo.
by Joanne Wadsworth | Nov 19, 2012 | Author Blog
So true. 🙂
—-
Every time I even think of writing a synopsis for a completed manuscript, I groan. How on earth does a writer go about condensing their full-length novel into a brisk two to five pages? In some ways it’s cruel to even make us do this, but once all is said and done, there is a great reason behind the request.
First, let me detail what a synopsis is.
- Briefly it’s an orderly outline condensed chapter by chapter which catalogs the completed book from beginning to end.
- That’s right, you must chop down your two-hundred-plus pages within your book to a measly two to five pages. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Yeah, sometimes the dreaded synopsis is called a sucknopsis, and I can see why.
- Which reminds me–don’t go leaving the ending out as a lure. An editor needs to see it all in your synopsis. This is a common mistake made, which is why I’m particularly pointing it out.
Okay, now I’ll break down why editors considering your submission require a synopsis.
- The editor will learn very quickly if the story is suitable for their publishing house.
- It’ll also alert the editor to how well you can put together the sequences of your story in a clear and concise manner. If you will, your synopsis is the map they use to judge your skill in weaving a story, for there is a difference between storytelling and writing. Oh boy, that’s a biggy.
- A strong synopsis can also aid the editor in seeing the raw talent behind any possible writing faults. You see, we must all start somewhere, and for all debut published authors, an editor saw the diamond in the rough–and they read the synopsis first.
- Ah-huh, are you sweating yet?
Now, what does the synopsis do for the writer?
- Apart from the headache of writing it, you’ll soon see if there’re any problems with your manuscript. If you struggle to map out your story and show your hero/heroine’s journey in a clear way, then perhaps there might be parts of your book that need a little more attention to detail.
Which leads to–what’s the best part of writing a synopsis?
- Ultimately, crafting a synopsis is a great warm-up of what’s to come when you have a contract. There are many working practices within each publishing house, and completing a great synopsis gives the writer a taste of the challenges to come.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Don’t forget as I post each week’s blog, I update my current news. You’ll find “News this Week” at the top right of the main page of my website–and if you wish to see what I’m up to at a glance, well it’s all recorded right there.
I’d also like to point out some blog hops I’m participating in–and you’ll find those “hop buttons” pictured on the right-hand side panel of my website. I’m noting them because if you find you’re also publishing a book early in the New Year as I am, then you might like to blog hop yourself for your own book’s promotion. The hops are for readers, reviewers and writers to see what everyone’s up to, and there’re always great giveaways at each blog’s location.
You all have a fabulous week. We’re rocking great weather Down Under and about to head into summer on December 1st. Does that sound weird to everyone living in the Northern Hemisphere? Summer? Really? Yep, in New Zealand winter is out of the way, right in time for Christmas.
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PROTECTOR–BUY THE BOOK: Amazon Kindle / B&N Nook / iTunes / Lyrical Press / Kobo.
by Joanne Wadsworth | Oct 28, 2012 | Author Blog
Before I jump into answering the header’s question, stay tuned, for at the end of this post, I’ll be announcing the winner of last week’s critique offer.
So, let’s jump into this week’s post. A fabulous blog follower posed this question to me–can one finish their novel without help? She’d tried groups, classes and other writers’ books. All great ideas, but was still unsure of her execution.
I considered her question for all of one-second, because my answer is a resounding “yes, you can.”
In fact this year I’ve met a dozen new authors whose debut novels are releasing with publishers, as well as an equal number whose debut novels are being self-published–and all due to their own hard work. Yes, no one else’s, but their own. At the moment, there’s nothing a writer can’t do. In fact, this is the most amazing time for us. There’s a revolution underway and the digital opportunities are opening up.
So, let’s delve deeper into that question–“can you finish your novel without help?”–and I’ll offer a touch of advice for what you need to do from the very beginning, because you’ll most likely be doing this, I imagine. Here are my answers in bulleted points for ease of reading.
- Read, read, read. Take note of punctuation, chapter formats and storyline structure. Even now, no matter how busy I am with my writing, I still set aside thirty minutes to an hour at the end of each day to read. A writer must read.
- Do your research by checking out websites belonging to publishers and agents who are open for submissions in your genre. See what they’re asking for.
- All I’m saying is, more than anything, do your research. Know what your targets are when you first start out.
Okay, so let’s move on and cover one’s execution of their work.
- Be unique and find your own writer’s voice. I heard this advice over and over–and I have to say, it took me two years to nail that. It’s not an easy task. To begin with my writing followed the voices of my favorite authors with my sentence structure. Then there was a sudden change. It came about when I allowed my writing to flow as if I spoke. Now, let’s not forget I’m from New Zealand, and since there’re only four million of us in my tiny country, I really should have been able to nail this uniqueness sooner.
- On the writing front though, remember to embrace the five senses: sight, smell, taste, feel, speak. Bring the reader into the written world you’ve created using all the senses available. When you’re doing your daily reading–make sure you’re researching. I never read a book without a pad and pen on hand. Seriously. Try it, if you’re not already.
- Utilize dialogue, action, emotion and thought, ensuring you give you a good blend of each within the pages you write.
- Always “show” instead of “tell.” (For further clarification on this, I have several posts with this “show, don’t tell” header.) It’s an important point to note, for publishers want authors to “show” within their written word and not to tell a reader what’s happening.
- Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. There are so many drafts before a writer completes their book it isn’t funny. Truly it isn’t. Stop laughing. The number of rewrites shocked me to begin with, so much so that I lost count of how many I did. Luckily, this is something that becomes easier as time moves on, and most writers will say it takes around seven drafts to complete a book. Just be prepared for the long haul when you first start out.
- So don’t forget you can finish your novel without help, and be assured many do. Just remember the key word: RESEARCH.
Okay, now it’s time to get down to the serious business of the offer I made last week. For those who left a comment asking for a critique, they had their name put into a hat. What could they win? Yours truly will be their second set of eyes to go over the first four pages (or 1200 words thereabouts) of their novel. That’s the first four pages. Not four pages from the middle of the book, but the first four pages. Okay, so for this fabulous critique, the winner is:
*** Amy Kennedy ***
Hey, congratulations, Amy. Please email me the first four pages of your novel as a word document attachment so I can insert “review bubbles” for personalized editing advice. My email address is located under the “Contact tab” on my website, or of course it’s joannewadsworth007@gmail.com
I’ll be making this offer again in the near future as I had a great response–and I’m all for authors supporting authors. You guys rock with the way you support me on my website.
Also on my website, as I post each week’s blog, I update my current news. You’ll find “News this Week” at the top right of the main page–and if you wish to see what I’m up to at a glance, well it’s all recorded right there.
I’d also like to point out some blog hops I’m participating in early next year–and you’ll find those “hop buttons” pictured on the right-hand side of my blog page. If you find you’re also publishing early in the New Year as I am, then check out what I’m up to, as you might find you’d like to join me in my blog hopping adventures with your own book’s promotion. The more the merrier.
You all have the best week.
* * * *
PROTECTOR–BUY THE BOOK: Amazon Kindle / B&N Nook / iTunes / Lyrical Press / Kobo.
