Revisions and outline
I just finished the latest round of revisions (hopefully the penultimate round, or at least the pen-penultimate) for The Eyes of Crow. Once again, I made a lot of changes to the second half of the book, and for the first time since the very first draft, I'm really happy with the novel as it stands. I've finally accomplished everything I wanted to do with it*, even finding a way to show a battle scene first-hand from a non-combatant's point of view.So I'm putting it aside for a few days while I work on the outline for Book 2 of the series, The Voice of Crow. Creating an outline for an unwritten novel mostly involves sitting around and staring into space, asking, "What if?" Yes, I get paid to daydream, and yes, I do know how lucky I am.
The series proposal I submitted to Luna included a detailed outline of the first book and rough, one-paragraph outlines of the second and third. The second book called for the death of one of the main characters. After spending several months with this person, there's no way in hell I'm killing them. Not no way, not no how.
I'm also splitting the point-of-view (POV) among three characters in the second book, whereas Eyes is from the POV of the heroine only. I prefer a single POV in both reading and writing, because it provides greater psychological intimacy, but the story in Voice demands to be told by more than one character, one of whom will be in a different part of the world than the rest of the main cast. In my opinion, Story should determine Style.
I suppose at some point I should stop talking about the outline and go write it. Maybe that point is now.
*except write a drinking song
Labels: Eyes of Crow, Voice of Crow
10 Comments:
Excellent! Can't wait to see how you solved that one!
Posted by:
Rob S. at 12/09/2005 11:36 AM
Now I've got a scene that makes Braveheart look like a Band-Aid ad.
Posted by:
Jeri at 12/09/2005 12:12 PM
Cecilia
Posted by:
Anonymous at 12/09/2005 3:52 PM
Posted by:
Jeri at 12/09/2005 5:03 PM
As for #2 and 3? Wow! I can't wait for those either.
Many crows up here in Jersey and I think of you or Jethro Tull because they have a song called, "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow."
Oh, we got plenty from Jack today. A foot's worth.
;)
terri
Posted by:
moonhart at 12/09/2005 9:08 PM
Interesting for the reader to see how different people interpret and react to the same things. Also more realistic since one person seldom actually sees everything that happens.
Jim Young
Posted by:
Anonymous at 12/09/2005 9:15 PM
Maybe there's a distinction between "split POV" and "multiple POV" that I'm not aware of.
I'm disappointed when two or more POVs are written in the same style, with the same voice. I think even when the narrative is third person, the style should reflect the character whose POV it is. I don't know if that makes it postmodern or just better crafted.
Personally, as a reader I don't like having more information than the main character does. For instance, getting the bad guy's POV and knowing what he's going to do next decreases the tension for me. Hitchcock would disagree, because he said suspense was all about knowing the bomb was under the desk AND realizing that the character didn't know it was there.
Sometimes I think multiple POVs are used out of laziness, especially when their # runs into double digits. At that point I'm spending so little time in the head of any one character (unless it's a gargantuan book like The Stand) that I can't connect with any of them.
Enough rambling. Again, these are just my personal prefs as a reader, which translate into what I like to write as well.
Terri, thanks! It's changed a bit since you read Draft #2, but I think you'll still like it.
Posted by:
Jeri at 12/09/2005 10:42 PM
You can even see a little of this POV being worked out in Shakespearian drama, whenever there's a solllioquy by a character other than the portagonist, though the POV in all drama is, rightly, the dramatic POV, which means no one POV dominates, and the only POV the audience has is what's presented on stage.
Any wqay, I've slipped into pendantic mode. Sorry.
Cecilia
Posted by:
Anonymous at 12/10/2005 9:13 AM
And I'm looking forward to the Wolverine smackdown. And I have a guess as to how you managed to show it to us, although I'll hold off making that guess in public and send you an email a little later.
Posted by:
Rob S. at 12/10/2005 3:11 PM
Posted by:
Rob S. at 12/10/2005 3:12 PM
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