Date Posted:12:53:09 10/24/09 Sat Author:Page Subject: Me, too! >>>> In reply to:
susiej
's message, "Page>>>" on 15:54:05 10/21/09 Wed
>Uh, yea, I'm afraid that ya lost me. I was good
>through the first paragraph but starting losing
>interest in the second. Too much info.
That's what I was afraid of. Although, reading over it again, I've realized I repeated myself several times. Pretty much all the information contained in the first two paragraphs is reiterated later on, so I think I can dispense with those.
>
>As for the POV-starting with Walter shifting to Jay
>again, I know how you feel. I like and write with
>shifting POVs-I tend to get bored in stories that are
>told thru only one very tight POV, but I've been told
>that most people don't like it, find it confusing.
>
>What i've been told is to keep one POV in each
>chapter- again, its what I've been told, not
>necessarily what I do.
I've heard that, too, but like you, I don't do it that way. I do avoid switching POV within a scene, but I don't have a problem with finishing that, then dropping down a few lines and continuing in the other character's POV. For example, when Katie and Jay first slept together it was shown in Katie's POV. But after the deed was done (so to speak!), I dropped down a few blank lines (I suppose in a book, we'd have a line of stars, or wavy lines or something) and switched to Jay's POV. After all, I had been leading up to this for quite some time, and I didn't feel it was fair to ignore Jay's reactions. So I have two POVs in the same chapter, but they don't overlap, or switch back and forth.
>
>I think i'd suggest you tell this from Jay's POV (he's
>sexy and we like being in his head)- how he was nearly
>ready to throw in the towel but met this ruthless
>banty rooster type and ta da...
Now that I see how I repeated myself, I'm going to take your suggestion on this. Jay's more familiar to the reader, while Walter is very much a secondary character.
I wanted to tell you, too, that I remember the bit you posted when the miller's wife is recalling details surrounding Rose's birth, and how much I enjoyed that. Not only did you get a bit of backstory in there in an enjoyable manner (her voice was very pronounced and clear!), but you also left me with the impression that what she'd heard about the birth wasn't all there was to it. It made me want to keep reading to find out what really happened, and I think that's what backstory is all about.
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