Friday, February 24, 2006

Chapter ten is done

I took a break yesterday because I needed to analize what has happened and what needs to happen in the last 4 chapters. The muddy middle people call it, except it really isn't the middle. The last quarter is what I always have trouble with.

What needs to happen to tie up all the loose ends? How happy does my character have to be to fool people into thinking things have been resolved so that when she gets her black moment it seems really black. Especially when it's only a false black moment and things get even worse.

Then the resolution. The end sort of scares me. It's where the building blocks of a good story come in. If you did it right it won't fall apart at the end, but come together in a nice tidy manner.

Also, I am have a small problem with distancing. One of my CP's says that when I use her mother, such as, her mom grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, it is distancing. For deep POV it should be, Mom grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

??? That sounds first personish to me. I want to be deep... I want as great a connection I can get.

Comments?

5 comments:

Diana Peterfreund said...

I saw this on the teen loop, TJ. I think you could go either way, depending on the coice of the book. I use 1st person, but in my book I say both "my mom." I think it depends what kind of voice you are using for the book.

My book is told as if the MC is telling the story to someone else. Therefore, she wouldn't say "Mom" unless the person she was speaking to was a sibling, i.e., someone who also called that individual "Mom."

In third person, I suppose it depends on whether or not you want that character to be "named" in the reader's mind as "Mom" or "Mary Robertson." Is your book the type that says. "A long weekend! Totally cool!" or "she had a long weekend." The former might be "Mom" and the latter might be "her mom."

But, go with the gut. I'd get weirded out saying "Mom" to people who don't call her that, and I assume the readers wouldn't. ;-)

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

I came over from Diana's blog out of curiosity.

My first instinct (and totally unsolicited opinion) is Her mother. I agree with your thought that "Mom" is too first-personish. But after seeing the others' comments, I realize context and voice are very important in this decision.

I think the "distancing" thing is, unfortunately, a matter of opinion. Nothing is more distancing to me than being TOLD the story, i.e. in first person, rather than allowing me to experience it myself, which always happens in third person and very, very rarely with first. I know that doesn't seem logical, and others feel the opposite--which is why I think it's a matter of personal taste.

So I say go with what feels best and most natural to you.

This reminds me of a tense thing that bothers me. When someone is writing in past tense and then sticks in "God only knows" instead of "God only knew." I find it VERY jarring and think I would have the same reaction to "Mom"

Anonymous said...

Woo Hoo on finishing chapter ten, Teri :)

Rachel Vincent said...

I'm ashamed to say I have no idea. I only write in first person, and while I read some books in third, I've never really analyzed the POV.

But congratulations on getting so much written!

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