I did it.
I managed to keep a promise to myself and wrote every day last week, analyzing my POV and MRU efficiency afterward. I also took time each evening to reread the associated chapters from Writing and Selling Your Novel. Though the temptation was there, I never read ahead.
I think I’m a little too close to the writing to see technical improvements at this point, but I can proudly say that I held up my end of the bargain. I kept the faith and put my trust in the process. And in what some may consider a small way, that trust was rewarded.
During my writing and analysis, I reached the point where I thought, “This type of writing seems so mechanical. I don’t understand how this is supposed to be sustained for a whole scene, let alone an entire book.”
‘She said this. He replied with that. She seemed mad. He got mad in response. She left the room. He stayed and pouted.‘
“Every published novel I’ve been studying and marking up, they’re not using such strict MRU and POV techniques. Is this idea total BS?”
Finally, mid-week, something caught my eye on one of the rereads. I don’t know how I missed it prior, but I can only assume that because I didn’t have enough soak time on the matter, my mind insisted on skimming the section. It simply addressed a concern I didn’t have, until I had it. It took a few consistent days of writing, analysis and rereading for me to come back to the book with the above question. And sure enough, the answer was plain as day.
Handling “Non-Viewpoint” Segments
Of course everything you write in a given section of your novel will not be studded exclusively with “he saw” or “she felt” segments. You may subtly shift away from such sentence constructions to tell in a rather neutral tone how your viewpoint character drove downtown, for example, or how certain past events may have contributed to the present action. Such descriptions or statements about the story action are an integral part of your storytelling. There is no reason for you to worry if you encounter these in your copy as long as you don’t use a verbal construction in them that forces the reader into some other viewpoint.
The first half of this week, my eyes just glazed over that. I just didn’t have ‘that question’ until I put in the work.
In the big scheme of things, is this a small and potentially insignificant example? Maybe to some. But the old me would have never looked back at this. He likely would have decided that this Bickham guy was pushing a formula that didn’t work in ‘the real world’ and all those rave reviews for his book were unwarranted.
-beatbox32
