Point of View

General Point of View information:

No reason to redo what has already been done well: See This Page about the types of Point of View.

Writing in first person vs. third person is not only changing 'he'/'she' to 'I'.  When writing in first person, the story can be told with thoughts, emotions, and opinions mixed into the narration.

Pronouns & Point of View
*If you need help with knowing what word choice / pronouns go with what point of view, click here.

WRITING EXERCISE 1: Write a couple paragraphs (or use something you've already written) and change it between first person and third person. Second person is used less often, but you could try it out if you would like.
Past / Present Tense
We looked at two examples of first person writing:

• The Lightning Thief - First person past tense (I mumbled, etc.)
• Hunger Games - First person present tense (I prop, I swing, I always)

If you want to see the same passage of text in a past tense and a present tense form, here is a good example.

WRITING EXERCISE 2: Write a couple paragraphs (or use something you've already written) and change it between past and present tense.


Writing from the Opposite Gender's Point of View:
These are some of my favorite tips:

• Draw from real life; pay attention to conversation and actions of the other gender
• Men tend to speak more directly than women
• Avoid Stereotypes!

From: CrimsonLeague
More to read on Writing the Opposite Gender....
http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/01/16/writing-pov-the-opposite-sex/
http://learnasyouwrite.com/how-to-write-pov-for-the-opposite-sex/http://learnasyouwrite.com/how-to-write-pov-for-the-opposite-sex/

WRITING EXERCISE 3: (I recommend doing this in first person). Pick a scene you've been writing. Make a list of details a boy would notice and a girl would notice (and what they would both notice). Notice what's the same, what's different. Then write a paragraph from a male perspective (involving those details and in a relatively more direct style) and a paragraph from a female perspective (again, involving the details you think a girl would notice over a guy).
THE TEST: Give your two paragraphs to a reader, and ask them to tell you what gender narrator each paragraph is from.

Some Related Posts on Character / Voice:
Realistic and Exciting Characters
Notes on Tone, Style & Voice
Knowing Your Characters

Heroes and Villains

Heroes:

• Not perfect - they do need to have a flaw.
• Lame middle name - makes them humble/laughable
• Base - who they are before they start - DON'T have your character exist just for the plot
• Relate to them or have sympathy for them
• Ideal - the reader likes something about them - maybe they admire the character or wish they could be more like them.
• Paradox / Inner Conflict - they need to be pulled in different directions, to make them interesting and (hopefully) this can be connected to the plot.
• Past, Present, Future (Back story, experiences that have shaped them; then who they are now; future motivations and desires)

 Villains
*Remember that not everyone who opposes the protagonist is a villain. They may just be misguided, or they may have good reasons for their actions as well.

•  It is not an interesting story without conflict - you ALWAYS want to have some inner conflict in your story. Then a good book will have some external conflict (with others or with nature)
• Don't have your villain opposing the protagonist just to go against the protagonist. They will have other reasons, self-interest, twisted ideologies/misguided principles.
• What threat do they pose to the protagonist?
• This will make them more believable.
• Try not to make "cardboard cut-out" villains - try to make them original.
• Villains NEED to have a backstory - as good as the protagonist's.*
•  Making your Villain relateable as well will make your story more complex - which actually makes it more believable because in real life people are complex and everyone has bad/good sides.

*But also remember, though just about every character should have a back story, note every back story should be written down in the book, necessarily.

Examples:
Megamind

• You might think he is simply going against Metroman (because they talk about it in the movie)
• BUT he identifies with the role of the villain. He "plays the game" to please himself, and because it's fun, and
• "If I was the bad boy, I was going to be the baddest boy of them all."

Sauron (Lord of the Rings)

• Wasn't doing things just to be evil
• He had motivations: for himself
• The ring is evil, but it still does things to rejoin it's master

Earlier Post: Being Unique with your Characters

Talking about plot this week!

Cary will be talking to us about plot this week, so get ready for that. :)

Also, join the group on facebook!

How to Critique Prose

First, critique does not equate negativity. Focus on the good things they have in their writing too.

Cary talked to us about three broad categories that critiques fall under:

1. Syntax
- Spelling mistakes, sentence structure, grammar, technical details.
If it's a positive comment, mention it.
Unless it affects your reading experience, don't mention it. Those nit-picky details don't need to be brought up in the meeting, you can highlight mistakes / in your comments and email to the person later.
2. Structure
- What affects the flow of the piece and how it fits together. Beginning > Middle > End, how characters are introduced, how the plot is progressing.

3. Style
- Their naming choices, the language they decide to use, how they tell the story. This involves style, voice, tone, etc.

A critique is not an attack on your writing, we don't want to be attacking or defending. We are giving feedback, ideas, advice.

Poetry Critiques

By: Katria Hale

Transcribed By: Cary Carr

The basis of all poetry is the meaning of the words, and how they come together to invoke emotion in the reader.

When critiquing poetry, focus on how each word makes you feel, and what each word adds to the meaning and feeling of the work as a whole.

Look for repeated words and phrases, alliteration, and similar word constructions, as all of these can indicate greater meaning in the piece.

Poems do not have to rhyme in order to be poetry, but they should have some form of rhythm to them.

Example Critique from the Workshop on the Poem Abandoned Farmhouse:
The objects spoke, and it painted a picture of the people that used them. It is figurative language.
Repeated words and phrases: Something went wrong, he was not a farmer, the word “broken”, and words like leaky or empty. All of these showed that something happened to break the farm and the family that lived there.
The overall emotion of this piece is emptiness and desolation. Something went wrong, and everything is broken now.
Alliteration: good, Godfearing man; plum preserves; dolls in overalls; and lilacs and oilcloth.
Source: www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237648

Being Unique

Is your story unique enough? Is your character original?

Plot: Pick out a couple stories who have a similar plot to yours. List the differences between your plot and theirs - then decide if it's got enough to make it a new story.

Protagonist: Ask yourself these questions about your character.
1. What makes them different than the other people around them?
2. What makes them act differently than someone else would, in a certain situation?
3. What little things make them interesting - their pet peeves, their fears, their quirky habits?
4. If there is a romantic subject, what makes this character different than what would be the "typical" character? In other words, think of the "typical" character type out there that your protagonist would be most like, and identify what differences there are between the typical, and your original.
(You First Novel --Ann Rittenberg & Laura Whitcomb)

Antagonist: Our bad guys need originality too.
1. First thing to check: Is your antagonist just bad, because he is the bad guy? Usually you want him to have slightly-relateable drives. I.e. Voldemort wants to avoid death. Basically every other character in Harry Potter (as well as each of us) want to avoid death too. Gollum is drawn (addicted) to the power of the ring. Practically everyone else is too. The Wicked Witch of the West is upset that Dorothy's house killed the Witch of the East (You would be upset too if someone killed your friend, right?)
**Your bad guy needs humanizing / relatable / somewhat-understandable characteristics or motives**
This helps them feel real.
2. Think about the story from their perspective. Maybe they want to keep power. Maybe they honestly believe that pure bloods are better than muggles and that the world is better without muggle-borns.

Characters - Realistic & Exciting

Orson Scott Card makes a clear point in "Characters & Viewpoint" that your characters need to be interesting enough to have a story, but ordinary enough to be relatable and to avoid being over the top.

"[R]eaders tend to like a character who is at least superficially like themselves. But they quickly lose interest unless this particular character is somehow out of the ordinary. The character may wear the mask of the common man, but underneath his true face must always be the face of the hero." - Orson Scott Card

Okay, this is a funny post you might enjoy about a female writer trying to write a realistic guy:
http://blog.liviablackburne.com/2011/02/on-writing-realistic-male-characters.html

Here's one website on writing from the POV of the opposite gender:
http://learnasyouwrite.com/how-to-write-pov-for-the-opposite-sex/

I think sometimes we use the stereotypes too much, and other times I think they can help us - because sometimes stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.

Character Development Writing Exercises:
http://www.pgtc.com/~slmiller/characterexercises.htm
http://writerstrust.blogspot.com/2007/10/character-development-exercises.html
This is a fun little step-by-step get-to-know-you-character exercise I found:
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Realistic-Fiction-Character