I. You. She and he.

I was working late on my outline and had a freak out. What is the point of view going to be?

My first draft was in the first person. I kept getting stuck because I wanted to convey what other characters were going through. My other drafts played with third person limited.

First person: This is the “I” narrator. The character is telling the reader the story. The reader experiences what the character experiences. It’s really great to read but too limiting for what I would like to do. Joe Clifford is a master at this one.

Second person: This is the “you” narrator. Bright Lights Big City is probably the best example I can think of. Great damn book. No idea how Jay McInerney http://www.jaymcinerney.com/ pulled it off.

Third person — two types here:

Omniscient: The all-knowing narrator. This style uses “he” or “she”, can climb into the mind of any character to convey what any “he” or “she” character is thinking and feeling at any time. I’m not that good.

Limited: The narrator is telling the story about “he” or “she”. It’s like the character is wearing a camera on his or her shoulder. This can be used with different characters with page breaks and chapters. Tom Pitts, currently one of my favorites to read, uses it so well he might actually be a wizard.

I’m going with third person limited. I have three characters, maybe four, I’d like to work with. I hope I can pull it off.

All said, the outline is done and my first chapter is under way. Writing is fun again.

Here are a few helpful links about point of view. Remember, no one will actually tell you which point of view to use. I know, I want my hand held too.

http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/what-point-of-view-should-you-use-in-your-novel

http://thewritepractice.com/point-of-view-guide/

http://www.thebeginningwriter.com/2012/03/look-at-different-types-of-point-of.html

http://nybookeditors.com/2016/01/all-about-point-of-view-which-one-should-you-use/

Inspiration

A honey trap.

It’s helpful, wild and wonderful when the sparks of inspiration fly. Creativity and motivation move through you with elegant perfection. The feeling can be transcendent. Lean back, absorb the endorphin rush and hopefully be inspired again.

What about after the dust settles and the haze of inspiration is gone? The work still needs to happen. Whether it’s a creative endeavor, exercise or a work project, if you don’t do the work the inspiration that got you there means nothing. Inspiration comes when it comes. You can’t depend on it.

I used to depend on it, until I got serious. I’d like to say I can push through the tough times without wishing for inspiration, but I’m not there yet. I missed a blog post last week, I didn’t work on my novel and no short stories were submitted. Life got complicated and I let it get in the way of what I love to do. What happened my mind and my spirit was interesting, maybe even inspirational. I got depressed. Not severely, but life had no vigor, greens were less green and reds were less red. If I’m sticking with the color metaphor, I was blue.

Creativity needs inspiration, but can’t live on such a fleeting concept. Work is the purveyor, and part of what work means is getting through the many uninspired moments. It’s bleak, I know, but it’s reality. I try to recognize inspiration and ration it, use small amounts until it wears off. For example, after a writer’s retreat or conference, I used to come home and blast off with wild abandon; but the rush of being inspired wore off quick.  Now, I try to recognize the inspiration and use the tools I have acquired to control the drip. I know it’s nuts, but that’s how I view it.

 

 

Resistance

“That voice in our heads is not us. It is Resistance.”          

                                                        –Steven Pressfield

Blind faith in my creative process gets me through the rough patches. Sometimes my fingers feel like anvils, and each attempt at a keystroke is mentally excruciating. I look at the words on the page, my characters, the story, and I hate it. A not so quiet voice in my head tells me its crap, it’ll take too long, I won’t succeed, blah, blah. It’s noise — a construction zone of chaos in my dome, looking for excuses to stop working, get angry and quit.

I’m too persistent. I don’t know how to quit. If this were easy I wouldn’t be doing it, so I relax, step back and see the big picture.

To say a novel is difficult to write is silly because, to me, it’s seemingly impossible. If the novel were a mountain and the process were the climb, then I’ve been climbing for years without seeing the top. I just have to believe the top is there. It’s that simple and that difficult. I might be nuts, yeah, I know.  But, so what. We are all nuts in some way. If you think you aren’t nuts then you are probably crazier than most, and that’s okay too.

In times like this, I tell myself to settle down, take a step back and appreciate other things. Family, the sun, the ocean.  Awareness of the simple things helps me reset. I like to look at life in the present and let the good soak in, but it ain’t easy.

 

A persistent villain.

When it comes to writing, I’ve been called a grinder. Talent lurks in the shadows, but mainly I work my ass off. I’m persistent, I take criticism on the chin and push forward. I’m teachable and determined to succeed. This hasn’t come easy. I’m not known for self-discipline.

I learned late in life that I can’t just snowboard, surf, party, go to work and all will be right with the world. I didn’t party so much, but man did I get good at surfing and snowboarding. To this day I stave off the adolescent who wants to stay up late, eat cheesecake, binge watch an awesome show, leave my dishes in the sink and still have life be awesome. It’s sad but true. Now, I self-parent.

I work from home. No one is putting me on a deadline, telling me what to do or checking in on my progress. It’s all me. I’m getting better at it, but I know I can get good at it. When I keep that in mind, I persist. Small accompliments, like publishing a short story, are victories — a positive feedback loop telling my subconscious that the discipline I have self inflicted is working.

Waking up every day to grind out a story, not knowing where it will lead, is Sisyphean. Although Sisyphus’s chore was a punishment from The Gods, it fits in the metaphor of what I do every day. Wake up, feed kids, get kids to school, come home, write, exercise (sometimes), pick up from school, make dinner, go to bed, repeat. At the end of the day I can say that life is pretty good, discipline is just a part of it.