POV struggles
On re-discovering one of my favorite series, having fun moments of panic, and trying writing something different from usual.
Hey there!
Every once in a while I’ll update you on my progress: it’ll help me keep myself accountable and reflect on how my projects are going, while also being a (hopefully) interesting behind-the-scenes-peek for you.
🗓️ Weekly rotation
I like the weekly rotation that I’ve started this year. In short, I dedicate every week to a different project, following this order:
Week 1: ✍🏼 Rewrite
Week 2: 📫 Newsletter
Week 3: ✍🏼 Rewrite
Week 4: 🗒️ Short fiction
[You can find more details about this schedule in the entry How to schedule time as a part-time writer.]
Just as I had hoped, the alternation keeps me interested in the different projects. It can be clunky to switch gears at the beginning of every week, and it has happened that I had to pause a project when I was excited about it. But I subscribe to the practice of “leaving the party when you’re still having fun”, and so far it’s been working well.
✍🏼 The “rewrite”
I have to rewrite the first draft of my fantasy novel. My plan to tackle the endeavor entailed reading a book on editing, The Story Grid1, and analyzing it.
I was successful! I was done taking notes on the Story Grid even a tad earlier than planned. I’m really excited about it: it’ll be an invaluable help to make sense of my first draft and come up with a strategy for the second.
The next step is to analyze not my first draft (sigh), but a couple of fiction books that I love: I want to understand what makes them what they are. The first on the chopping block is All Systems Red2, book 1 of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.
That didn’t start very smoothly, because instead of analyzing the first book I got lost re-reading the whole series. It was a joy to rediscover it (also, I’m shocked at how much I forgot about the plot). The setting is very different from my novel—The Murderbot Diaries is sci-fi, and my novel is fantasy, just to point out the obvious. But damn, I would be ecstatic if I’d be able to create such a relatable, funny, and interesting character as the protagonist of this series. The struggles and humor of SecUnit (it has a name, but it’s private) keep me coming back to these books, and I usually don’t re-read stories.
On the other hand, I made a bit of an unsettling discovery: many of the books that I like, including those that I want to analyze, are all written in first person.
I thought I wasn’t a fan of first-person POV (point of view). My draft is written in third person limited (meaning, I use the third person but limit the point of view to one character). But now I find myself reconsidering. It makes sense: what I look for in books is to connect with the characters, and the best way to do that is to be in their heads, for which the first person is the best POV.
Should I rewrite my novel in first person? I don’t have multiple POVs anyway—I stick with one character for the whole story. I wonder, how would that transform my story? Will it make it something different than what it is now?
That’s one of the worries that float in my head right now. POVs aside, there are so many possibilities: I could change so much of my story. Some things have to change, but some others I could change. But when is it too much? What amount of changes will make my story not better, but just different? And then I find myself wondering, “Wait, what is my story at all?” And I feel like I can’t grasp its kernel anymore.
That makes for fun moments of panic.
Then I remind myself that I haven’t started to analyze my draft yet and, before I panic, I should focus on the step ahead. So I’ll just do that.
📫 Newsletter and short fiction 🗒️
Now, shortly on the other couple of projects. I’ve been sick and busy in March, which slowed down the production of newsletter entries, but if I write three entries in a week I should be back on track (two is doable, three I have to admit is a bit of a stretch). We’ll see.
I started writing a short story! I wanted to get it done in one week, but that was way too optimistic.
I’m still at it. It’s a very different thing from my usual: first of all, there’s no magical element in it. It’s a realistic slice-of-life kind of story. I wrote in the past a couple of short stories that started realistically and then had a twist to them, but this one is just boring, lame reality, all the way through 😆
And I’m writing it in first person because I wanted to test it. I’m begrudgingly noticing that I seem to be writing faster, and it feels—maybe?—a tad easier. Ugh.
Anyway, I’m unsure what I’ll do with it once I finish it. I’ll see how I feel about it once it’s done, but for now, I don’t want to pressure myself into thinking that I have to publish it in any way. I’m treating it as a writing exercise.
That’s what I got, for now. What do you think of it? If you have any thoughts on what I shared, let me know by simply replying to this email or leaving a comment 😉
Take care,
Rye Youbs
See also
The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know by Shawn Coyne — this book is specifically for editing: it’s not that useful unless you have a draft to work on. My main takeaways: readers may not be fully aware of it, but they expect specific characters, scenes, and movements in your story, depending on the genre that you pick. The best way to learn what they are is by dissecting stories that work. Delivering all that is expected in a fresh, new way is the challenging part, and makes the difference between an okay story and a great one. The book also gives instructions on how to create a spreadsheet to analyze your draft—I love it.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells — a sci-fi novella that won a bunch of awards. I discovered it because Patrick Rothfuss recommended it in an episode of Writing Excuses (an amazing podcast hosted by great authors that give bite-sized tips on writing). It’s a short read: I finished it in one morning. I remember being extremely annoyed by the first chapter because I could not for the life of me understand what was going on, but then I kept on reading and… welp, I fell in love with the whole series. Right now it’s my favorite ❤️
Martha Wells is one of my favorite writers, though I’ve only read the first MurderBot book so far - saving it for a rainy day I guess? I recommend you check out some of her fantasy work, all third person, and all with just as compelling characters. I recommend the Raksura books and Death of the Necromancer in particular, but it’s all good! Personally, I have always felt that first person is a bit of a cheat when it comes to engaging the reader - the easy way out, so to speak, especially when combined with present tense. Which is not to say I haven’t enjoyed plenty of books in first person. I just have my own irrational literary biases 😂
Sure, happy to share! Totally fine if it doesn’t work for you, and plus some of my fave books are still in 3rd person. For me personally, I think writing from 1st person allowed me to better infuse the emotions of my characters into the story whereas when I wrote in 3rd person, my voice came across as more detached. Again, wishing you luck on all your projects!