Sigh, I empathize with these poor hounds. For right now I am in the midst of polishing a manuscript. Well, all we authors do that regularly so what's so bad about it?
Then let me explain. I am changing the multi Point of View of a romance novel into what is acceptable for a publisher's expections of said novel. The fewer POVs the better is the norm. And so here I am, albeit kickin' and screamin' working on "killing off my darlings". At first I thought what an impossibility! But it can be done.
In one scene with two secondary characters I was able to place my main character in a place where she overheard what was going on. Strangely, it was better than the original. In other scenes I wiped away a tear and deleted them. Ohhh, agony! But rereading I found that nobody would probably miss them (because they hadn't been introduced as essential characters.) If our readers could only read our original word packed manuscripts they'd probably get to know even more of the story, but we have to squeeze into the prescribed rules that publishers expect. OK, maybe they're absolutely correct.
Wouldn't it be good if we could tack on our deleted scenes like movie makersdo at the end of some videos. Many of them are great, some are hilarious, and some let you get to know the characters a little more. It would certainly be an
added bonus, especially if the scenes really aid to the depth of the story by all
those authentic details and descriptions an author must cut.
Still, if the professionals have to edit out whole scenes, even to deleting an interesting character, then who am I (rebellious spirit that I am) to buck at the 'Laws of the Medes and the Persians'?
Rita Stella Galieh is familiar with editing out the superfluous as she writes scripts along with her evangelist husband George for a Christian radio program broadcast Australia-wide. Her weekly blog at http://inspirationalromance.blogspot.com.au shares real life stories of how couples met. Besides contributing to several US nonfiction books, she has had two historical romances traditionally published and is now working on Book III of the trilogy, Signed Sealed Delivered, The Tie That Binds and A Parcel of Promises.
So true, Rita. I'm embarking on that road now and dreading it. Thanks for the great post. PS. what is an acceptable number of POV's in a novel?
ReplyDeleteHi Marion
DeleteAn editor who gave me an assessment said 3 POVs is the usual, but also added this:
While 3rdperson theoretically allows an unlimited number of POV characters(with only one per scene,)in practice it is considered the fewer viewpoints, the better.
So true, Rita. I am beginning a new project, working through John Truby's The Anatomy of Story in hopes of avoiding some of the major rewriting I've had to do on previous books. Lots of pre-writing and planning in this method, but hopefully fewer irrelevant darlings.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your pre-writing, LeAnne. I'm wired differently, I'm not sure how my characters are going to react until the novel's plot is well underway!
DeleteI've come across this blog just as I was agonizing about the same thing and had come to the conclusion that self-publishing would be my only choice other than rewriting my entire novel to extract the correct POV's. I'm still confused though because if I've written in the omniscient (limited) POV, surely that about covers everything? It's historical fiction which should perhaps make it permissable. I don't see the difference between omniscient limited and using two or three different POV's.
ReplyDeleteAll the great novels of the past have been written in the omniscient, Linda, but now it seems publishers prefer 3rd person limited. But who knows, if your story catches their interest, maybe they'd be quite happy to leave as is.
DeleteBut if not, don't balk at rewriting, it only makes the story sharper. IMHO
Yes, I've been there too, Rita. It's hard to remove parts that you are attached to, but in the end the story is the better for it - more focused perhaps. All the best with it. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen you think of the time you've put into those scenes you have to delete, Amanda, it's like losing a friend. Well, maybe not quite, but if you save them up like a material patch in a quilt, you might be able to use them somehow in another story!
DeleteThanks for this, Rita. It's so funny. I used this very term, "Murder your darlings" in a Topic of the Week in my South African online group the same day as this post appeared! "Snap!" I'm going to send on this URL to the group, although a couple of them are contributors and I see Linda has joined the discussion this time. (Welcome, Linda!)
ReplyDeleteAnd amen to the need to remove parts of a book. Almost exactly three years ago, I interviewed Sean Young on this blog (http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com/search/label/Sean%20Young). It is an extraordinary story, but when his book was picked up by a publisher, he had to remove one character entirely in order to bring the book down to the acceptable length. A huge job? You'd better believe it. But that's what writing's all about, right? And Violent Sands is a fabulous read.
Hi Shirley. It sure helps to hear others have gone through the same process. Maybe when we're submitting our book proposals we should say we're willing to cut to whatever length they want rather than missing the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteSince we're on this mystifying subject, I would like to ask if anyone can suggest a blog or book that specifically explains the difference between omniscient limited (seeing through the eyes or two or three characters) and 3rd person POV (seeing through the eyes of two or three characters). Is there actually a difference? And having written from one character's POV, can you then 'stand back' and comment on the general scene from the omniscient POV? You can see I'm confused, but so far nothing I've read addresses this.
ReplyDeleteRita, I think you're absolutely right. In my book proposal for my non-fiction book published last year by Revell I said the draft manuscript was finished (which is not necessary for a non-fiction book) but that I was willing to format it to meet the requirements of the publishers. After all, they know what they will be able
ReplyDeleteto sell.
Rita, it sounds like your minor characters want to be main characters in their own story :)
ReplyDeleteLinda, have you read Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King? There is a chapter on viewpoint with practical examples that may be helpful.
I think we can all associate Rita. Thanks
ReplyDelete