Revising And the Big Questions

It is nearly August, and I am a disappointment to my Fitbit, and an embarrassment to my revision. Exactly what have I been doing with my time? Heck if I know.

Turning the character who dies into an actual, on-screen character instead of someone who’s just referred to by others. Contemplating whether the whole thing shouldn’t be in second person future perfect. Envisioning the whole thing as a big budget movie, and thinking of things that could happen to make the attractive people’s clothes should fall off, while leaving the underage and the unattractive fully clothed.

And then, the Viking longboat EXPLODED, ripping the clothes right off Sven, whose seven foot, 300 pound frame almost guaranteed that he would be caught in the first impact of the mach stem, whereas Elgar (who presented a much lower profile to the blast wave) was spared this horrible indignity.

We’ll put writing for Hollywood right next to writing for children on the list of things I shouldn’t do. (Hey! I wonder what an exploding longboat would do to a particularly yippy parrot.) No. Nevermind. That would be WRONG.

So, I have moved the convicted murderer on screen. That’s where I’m at. He’s a dandy creature. Really, he is… but that’s a change in POV. And it’s the kind of thing that might be worth stopping to think about before I do 500 pages of revision.

Later on, I kill off a different character, and there’s really, truly no way for that to happen without a shift in POV. ‘Cause, reasons.

What I have is in first person. I have a few qualms about that. Always did. But it seemed to work, until I started revising.

The real question is whether I’d like to change the entire thing so that it will match, or if I just want to add a number of scenes from other POVs. Either way, it’s going to be a big change.

And now is the time to decide. Not later, not after I’ve already done the revision.

So, there I am. A few dozen pages in, and trying to make up my mind.

7 Comments

  1. A.S. Akkalon

    Reply

    My Fitbit has forgotten I exist.

    At least I don’t have to face the big existential questions about whether I’ve used the right POV – I refuse to write novels in anything but third person past tense. Possibly for precisely this reason. Good luck!

    • Reply

      Thanks. I’m not sure this particular experiment is working out well. Maybe a first person cookie with gooey third person chips?

  2. Lita

    Reply

    Short stories are my comfort zone – far less faffing about with POVs, as I’m finding with this first attempt at writing a novel. To get through the first draft, I decided to go POV third limited using the MC. I thought it worked rather well. Then I started revisions. Hmm. I discovered this other character, important though she is she’s not the MC or main protagonist, started taking over. Cheeky maiden. She’s now been brought to heel and is back where she belongs: where the MC protagonist can keep an eye on her. 🙂

  3. Reply

    I’ve just started revising my second novel and going through some of the same questions. Do I write scenes from the POV of my serial killer? If so, how gross do I make them? Which POV do I use for my protagonist? I couldn’t decide when drafting, so I have scenes in 1st past tense, 1st present tense, and close 3rd. I really like 1st present, but I keep reading that it’s primarily used in YA novels, so I think I’ve landed on 1st past. Till I change my mind again. Good luck sorting yours out! And the “I am a disappointment to my FitBit” line had me laughing out loud. I disappoint mine on a regular basis.

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