Welcome to Day Ten of Fiction University’s At-Home Workshop: Idea to Novel in 31 Days. The first twelve days will focus on developing the story and getting all the pieces in place so we can more easily plot the entire novel.
Today, we’ll pick which character or characters we want to use to tell our stories.
Choose Your Point-of-View Character(s)
Odds are, the point-of-view character is going to be the protagonist, which makes choosing a point-of-view character fairly easy. But not every novel is told from a single point of view.
In mysteries or thrillers, it’s common for readers to see both sides of a tale with the protagonist and antagonist. Romances are often told from both the male and female leads. More epic tales—such as fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction—might use several characters to show various parts of the story.
To find the right point-of-view character(s) for your story, answer the following questions with your potential character(s) in mind:
1. If you don’t see that character’s point of view, what is lost?
2. Does every potential point-of-view character have her own plot or story goal?
3. How do the points of view work together to tell a larger story?
4. Which characters have the most to gain or lose?
5. Is more than one of these points of view needed?
6. If so, what do the multiple points of view allow you to accomplish?
When finished, you should have a better understand of which characters and points of view your story needs.
EXERCISE: Write down your point-of-view character(s) and explain why they make the best point of view for the novel.
Don’t forget to consider what the point-of-view character brings to the story. If the character is important enough to have part of the novel in her perspective, then she’ll directly affect plot and not be there solely to convey information to readers.
Those following along with the PYN book: Workshop Four goes into more extensive detail on the different types of point of view and their uses, and further discussions of narrative distance and filter words.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at determining your story’s theme.
Follow along at home with the book, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure. Get
more brainstorming questions and things to think about,
in-depth articles, and clear examples of every step from idea to
novel. Paperback: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | Google Books | Books-A-Million | Chapters/!ndio
Ebook: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Overdrive | Kobo | Inktera | Chapters/!ndio
Go step-by-step through plotting and writing a novel. Learn how to find and develop ideas, brainstorm stories from that first spark of inspiration, develop the right characters, setting, plots and subplots, as well as teach you how to identify where your novel fits in the market, and if your idea has what it takes to be a series.
With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure offers ten self-guided workshops with more than 100 different exercises to help you craft a solid novel. Learn how to:
- Create compelling characters readers will love
- Choose the right point of view for your story
- Determine the conflicts that will drive your plot (and hook readers!)
- Find the best writing process for your writing style
- Create a solid plot from the spark of your idea
- Craft your one-sentence pitch
- Create your summary hook blurb
- Develop a solid working synopsis And so much more!
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.
When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.
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