The book I held in my hand is the oldest record yet is the best preserved. The cover is a burnished silver metal, approximately eleven by seventeen inches. Despite its age it has lost none of its sheen. When I opened the case the pages were not made of paper, or parchment. They are made of a thin, semi-opaque film that resembles vellum. I could remove any page with a gentle tug. When reinserted they reattach to the spine. the odd thing is they can only put back in the proper place.
While I scanned the first pages of the strange journal the old gentleman explained what they had so far translated..
"As near as I can figure this history predates our own by eight thousand years. They call their world Aspera, a planet on the far of another galaxy. That record you’re holdin’ speaks of endless battles between the Killan Kingdom and the Quinta Empire. Not so different from our own medieval history."
“The war between the Killan Kingdom and the Quinta Empire started over a broken trust. A lie told by some politician. It caused the start the class wars and plunged the two nations into chaos for a thousand years. The lulls of peace were short-lived. Battles between the two nations were long, heated and bloody. After a century of carnage, only the two nations remained. Even hardened veterans sought their gods and plead with them for peace. In the start of the second millennium of war, a year long, bloody battle between the kingdom and the empire leaves the king's youngest son, Tyree the royal family’s only survivor. In that year a young untested boy of seventeen took the throne, guided my his uncle, the Baron Colin McCalin.”
“With no male heirs to assume the Quinta throne, eighteen, Mirasol Santiago, the Emperor’s only daughter, becomes Empress under the watchful eye of her guardian the Countess Sofia Rancaño.”
“For two years a battlefield truce maintained the status-quo and many hoped without hope it would become a permanent peace Then messengers from the Empire and the Kingdom brought word to each of the leaders guardians the other was are ready to talk. The accords were to be forged and signed in the fabled valley of the Silvia people.”
.
“Against her will, Marisol is taken on the journey to the Silvan valley to meet with King Tyree. By the time they come face to face, however, they both have dealt with treachery and attempted assassinations.”
“That as far as the records take us so far. The rest is still in need of translation.”
"How soon will you complete the work," I said.
"'Twill take several more years, He said. "What we have is enough ta get you ta start writing."
I sat down and started taking notes.
The first draft of the book was issued in a small run for reviewers. Te one common complaint I received was the novel was too long for Science fiction. After conferring with the owners of the journals was split the book into two parts and did and extensive. With the translations completed I can now proceed to finish the entire saga. I hope you'll pick up a copy and enjoy the story as much as I did writing it
The MacKenna Saga. The ins and Outs of Writing
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
The MacKenna Saga
Just finished the last read through of Dreams & Deceptions, the first book in The MacKenna Saga. NewLink Publishing should have it available by May 15th in most E Reader formats. By the end of May it should be available through them and myself in paperback. The second book Plots & Prophecies is going into final edit and proof read and the third book Rescues & Revenge and the fourth Vindication and Loss are finished and ready for the NewLink editorial staff editor. The plan is to release one book every 4-6 months, until the full series is released.
Monday, May 5, 2014
The records
In 1997 while my co-author Jo and I continued to evolve the Tyranny Series, I began to consider various ideas for a series of my own I wanted to develop. On the third day of a science fiction convention I attended, I found my attention riveted on an amusing conversation between a group of five self-proclaimed alien hunters. They were in the midst of a heated discussion about what if anything Area 51 holds, the supposed aliens at Wright-Patterson, the Dulce Papers and the granddaddy of all the alien conspiracies, Roswell, New Mexico.
I listened until someone behind me said, “They all sound a bit off-center, wouldn’t cha say?”
Right away the brogue caught my attention. I turned and stared an elderly man. The first thing I noticed about the old gentleman was his stature. Just a bit shorter and I would have thought I was being addressed by a leprechaun. His eyes were a mischievous, luminous green, his smile merry and infectious. His full head of dark red hair made me jealous and yearn for my youth.
I shrugged. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”
“What are your thoughts about visitors from outer space?”
“I have a far different idea about life beyond this world.”
He winked, pointed and said, “I overheard you speakin’ ta that man earlier about human life on other worlds.”
I winced. “I thought I’d kept that quiet.”
He laughed, “Not so you’d notice, and me age hasn’t affected me hearing.”
We fell into a conversation that had me skipping the next two lectures I’d signed up for. I have to tell you, an Irish brogue has always fascinated me. Shakespeare may have written English masterfully, but it took the Irish to make it musical. After two hours listening to this man’s stories, he came around to his point.
“If you’ll be stoppin’ by the place me grandson and I are rentin’ ‘til the end of the week, I’ll be sharing with ya some records of people from outside this world. I promise you ‘tis a worthy trip for a tale worth retellin’.”
I laughed. “What’s the catch? How much will it cost me to see these records.”
The old man gave me a patient smile, no doubt developed by dealing with other belligerent skeptics such as myself. He pulled out a business card and wrote an address on the back. “"Tis the chance of a lifetime lad. I’ve approached three other authors and I’ve been laughed at in the same manner. You’ve ‘til Friday and then we’re gone.”
He rose and I watched him turn the corner and disappear.
Ax murders, con men, aliens in disguise? Something in the old man’s eyes and his story rang true. I ran to my room, emptied my wallet of everything except a few twenties and my drivers license, just in case. I grabbed my laptop, decided the elevator was too slow and raced downstairs I got directions at the front desk and was waiting when they arrived home.
A smile spread across the old gentleman’s face when he saw me. He invited me in and without any delay took me to a bedroom set up as an office. Across one wall, a bank of IBM computers squatted on metal baker’s racks. The machines whirled, lights blinked and the display screens were all busy. In the far corner sat a large, upright trunk, hinged down the center. After the grandson checked on the computers, he stepped over to the trunk and pulled the two halves apart. I stared, open-mouthed upon their treasures of old scrolls, journals and one very unusual book. (More on that in a future post.)
The scrolls and journals were old. How old will never be determined as I said, the owners will never allow tests run on them. According to these men these records have passed from father to son, mother to daughter, uncle to nephew, aunt to niece, and cousin to cousin for more than 1500 years. Each generation has added their experiences and memories to the family's collection. The records grew until the volumes and materials have become so numerous they were difficult to manage. Some so fragile they cannot be handled except with extreme care.
With the advent of computers these men began the arduous task of scanning all these records into digital files. The project took years and consumed a huge amounts of storage back then. Even with today’s hard drive standards the capacity needed is huge. Due to their fragile condition most of the original manuscripts and scrolls have been preserved and hidden away.
The earliest scrolls, such as the ones I now gazed upon, were written in an unknown language and remained a tantalizing mystery until 1996. In August of that year, the grandson discovered the key, his Rosetta stone as it were, to decipher the language. With the aid of these computers, the process of translating the scrolls was well underway. The work of converting the ancient runes and other symbols to English yielded some startling revelations. With the first few scrolls translated, grandfather and grandson realized that the ancient manuscripts were more than just family history.
While many argue, theorize and postulate about the possibility of life beyond our planet, the presence of these journals proves, at least to us who have seen and handled the original materials or viewed the translations, there is human life on other worlds. There is no doubt some of those people long ago traveled to Earth and left behind records and more. I was asked to put the story of their lives in their universe, their accidental journey to our planet, their entire story into words.
That I have chosen to start this account with Kalen MacKenna’s story, in a place that is considered the middle was a choice left up to me. 'Dreams & Deceptions ' is by no means the beginning of the MacKenna Saga, it is to me the place where the Saga begins.
I listened until someone behind me said, “They all sound a bit off-center, wouldn’t cha say?”
Right away the brogue caught my attention. I turned and stared an elderly man. The first thing I noticed about the old gentleman was his stature. Just a bit shorter and I would have thought I was being addressed by a leprechaun. His eyes were a mischievous, luminous green, his smile merry and infectious. His full head of dark red hair made me jealous and yearn for my youth.
I shrugged. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”
“What are your thoughts about visitors from outer space?”
“I have a far different idea about life beyond this world.”
He winked, pointed and said, “I overheard you speakin’ ta that man earlier about human life on other worlds.”
I winced. “I thought I’d kept that quiet.”
He laughed, “Not so you’d notice, and me age hasn’t affected me hearing.”
We fell into a conversation that had me skipping the next two lectures I’d signed up for. I have to tell you, an Irish brogue has always fascinated me. Shakespeare may have written English masterfully, but it took the Irish to make it musical. After two hours listening to this man’s stories, he came around to his point.
“If you’ll be stoppin’ by the place me grandson and I are rentin’ ‘til the end of the week, I’ll be sharing with ya some records of people from outside this world. I promise you ‘tis a worthy trip for a tale worth retellin’.”
I laughed. “What’s the catch? How much will it cost me to see these records.”
The old man gave me a patient smile, no doubt developed by dealing with other belligerent skeptics such as myself. He pulled out a business card and wrote an address on the back. “"Tis the chance of a lifetime lad. I’ve approached three other authors and I’ve been laughed at in the same manner. You’ve ‘til Friday and then we’re gone.”
He rose and I watched him turn the corner and disappear.
Ax murders, con men, aliens in disguise? Something in the old man’s eyes and his story rang true. I ran to my room, emptied my wallet of everything except a few twenties and my drivers license, just in case. I grabbed my laptop, decided the elevator was too slow and raced downstairs I got directions at the front desk and was waiting when they arrived home.
A smile spread across the old gentleman’s face when he saw me. He invited me in and without any delay took me to a bedroom set up as an office. Across one wall, a bank of IBM computers squatted on metal baker’s racks. The machines whirled, lights blinked and the display screens were all busy. In the far corner sat a large, upright trunk, hinged down the center. After the grandson checked on the computers, he stepped over to the trunk and pulled the two halves apart. I stared, open-mouthed upon their treasures of old scrolls, journals and one very unusual book. (More on that in a future post.)
The scrolls and journals were old. How old will never be determined as I said, the owners will never allow tests run on them. According to these men these records have passed from father to son, mother to daughter, uncle to nephew, aunt to niece, and cousin to cousin for more than 1500 years. Each generation has added their experiences and memories to the family's collection. The records grew until the volumes and materials have become so numerous they were difficult to manage. Some so fragile they cannot be handled except with extreme care.
With the advent of computers these men began the arduous task of scanning all these records into digital files. The project took years and consumed a huge amounts of storage back then. Even with today’s hard drive standards the capacity needed is huge. Due to their fragile condition most of the original manuscripts and scrolls have been preserved and hidden away.
The earliest scrolls, such as the ones I now gazed upon, were written in an unknown language and remained a tantalizing mystery until 1996. In August of that year, the grandson discovered the key, his Rosetta stone as it were, to decipher the language. With the aid of these computers, the process of translating the scrolls was well underway. The work of converting the ancient runes and other symbols to English yielded some startling revelations. With the first few scrolls translated, grandfather and grandson realized that the ancient manuscripts were more than just family history.
While many argue, theorize and postulate about the possibility of life beyond our planet, the presence of these journals proves, at least to us who have seen and handled the original materials or viewed the translations, there is human life on other worlds. There is no doubt some of those people long ago traveled to Earth and left behind records and more. I was asked to put the story of their lives in their universe, their accidental journey to our planet, their entire story into words.
That I have chosen to start this account with Kalen MacKenna’s story, in a place that is considered the middle was a choice left up to me. 'Dreams & Deceptions ' is by no means the beginning of the MacKenna Saga, it is to me the place where the Saga begins.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Until, ‘til and till
Until, ‘til and till
Our discussion today is about the use of these words started in our writers group one evening when one of the members was reading a Nordic tale he written and his sentence read something like, “Wait till Papa comes home.” While this member insisted that his use of “Till” was proper, most of us disagreed. Since the long form of the sentence is, “Wait until Papa comes home.” Most of us felt the proper form should have been, “Wait ‘til Papa comes home.”, a truncation of until, with the missing un marked by an apostrophe.
Open-and-shut case. Except that it’s not and it’s been bothering me. I had some spare time, do I did a little research. I had seen people use till in that context? Why would they do that? I looked the word Till up and found a completely different meaning.
As a verb: tilled, till·ing, tills-- To prepare ones land for the raising of crops, as by plowing and harrowing; cultivate.
First off, let’s look at some proponents of each form: ‘Tils:
A Narrative History of Black Power in America: Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour
Aimee Mann’s 80s band, ‘Til Tuesday, Aimee Mann, an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist, best known for fronting the Boston New Wave band.
Brad Garrett’s follow-up to Everybody Loves Raymond ‘Til Death.
In these titles the un is left out and the apostrophe is inserted to indicate shorting of the word ‘Until’
Use of Till
Tills:
The British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part,(Surprise! it’s the Brits again.) paved the way for our American Sitcom All in the Family
American Movies (1940, 1944, 1946,) Till we Meet Again,(Talk about remaking a movie different stars, different plots."Hollywood will remake movies until they get it wrong.") From Dusk Till Dawn, (Some writers and film makers on this side of the pond never get the word.)
As I once told my writers group, Shakespeare may have used English masterfully, but it took the Irish to make it musical. So when penning Irish dialogue, words truncated are written this way
'Tis, It is.
'Twill, It will.
'Twould it would.
Til is hard to find attestations of — people seem to be pretty good at remembering to put apostrophes at the words when the first syllable is removed.) So why would anyone spell it till if it’s coming from until? Well, it turns out that till isn’t derived from until. Till and ’til are actually two different words with two different etymologies. Till is the earlier form, attested as early as 1330; Until is actually derived from till, not the other way around as in ’til (a back formation which showed up much later). Both are common, so it’s up to you which one you like. Till is commoner in Scotland, where it can be used like dative to in some situations, while ’til is commoner in the U.S. Take your pick, but for me 'Til is the proper substitute for the word until.
Our discussion today is about the use of these words started in our writers group one evening when one of the members was reading a Nordic tale he written and his sentence read something like, “Wait till Papa comes home.” While this member insisted that his use of “Till” was proper, most of us disagreed. Since the long form of the sentence is, “Wait until Papa comes home.” Most of us felt the proper form should have been, “Wait ‘til Papa comes home.”, a truncation of until, with the missing un marked by an apostrophe.
Open-and-shut case. Except that it’s not and it’s been bothering me. I had some spare time, do I did a little research. I had seen people use till in that context? Why would they do that? I looked the word Till up and found a completely different meaning.
As a verb: tilled, till·ing, tills-- To prepare ones land for the raising of crops, as by plowing and harrowing; cultivate.
First off, let’s look at some proponents of each form: ‘Tils:
A Narrative History of Black Power in America: Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour
Aimee Mann’s 80s band, ‘Til Tuesday, Aimee Mann, an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist, best known for fronting the Boston New Wave band.
Brad Garrett’s follow-up to Everybody Loves Raymond ‘Til Death.
In these titles the un is left out and the apostrophe is inserted to indicate shorting of the word ‘Until’
Use of Till
Tills:
The British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part,(Surprise! it’s the Brits again.) paved the way for our American Sitcom All in the Family
American Movies (1940, 1944, 1946,) Till we Meet Again,(Talk about remaking a movie different stars, different plots."Hollywood will remake movies until they get it wrong.") From Dusk Till Dawn, (Some writers and film makers on this side of the pond never get the word.)
As I once told my writers group, Shakespeare may have used English masterfully, but it took the Irish to make it musical. So when penning Irish dialogue, words truncated are written this way
'Tis, It is.
'Twill, It will.
'Twould it would.
Til is hard to find attestations of — people seem to be pretty good at remembering to put apostrophes at the words when the first syllable is removed.) So why would anyone spell it till if it’s coming from until? Well, it turns out that till isn’t derived from until. Till and ’til are actually two different words with two different etymologies. Till is the earlier form, attested as early as 1330; Until is actually derived from till, not the other way around as in ’til (a back formation which showed up much later). Both are common, so it’s up to you which one you like. Till is commoner in Scotland, where it can be used like dative to in some situations, while ’til is commoner in the U.S. Take your pick, but for me 'Til is the proper substitute for the word until.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Dreams & Deceptions Book Trailer
This site is the MacKenna Saga, but so far I posted a lot about writing and not much about The Saga.
The series I've been working on, is finally ready to see daylight. The first book Dreams & Deceptions is due out in the next 90 days. I will be trying to release the next book Plots and Prophecies 90 days after that, then keep going until the series is complete
It's in final proof read at this time to check for any typos or glaring errors. It will be released on smashwords.com so it will downloadable in most E reader formats. and in paperback through NewLink Publishing (Website Down at this time for relocation and maintenance)
In the meantime Standby Studios created a short trailer as a preview. Click on the link below, enjoy, and please let me know what you think.
http://youtu.be/czt7DxE8Kjo
The series I've been working on, is finally ready to see daylight. The first book Dreams & Deceptions is due out in the next 90 days. I will be trying to release the next book Plots and Prophecies 90 days after that, then keep going until the series is complete
It's in final proof read at this time to check for any typos or glaring errors. It will be released on smashwords.com so it will downloadable in most E reader formats. and in paperback through NewLink Publishing (Website Down at this time for relocation and maintenance)
In the meantime Standby Studios created a short trailer as a preview. Click on the link below, enjoy, and please let me know what you think.
http://youtu.be/czt7DxE8Kjo
Monday, January 20, 2014
A contrast: The State of Illinois vs Oklahoma
These
two e-mails are combines, the first about Illinois and
the second about Oklahoma. Together they make an make
an interesting contrast . . .
"A State with No Republicans!" Makes ya wanna move there, doesn't it? (Not!) The Great State of Illinois- A wonderful state with zero Republicans.
"A State with No Republicans!" Makes ya wanna move there, doesn't it? (Not!) The Great State of Illinois- A wonderful state with zero Republicans.
Part 1 ---ILLINOIS
Some interesting data on the State of Illinois ... There are more people on welfare in Illinois than there are people working. Chicago pays the highest wages to teachers than anywhere else in the U.S. averaging $110,000/year. Their pensions average 80-90% of their income. Wow, are Illinois and Chicago great or what? Be sure to read till the end. I've neve heard it explained better. Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago? Body count: In the last six months, 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago. 221 killed in Iraq. Be aware Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the entire US.
Here's the Chicago chain of command: President: Barack Hussein Obama · Senator: Dick Durbin · House Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr. · Governor: Pat Quinn · House leader: Mike Madigan · Atty. Gen.: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike) · Mayor: Rohm Emanuel · The leadership in Illinois - all Democrats. · Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago. · Of course, they're all blaming each other. · Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any! · Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!
State pension fund $78 Billion in debt, worst in country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!
Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!
This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois. And he's going to 'fix' Washington politics for us?
George Ryan is no longer Governor, he is in prison.
He was replaced by Rob Blagoyavic who is, that's right, also in prison.
And Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned a couple of weeks ago, because he is fighting to not be sent to...that's right, prison.
The Land of Lincoln, where our governors make our license plates. What?
As long as they keep providing entitlements to the population of Chicago, nothing is going to change, except the state will go broke before the country does.
"Anybody who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him better take a closer look at the American Indian."
Don’t forget Detroit, another good example…
PART 2--- OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA - may soon have plenty of new residents!
THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING, AND TRUE ... PLEASE READ IT!
Oklahoma is the only state that Obama did not win even one county in the last election... While everyone is focusing on Arizona’s new law, look what Oklahoma has been doing!!!
An update from Oklahoma:
Oklahoma law passed, 37 to 9 an amendment to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance to the state capitol. The feds in D.C., along with the ACLU, said it would be a mistake. Hey this is a conservative state, based on Christian values... HB 1330
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Oklahoma recently passed a law in the state to incarcerate all illegal immigrants, and ship them back to where they came from unless they want to get a green card and become an American citizen. They all scattered. HB 1804. This was against the advice of the Federal Government, and the ACLU, they said it would be a mistake.
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Recently we passed a law to include DNA samples from any and all illegal's to the Oklahoma database, for criminal investigative purposes. Madam Pelosi said it was unconstitutional SB 1102
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. Joining Texas, Montana and Utah as the only states to do so.
More states are likely to follow: Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Carolina’s, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi and Florida. Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again. HJR 1003
The federal Government has made bold steps to take away our guns. Oklahoma, last summer, passed a law confirming people in this State have the right to open carry, in addition to previously passed concealed carry, and transport them in their vehicles. I'm sure that was a setback for the criminals. The Liberals didn't like it -- But....
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Recently, the state has voted and passed a law that ALL drivers’ license exams will be printed in English, and only English, and no other language. They have been called racist for doing this, but the fact is that ALL of the road signs are in English only. If you want to drive in Oklahoma, you must read and write English. Really simple.
By the way, the Liberals don't like any of this either
Guess what... who cares... Oklahoma is doing it anyway.
If you like it, pass it on, if you don't then delete it... Thanks
Guess what: the people I'm sending this to, will send it on. Well, at least the ones who love and believe in freedom will. Most of the ones who voted for Obama would have voted for "Jack the Ripper" if he had been black — the absolute epitome of racism in America.
In God We Trust
Oklahoma is the only state that Obama did not win even one county in the last election... While everyone is focusing on Arizona’s new law, look what Oklahoma has been doing!!!
An update from Oklahoma:
Oklahoma law passed, 37 to 9 an amendment to place the Ten Commandments on the front entrance to the state capitol. The feds in D.C., along with the ACLU, said it would be a mistake. Hey this is a conservative state, based on Christian values... HB 1330
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Oklahoma recently passed a law in the state to incarcerate all illegal immigrants, and ship them back to where they came from unless they want to get a green card and become an American citizen. They all scattered. HB 1804. This was against the advice of the Federal Government, and the ACLU, they said it would be a mistake.
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Recently we passed a law to include DNA samples from any and all illegal's to the Oklahoma database, for criminal investigative purposes. Madam Pelosi said it was unconstitutional SB 1102
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Several weeks ago, we passed a law, declaring Oklahoma a Sovereign state, not under the Federal Government directives. Joining Texas, Montana and Utah as the only states to do so.
More states are likely to follow: Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Carolina’s, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi and Florida. Save your confederate money, it appears the South is about to rise up once again. HJR 1003
The federal Government has made bold steps to take away our guns. Oklahoma, last summer, passed a law confirming people in this State have the right to open carry, in addition to previously passed concealed carry, and transport them in their vehicles. I'm sure that was a setback for the criminals. The Liberals didn't like it -- But....
Guess what... Oklahoma did it anyway.
Recently, the state has voted and passed a law that ALL drivers’ license exams will be printed in English, and only English, and no other language. They have been called racist for doing this, but the fact is that ALL of the road signs are in English only. If you want to drive in Oklahoma, you must read and write English. Really simple.
By the way, the Liberals don't like any of this either
Guess what... who cares... Oklahoma is doing it anyway.
If you like it, pass it on, if you don't then delete it... Thanks
Guess what: the people I'm sending this to, will send it on. Well, at least the ones who love and believe in freedom will. Most of the ones who voted for Obama would have voted for "Jack the Ripper" if he had been black — the absolute epitome of racism in America.
In God We Trust
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Three sets of words that are easily confused
Our language is in constant
flux. Today’s I’m discussing three sets of words that are easily confuse: All together: (as two words). Altogether”(single
word). All ready (as two words). Already
(single word). All right” (as two words). Alright” (single word). I’ll explain why
one of the six is not a real word. All Together, and Altogether, let’s tackle
the easy stuff first, words that really are words.
All Together and AltogetherReal words. The first pair is, All together, and Altogether. The two-word phrase, all together, means “collectively”, Everyone is doing something all in one place all or at once, i.e., “We sang the Christmas carols all together.”
All Together and AltogetherReal words. The first pair is, All together, and Altogether. The two-word phrase, all together, means “collectively”, Everyone is doing something all in one place all or at once, i.e., “We sang the Christmas carols all together.”
If you like, you can break up this two-word saying, as in “We all sang the Christmas carols together.” “Altogether,” spelled as one word, means entirely, as in “She’s altogether too tired to continue.” You certainly can’t do the separation trick here. “She’s all too tired together. Again, it doesn’t make sense.
All Ready and Already
Real words. The second pair of often-confused words is, All ready, and Already”. “All ready” used as two words means connotes preparedness i.e., “The pies are all ready to be eaten.” You can separate the two words and the sentence still makes sense: “All the pies are ready to be eaten.” Already, used as a single word is concerned with time; it means, previously, i.e. “I can’t believe you ate the pies already.” As with altogether, as a single word, you cannot do the separation trick, and say, “I can’t believe you ate all the pies ready.” That doesn’t make sense.
All Right and Alright
One of these is not like the other. We’ve come to the third pair of words. At the beginning, I said one of the words isn’t a real word. Is it “all right” as two words or “alright” as a single word? In his book Lapsing Into a Comma, grammarian Bill Walsh puts it this way. “We word nerds have known since second grade that alright is not all right. He’s talking about Alright being used as one word, and it’s not okay. Another style guide agrees, saying that “alright” (as a single word) is a misspelling of all right, which means, satisfactory, permissible, or adequate.”
One of these is not like the other. We’ve come to the third pair of words. At the beginning, I said one of the words isn’t a real word. Is it “all right” as two words or “alright” as a single word? In his book Lapsing Into a Comma, grammarian Bill Walsh puts it this way. “We word nerds have known since second grade that alright is not all right. He’s talking about Alright being used as one word, and it’s not okay. Another style guide agrees, saying that “alright” (as a single word) is a misspelling of all right, which means, satisfactory, permissible, or adequate.”
You might hear the two-word phrase in sentences such as these: “His cooking was just all right” or “Is it all right if I wait in the car?” It seems pretty simple: go ahead and use “all right” as two words, and stay away from “alright” the one word.”
As always you’ll find other opinions and contradictions. The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style is one book that seems to contradict itself. It states that “alright” as one word “has never been accepted as standard. It goes on to explain that “all right” as two words and “alright” as one word have two distinct meanings. It gives the example of the sentence “The totals are all right.” When you use “all right” as two words, the sentence means “the figures are all accurate.” When you write, “The totals are alright.”, this source explains that the sentence means “the figures are satisfactory.” I’m not sure what to make of this contradiction, but Bryan Garner, the esteemed lawyer, lexicographer, and teacher notes this, “alright” as one word, may be gaining a shadowy acceptance in British English. (As in the word Toward and Towards. Toward is the accepted usage in American English. Towards is the British usage.) I checked other grammar sources, including a large dictionary and they all reject “alright” as one word.
Summary
As I stated earlier, language is always in flux, so perhaps “alright” as one word is gaining a small footing. Some of you may get confused about how to use each of the. It’s just a matter of remembering what each phrase or word means. If you tend to forget, just use the dictionary to check the spelling, and remember at the present time, “alright” as one word is currently not acceptable English, though it may become so in the future.
As I stated earlier, language is always in flux, so perhaps “alright” as one word is gaining a small footing. Some of you may get confused about how to use each of the. It’s just a matter of remembering what each phrase or word means. If you tend to forget, just use the dictionary to check the spelling, and remember at the present time, “alright” as one word is currently not acceptable English, though it may become so in the future.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Omniscient Point of View
Omniscient Point of View
The omniscient POV is most closely associated with nineteenth century novels. Simply put is the author saying to the reader, Let me tell you a story.” Omniscience, means "all knowing,". The authors of these novels allow a third person narrator to assume godlike powers.
1) They know everything about the characters and can enter the minds of any one of them, whenever they choose.
2) They can enter the minds of the cat on the windowsill and the spider in the barn also.
3) They know everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, and they have complete freedom to move through time in any direction.
4) They also have complete freedom to move through space - and so they can move from one room to another (and back again) in the middle of a scene, or to the other side of town, or even to the other side of the world one hundred years ago.
When using an Omniscient POV, new writers believe anything goes, it doesn’t. Some writer assume (wrongly so) that head jumping is an omniscient viewpoint. While I agree with Science fiction author Nancy Kress’ statement: "Writers are gods. We get to create entire worlds, populate them, and even...destroy them. Of course, writers can do this in any viewpoint, but omniscient point of view adds another layer to the process." The omniscient POV can be annoying, especially when it’s mishandled.
Head Hopping Verses Omniscient POV
As stated before some writers head hop (jumping from character to character in a scene) and try to pass it off as Third Person Omniscient.
In my post on Third Person Multi, I uses the detective in the interrogation room. Let take that and turn it into a Third Person Omniscient.
Detective Fay laced her fingers together, propped her elbows on the silver table and leaned forward. Tapping her lower lip with her thumbs, she eyed the emaciated man across from her. The interview room, set up only for interrogations, had no paintings on the walls and nothing adorning the tabletop between the Detective and her suspect. The new, enlarged two-way mirror, sat in the wall directly behind her head. She'd been chasing this jackal for months and all Fay wanted now was his confession.
"So Charlie, let’s go over this again. Where were you on the evening of November 26th?"
Charlie’s eyed widened for brief second before he dropped his stone mask in place. He opened his mouth then clamped it shut again. Detective Fay’s stared bored into the man and caused Charlie’s fear level to shoot up like the temperature on an August afternoon in Phoenix.
Charlie baulked. He didn't know what Detective Fay had on him, but a sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. Fay had him cornered and he knew wasn’t leaving here without a brand new, shiny set of bracelets decorating his wrists.
The narrator’s telling the story, it may be Fay’s boss, her husband, or a reported close to the police department. The narrator is telling us what going on and the only time we hear from the characters is in their dialogue.
Now take head hopping.
Detective Fay laced her fingers together, propped her elbows on the silver table and leaned forward. Tapping her lower lip with her thumbs, she eyed the emaciated man across from her. I’ve been chasing this jackal for months. The interview room, set up for interrogations, had no paintings on the walls and nothing adorning the tabletop between them. I know he did it. The new, enlarged two-way mirror, sat directly behind her head. All I need is this cold bastard’s confession. "So Charlie, let’s go over this again. Where were you on the evening of November 26th?"
Charlie opened his mouth then clamped it shut again. What could she have found? His eye widened for brief second. I cleaned up real good. I never miss anything. His stone mask settled into place as Detective Fay’s stared bored into him. In spite his best efforts, Charlie could feel his fear level shooting up like the temperature on an August afternoon in Phoenix. What-the-hell has she got? A sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. I can get out of this, she hasn't got me cornered. I’m leaving here without that shiny set of bracelets she’s been wanting to decorate my wrists with.
That’s a simple scene, but from who’s POV. It’s neither Charlie’s nor is it Detective Fay’s, and there is no narrator. We jump from head to head and never really know who is telling the story. If it’s Charlie, do I really what to read a book where the cold blooded murder is the protagonist. If Detective Fay’s is the protagonist then I want to remain in her POV and let interaction and reactions to Charlie fill in his character for me.
Does Omniscient Point of View Have a Place Today?
Yes, but not much of one. It has all but disappeared, due to readers' changing tastes. As readers have grown more sophisticate they demand stories told from a First Person POV or a Third Person Multiple POV. The want to be drawn into the story and try to imagine the characters and setting in their own minds, not have a narrator lay out the characters and the story for them.
However, if nineteenth century omniscient point of view novels are your thing and you think you can write a twenty-first century version, go for it. Just be aware of two things:
1.Technically, it is a most demanding viewpoint to use. You will really have to know what you’re doing to write a third person omniscient novel and not look amateurish. It’s the sign of a novice, or a lazy amateur when they claim to understand the POV and then you read their story and realize just how badly they've mishandle the entire manuscript. The irony is that most of the time, the author, he or she is unaware they've has done so.
2.Giving omniscience a modern twist is imperative. And the way to do that is to use your narrator’s more subtly than did our nineteenth century counterparts. A very similar effect to omniscience can be achieved with a more conventional Third Person Multiple Viewpoint novel.
As I stated earlier, the neutral narrator of such a novel is, "godlike" - and this neutral, godlike narrator had the ability to slip in and out of the bodies and minds of any number of viewpoint characters as they tell the story.
So the question is this.
What Sets a Third Person "Omniscient" Narrator Apart?
The omniscient narrator's voice will be far from neutral. The Omniscient Narrator can be as visible and as in-your-face to the readers as the author wants.
In H.G. Wells, ‘The Time Machine’, the narrator thought about the Time Traveller so along these lines.
“I think at the time none of us quite believed in the time machine. The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men to clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all around him, you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness.”
As you can tell the narrator isn't exactly holding back with an attitude and the opinion. The neutral narrator of a standard third person novel could never write a sentence like that. It’s just not acceptable
Not only can omniscient narrators share their attitudes and opinions and comments with the readers, they can actually address the readers directly. I have made up the following lines, but they are typical of what you would find in a nineteenth century novel.
So you see, dear reader, had Filby shown us the model and explained the matter in the Time Traveller’s words, we should have shown him far less scepticism.
In case you were wondering, as late as the 1920 & 1930 this POV was still in use in Science Fiction and Early Fantasy Fiction novels. I've read a few when I was a young, bored sailor on duty or stuck on ship with the duty weekend and found them engrossing. If I try reading them now, I can’t get passed the first chapter
Why would anyone want to write a novel in this way, or why would any reader want to read it? Simply put, a well written, opinionated narrator's telling of the story can be as entertaining as the story itself.
The omniscient POV is most closely associated with nineteenth century novels. Simply put is the author saying to the reader, Let me tell you a story.” Omniscience, means "all knowing,". The authors of these novels allow a third person narrator to assume godlike powers.
1) They know everything about the characters and can enter the minds of any one of them, whenever they choose.
2) They can enter the minds of the cat on the windowsill and the spider in the barn also.
3) They know everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen, and they have complete freedom to move through time in any direction.
4) They also have complete freedom to move through space - and so they can move from one room to another (and back again) in the middle of a scene, or to the other side of town, or even to the other side of the world one hundred years ago.
When using an Omniscient POV, new writers believe anything goes, it doesn’t. Some writer assume (wrongly so) that head jumping is an omniscient viewpoint. While I agree with Science fiction author Nancy Kress’ statement: "Writers are gods. We get to create entire worlds, populate them, and even...destroy them. Of course, writers can do this in any viewpoint, but omniscient point of view adds another layer to the process." The omniscient POV can be annoying, especially when it’s mishandled.
Head Hopping Verses Omniscient POV
As stated before some writers head hop (jumping from character to character in a scene) and try to pass it off as Third Person Omniscient.
In my post on Third Person Multi, I uses the detective in the interrogation room. Let take that and turn it into a Third Person Omniscient.
Detective Fay laced her fingers together, propped her elbows on the silver table and leaned forward. Tapping her lower lip with her thumbs, she eyed the emaciated man across from her. The interview room, set up only for interrogations, had no paintings on the walls and nothing adorning the tabletop between the Detective and her suspect. The new, enlarged two-way mirror, sat in the wall directly behind her head. She'd been chasing this jackal for months and all Fay wanted now was his confession.
"So Charlie, let’s go over this again. Where were you on the evening of November 26th?"
Charlie’s eyed widened for brief second before he dropped his stone mask in place. He opened his mouth then clamped it shut again. Detective Fay’s stared bored into the man and caused Charlie’s fear level to shoot up like the temperature on an August afternoon in Phoenix.
Charlie baulked. He didn't know what Detective Fay had on him, but a sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. Fay had him cornered and he knew wasn’t leaving here without a brand new, shiny set of bracelets decorating his wrists.
The narrator’s telling the story, it may be Fay’s boss, her husband, or a reported close to the police department. The narrator is telling us what going on and the only time we hear from the characters is in their dialogue.
Now take head hopping.
Detective Fay laced her fingers together, propped her elbows on the silver table and leaned forward. Tapping her lower lip with her thumbs, she eyed the emaciated man across from her. I’ve been chasing this jackal for months. The interview room, set up for interrogations, had no paintings on the walls and nothing adorning the tabletop between them. I know he did it. The new, enlarged two-way mirror, sat directly behind her head. All I need is this cold bastard’s confession. "So Charlie, let’s go over this again. Where were you on the evening of November 26th?"
Charlie opened his mouth then clamped it shut again. What could she have found? His eye widened for brief second. I cleaned up real good. I never miss anything. His stone mask settled into place as Detective Fay’s stared bored into him. In spite his best efforts, Charlie could feel his fear level shooting up like the temperature on an August afternoon in Phoenix. What-the-hell has she got? A sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. I can get out of this, she hasn't got me cornered. I’m leaving here without that shiny set of bracelets she’s been wanting to decorate my wrists with.
That’s a simple scene, but from who’s POV. It’s neither Charlie’s nor is it Detective Fay’s, and there is no narrator. We jump from head to head and never really know who is telling the story. If it’s Charlie, do I really what to read a book where the cold blooded murder is the protagonist. If Detective Fay’s is the protagonist then I want to remain in her POV and let interaction and reactions to Charlie fill in his character for me.
Does Omniscient Point of View Have a Place Today?
Yes, but not much of one. It has all but disappeared, due to readers' changing tastes. As readers have grown more sophisticate they demand stories told from a First Person POV or a Third Person Multiple POV. The want to be drawn into the story and try to imagine the characters and setting in their own minds, not have a narrator lay out the characters and the story for them.
However, if nineteenth century omniscient point of view novels are your thing and you think you can write a twenty-first century version, go for it. Just be aware of two things:
1.Technically, it is a most demanding viewpoint to use. You will really have to know what you’re doing to write a third person omniscient novel and not look amateurish. It’s the sign of a novice, or a lazy amateur when they claim to understand the POV and then you read their story and realize just how badly they've mishandle the entire manuscript. The irony is that most of the time, the author, he or she is unaware they've has done so.
2.Giving omniscience a modern twist is imperative. And the way to do that is to use your narrator’s more subtly than did our nineteenth century counterparts. A very similar effect to omniscience can be achieved with a more conventional Third Person Multiple Viewpoint novel.
As I stated earlier, the neutral narrator of such a novel is, "godlike" - and this neutral, godlike narrator had the ability to slip in and out of the bodies and minds of any number of viewpoint characters as they tell the story.
So the question is this.
What Sets a Third Person "Omniscient" Narrator Apart?
The omniscient narrator's voice will be far from neutral. The Omniscient Narrator can be as visible and as in-your-face to the readers as the author wants.
In H.G. Wells, ‘The Time Machine’, the narrator thought about the Time Traveller so along these lines.
“I think at the time none of us quite believed in the time machine. The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men to clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all around him, you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness.”
As you can tell the narrator isn't exactly holding back with an attitude and the opinion. The neutral narrator of a standard third person novel could never write a sentence like that. It’s just not acceptable
Not only can omniscient narrators share their attitudes and opinions and comments with the readers, they can actually address the readers directly. I have made up the following lines, but they are typical of what you would find in a nineteenth century novel.
So you see, dear reader, had Filby shown us the model and explained the matter in the Time Traveller’s words, we should have shown him far less scepticism.
In case you were wondering, as late as the 1920 & 1930 this POV was still in use in Science Fiction and Early Fantasy Fiction novels. I've read a few when I was a young, bored sailor on duty or stuck on ship with the duty weekend and found them engrossing. If I try reading them now, I can’t get passed the first chapter
Why would anyone want to write a novel in this way, or why would any reader want to read it? Simply put, a well written, opinionated narrator's telling of the story can be as entertaining as the story itself.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Third Person Multiple POV
Writers have different styles. Some write in the past tense while others in the present tense. A few use adverbs in abundance, while others may cringe at the use of even one. However, one of the biggest factors in identifying a writer's style is your choice of point-of-view (POV).
First, second, and third person views are different POVs at a writers disposal. But it goes a little further than that, POVs can be subdivided even further. This includes third person, multiple views, omniscient, subjective, and objective. I’d like to focus on the use of the third person POV with multiple characters views—Third Person Multiple POV.
As a writer you’ll find there are advantage and disadvantages in using the third person multiple POV. One benefit is the ability of the author to move the reader into each of your characters' heads. You give your readers an in-depth look at those who normally may not have the chance to give their input and move your camera so the scene(s) is(are) viewed through their eyes. Third person multiple POV provides the opportunity to grow a character every time you get in their head. The reader learns first-hand not just why the character is doing something, but what they're motivation is for acting a certain way. Your reader gets very intimate with the characters as they are privy to their thoughts.
Author Raymond E Fiest uses multiple third person POV with great success in his Fantasy Fiction series, The Rift War Saga. His readers are able to follow the lives of multiple protagonist. They follow Pug and Thomas as their lives unfold and watch what drives them both to make the decisions they do. The reader will be in the head Thomas as he grows to fulfill his childish brag of marrying the Queen of the Elves. They also follow Pug from orphan to inept magician’s apprentice, to capture slave, and finally to an all powerful, master magician. As a skilled author Fiest lets he readers get to know them as an individuals, and they learn about the character on a level different from they would have had he not used this POV. As a matter-of-fact, due to the characters separation at times by great distances it is the only way that this story could be handled
I’m not a big reader of romance novels, but third person multiple is frequently used in this writing genre. You can quickly recognize the style by the author’s use of the pronouns she and he. Romance authors like to use this POV as it's extremely helpful in watching the relationship building between both the heroine and the hero unfold. Romances are intimate by nature, and the use of third person multiple POV allows the reader to get intimately involved with each character as the attraction grows between them.
The skill to mastering third person multiple POV is not complicated, but there is a trick. A lot of novice writers sometimes try and use this technique, get confused, break POV rules, and wind up losing their readers. Head-hopping and multiple third person POV often get mixed up when they are in-fact two entirely separate matters.
Multiple third person POV rules require the author to stay in the one characters' head for an entire scene to maintain the proper POV. The rules involve writing a separate scenes from the viewpoints of each of the characters. Thus we cannot relay to the reader the thoughts of suspect Charlie while in the head of detective Fay.
The following passage, I hope will make this clear. The antagonist Charlie is the prime suspect in the murderer and the protagonist is Police Detective Johanna Fay:
Detective Fay laced her fingers together, propped her elbows on the silver table and leaned forward. Tapping her lower lip with her thumbs, she eyed the emaciated man across the table from her. The interview room, set up for interrogations, had no paintings on the walls and nothing adorning the tabletop between them. The new, enlarged two-way mirror, sat directly behind her head. She'd been chasing this jackal for months and all Fay wanted now was his confession.
"So Charlie, let’s go over this again. Where were you on the evening of November 26th?"
Charlie’s eyes widened for brief second before his stone mask dropped back in place. He opened his mouth the promptly clamped it shut again. Detective Fay’s stare bored into the man and Charlie’s fear levels spiked.
Charlie balked. He didn't know what Detective Fay had on him, but a sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. He realized he might not make it out of here without a brand new, shiny set of bracelets decorating his wrists.
Did you spot the POV shifts? There's two:
1) "Charlie’s fear levels spiked."
2) Charlie balked. He didn't know what Detective Fay had on him, but a sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. He realized he might not make it out of here without a brand new, shiny set of bracelets decorating his wrists.
I've spoken with new writers who can’t see the problem. They’ll say, “I’m telling this story and I need the reader to see what’s Charlie’s feeling and thinking.” Even when you explain that because Detective Fay is the POV character for scene, she can't tell what Charlie is thinking or feeling unless Charlie tell her, it doesn't hit home. This is a common POV error and one novice writers make time and again. (Myself included when I set out to write.)
Another common error writers make when using multiple third person is switching POV characters too often within a chapter. Some writers use Third Person Multiple POV as an excuse to enter the heads of several different characters in one scene. My co-author and I have a hard and fast rule, one POV character per chapter or scene. In Tyranny’s Outpost we have five viewpoint characters, Elise, Russ, Alex, Callin and Marga.
Our hierarchy for character priority has turned out like this. Elise our primary protagonist and the POV character for any scene she’s in. If Elise isn't in a chapter Russ becomes the POV character. Alex has a scene that could only be written from his POV, since he’s alone on a hospital room. As our primary antagonist, scenes feature Callin’s POV. In our second book Tyranny’s Prisoner, when Alex and Callin or Alex and Marga are in a scene it falls to Alex’s POV. This is where show don’t tell becomes vital. Elise knows Russ very well so she can intrepid his looks and actions and we keep Russ cocky nature in the readers mind by showing what Elise sees and by her own internal thought. Most of the time we change chapters to shift POV characters, but on several occasions we've used scene breaks to alert our readers to a change.
There's no set rule about how long any particular scene should be for any of your characters, but switching back and forth too quickly can confuse your readers. If you find yourself shifting heads more than two or three times in a scene, there might be a problem, and you might want to take a step back to see which character will benefit the scene the most, and then rewrite the scene to hold that one person's POV. An easy rule of thumb is, One POV Character for One Scene. Any more marks you as a beginner or novice.
An important part of maintaining third person multiple POV is to make sure each of your characters is different enough so that the reader doesn't confuse him or her with a different character. This falls under the authors first responsibility, character building, than POV, but it's a very important point to keep in mind. Make sure all your characters have original and distinct traits. Giving each of them very different backgrounds, jobs, ages, and personalities is a beginning.
Why use multiple third person POV?
1) You give your readers the opportunity to learn what drives your characters. To see what makes they do things they may do.
2) You don't want your readers getting bored. This POV keeps up the tension, and lets you shift heads to keep your reader on their toes.
3) From main characters to secondary ones, you the author broadens the scope of who should be included in the story.
4) Keeps the story’s pace moving. Your plot has to move along at a pace that keeps your reader wanting to turn the page to the scene or the next chapter. Changing POV character gives your story momentum.
3) You offer your readers the diverseness of watching you antagonist plot his/her crimes while still letting them see what drives the hero or heroine.
How can you make third person multiple POV work for you?
1) Watch the amount of POV shifts you make. Make sure you stay with the character that give your scene the most impact and stay in their POV. Using Character priority will help.
2) Limit the number of POV characters in your book. Too many POVs characters can end up confusing your readers. Your story can include many different characters, but limit the number of head changes in your manuscript. Quirks, habits and personalities of minor characters can be seen through you POV characters.
3) Make your scene changes clear. If you have to change POVs characters in the middle of the scene, make it clear that you've changed. Continuity when changing scenes is vital. Your story must pick up where the last scene left off. If I had placed a scene cut after Detective Fay asked Charlie her question, I would have written it to pick up immediately with Bill thinking of a clever answer to get him out of his predicament.
•If you're a beginning author who is trying out multiple third person POV for the first time, choose which characters are most important to your story. Stick to their heads and switch only when there's a need. Don't switch characters just to add their thoughts! The result will be confusion for your reader.
•Keep your story focused. Just because you're giving the view of multiple characters doesn't take away your need to maintain a good pace. Character priority will give each character the weight they need to move the story while keeping them separate in your readers mind.
An author who can master third person multiple POV will wind up with a compelling story. Getting your readers into the heads of your characters can help your readers love them almost as much as you, the author who created them does. Remember to keep a strong grasp on how you’ve paced your novel and discipline yourself to the number of different views you use. I believe you’ll find that third person multiple can be a great tool for any author's toolbox.
First, second, and third person views are different POVs at a writers disposal. But it goes a little further than that, POVs can be subdivided even further. This includes third person, multiple views, omniscient, subjective, and objective. I’d like to focus on the use of the third person POV with multiple characters views—Third Person Multiple POV.
As a writer you’ll find there are advantage and disadvantages in using the third person multiple POV. One benefit is the ability of the author to move the reader into each of your characters' heads. You give your readers an in-depth look at those who normally may not have the chance to give their input and move your camera so the scene(s) is(are) viewed through their eyes. Third person multiple POV provides the opportunity to grow a character every time you get in their head. The reader learns first-hand not just why the character is doing something, but what they're motivation is for acting a certain way. Your reader gets very intimate with the characters as they are privy to their thoughts.
Author Raymond E Fiest uses multiple third person POV with great success in his Fantasy Fiction series, The Rift War Saga. His readers are able to follow the lives of multiple protagonist. They follow Pug and Thomas as their lives unfold and watch what drives them both to make the decisions they do. The reader will be in the head Thomas as he grows to fulfill his childish brag of marrying the Queen of the Elves. They also follow Pug from orphan to inept magician’s apprentice, to capture slave, and finally to an all powerful, master magician. As a skilled author Fiest lets he readers get to know them as an individuals, and they learn about the character on a level different from they would have had he not used this POV. As a matter-of-fact, due to the characters separation at times by great distances it is the only way that this story could be handled
I’m not a big reader of romance novels, but third person multiple is frequently used in this writing genre. You can quickly recognize the style by the author’s use of the pronouns she and he. Romance authors like to use this POV as it's extremely helpful in watching the relationship building between both the heroine and the hero unfold. Romances are intimate by nature, and the use of third person multiple POV allows the reader to get intimately involved with each character as the attraction grows between them.
The skill to mastering third person multiple POV is not complicated, but there is a trick. A lot of novice writers sometimes try and use this technique, get confused, break POV rules, and wind up losing their readers. Head-hopping and multiple third person POV often get mixed up when they are in-fact two entirely separate matters.
Multiple third person POV rules require the author to stay in the one characters' head for an entire scene to maintain the proper POV. The rules involve writing a separate scenes from the viewpoints of each of the characters. Thus we cannot relay to the reader the thoughts of suspect Charlie while in the head of detective Fay.
The following passage, I hope will make this clear. The antagonist Charlie is the prime suspect in the murderer and the protagonist is Police Detective Johanna Fay:
Detective Fay laced her fingers together, propped her elbows on the silver table and leaned forward. Tapping her lower lip with her thumbs, she eyed the emaciated man across the table from her. The interview room, set up for interrogations, had no paintings on the walls and nothing adorning the tabletop between them. The new, enlarged two-way mirror, sat directly behind her head. She'd been chasing this jackal for months and all Fay wanted now was his confession.
"So Charlie, let’s go over this again. Where were you on the evening of November 26th?"
Charlie’s eyes widened for brief second before his stone mask dropped back in place. He opened his mouth the promptly clamped it shut again. Detective Fay’s stare bored into the man and Charlie’s fear levels spiked.
Charlie balked. He didn't know what Detective Fay had on him, but a sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. He realized he might not make it out of here without a brand new, shiny set of bracelets decorating his wrists.
Did you spot the POV shifts? There's two:
1) "Charlie’s fear levels spiked."
2) Charlie balked. He didn't know what Detective Fay had on him, but a sudden claustrophobic feeling tightened the knot in his gut. He realized he might not make it out of here without a brand new, shiny set of bracelets decorating his wrists.
I've spoken with new writers who can’t see the problem. They’ll say, “I’m telling this story and I need the reader to see what’s Charlie’s feeling and thinking.” Even when you explain that because Detective Fay is the POV character for scene, she can't tell what Charlie is thinking or feeling unless Charlie tell her, it doesn't hit home. This is a common POV error and one novice writers make time and again. (Myself included when I set out to write.)
Another common error writers make when using multiple third person is switching POV characters too often within a chapter. Some writers use Third Person Multiple POV as an excuse to enter the heads of several different characters in one scene. My co-author and I have a hard and fast rule, one POV character per chapter or scene. In Tyranny’s Outpost we have five viewpoint characters, Elise, Russ, Alex, Callin and Marga.
Our hierarchy for character priority has turned out like this. Elise our primary protagonist and the POV character for any scene she’s in. If Elise isn't in a chapter Russ becomes the POV character. Alex has a scene that could only be written from his POV, since he’s alone on a hospital room. As our primary antagonist, scenes feature Callin’s POV. In our second book Tyranny’s Prisoner, when Alex and Callin or Alex and Marga are in a scene it falls to Alex’s POV. This is where show don’t tell becomes vital. Elise knows Russ very well so she can intrepid his looks and actions and we keep Russ cocky nature in the readers mind by showing what Elise sees and by her own internal thought. Most of the time we change chapters to shift POV characters, but on several occasions we've used scene breaks to alert our readers to a change.
There's no set rule about how long any particular scene should be for any of your characters, but switching back and forth too quickly can confuse your readers. If you find yourself shifting heads more than two or three times in a scene, there might be a problem, and you might want to take a step back to see which character will benefit the scene the most, and then rewrite the scene to hold that one person's POV. An easy rule of thumb is, One POV Character for One Scene. Any more marks you as a beginner or novice.
An important part of maintaining third person multiple POV is to make sure each of your characters is different enough so that the reader doesn't confuse him or her with a different character. This falls under the authors first responsibility, character building, than POV, but it's a very important point to keep in mind. Make sure all your characters have original and distinct traits. Giving each of them very different backgrounds, jobs, ages, and personalities is a beginning.
Why use multiple third person POV?
1) You give your readers the opportunity to learn what drives your characters. To see what makes they do things they may do.
2) You don't want your readers getting bored. This POV keeps up the tension, and lets you shift heads to keep your reader on their toes.
3) From main characters to secondary ones, you the author broadens the scope of who should be included in the story.
4) Keeps the story’s pace moving. Your plot has to move along at a pace that keeps your reader wanting to turn the page to the scene or the next chapter. Changing POV character gives your story momentum.
3) You offer your readers the diverseness of watching you antagonist plot his/her crimes while still letting them see what drives the hero or heroine.
How can you make third person multiple POV work for you?
1) Watch the amount of POV shifts you make. Make sure you stay with the character that give your scene the most impact and stay in their POV. Using Character priority will help.
2) Limit the number of POV characters in your book. Too many POVs characters can end up confusing your readers. Your story can include many different characters, but limit the number of head changes in your manuscript. Quirks, habits and personalities of minor characters can be seen through you POV characters.
3) Make your scene changes clear. If you have to change POVs characters in the middle of the scene, make it clear that you've changed. Continuity when changing scenes is vital. Your story must pick up where the last scene left off. If I had placed a scene cut after Detective Fay asked Charlie her question, I would have written it to pick up immediately with Bill thinking of a clever answer to get him out of his predicament.
•If you're a beginning author who is trying out multiple third person POV for the first time, choose which characters are most important to your story. Stick to their heads and switch only when there's a need. Don't switch characters just to add their thoughts! The result will be confusion for your reader.
•Keep your story focused. Just because you're giving the view of multiple characters doesn't take away your need to maintain a good pace. Character priority will give each character the weight they need to move the story while keeping them separate in your readers mind.
An author who can master third person multiple POV will wind up with a compelling story. Getting your readers into the heads of your characters can help your readers love them almost as much as you, the author who created them does. Remember to keep a strong grasp on how you’ve paced your novel and discipline yourself to the number of different views you use. I believe you’ll find that third person multiple can be a great tool for any author's toolbox.
Is Using First Person a Bad Idea?
Sometimes, writing in first person will be exactly the right choice for a novel. Whatever your reasons for choosing first person point of view might be, if you truly believe it is the best way to tell your story, than by all means follow your instincts. So long as you are aware of the limitations of the voice, and you are happy to work within those limitations, you will be fine.
“With whatever viewpoint and voice you choose, you should exploit the possibilities of the viewpoint and voice you have chosen rather than feel constrained by its limitations.”
- James N. Frey author of internationally best selling books on the craft of fiction writing.
•If your viewpoint character has a quirky and compelling voice, for example, and a unique (and subjective) way of looking at the world - like Huckleberry Finn and Forrest Gump - 1st person point of view is the viewpoint for you.
Perhaps you really don't get all this, “moving the camera around business.” You simply want to tell an intimate story through one character’s eyes (First Person).
Are you still unsure at this point which viewpoint to use? A question then. Can you see your novel working equally well in both first and third person? Then my advice would be to go with the third person point of view. Whereas a large majority of novels written by beginners use the first person viewpoint, a large majority of published novels are written in third person point of view.
Of course, a very similar effect to omniscience can be achieved with a more conventional 3rd person Multiple Viewpoint Novel.
“With whatever viewpoint and voice you choose, you should exploit the possibilities of the viewpoint and voice you have chosen rather than feel constrained by its limitations.”
- James N. Frey author of internationally best selling books on the craft of fiction writing.
•If your viewpoint character has a quirky and compelling voice, for example, and a unique (and subjective) way of looking at the world - like Huckleberry Finn and Forrest Gump - 1st person point of view is the viewpoint for you.
Perhaps you really don't get all this, “moving the camera around business.” You simply want to tell an intimate story through one character’s eyes (First Person).
Are you still unsure at this point which viewpoint to use? A question then. Can you see your novel working equally well in both first and third person? Then my advice would be to go with the third person point of view. Whereas a large majority of novels written by beginners use the first person viewpoint, a large majority of published novels are written in third person point of view.
Of course, a very similar effect to omniscience can be achieved with a more conventional 3rd person Multiple Viewpoint Novel.
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