Three Books. Two Points-of-View. One Giveaway. (Make that Four.)

Writing a book from two points of view (POV) is not easy. Although I'm following Mary Kate Castellani's advice to write Half-Truths from both Kate and Lillie's POV, there have been times I've wondered if I can successfully pull it off. It's challenging to:

• Write a story with two separate character arcs.
• Write a story that has its own "big picture" arc interweaving the two girls' journeys.
• Create characters with two distinct voices.

Following my own advice as a writing instructor to "Learn from the Masters," I have read several books written from multiple POV to see how other writers successfully accomplish this task. Here are three examples:

Lisa Kline's first book in her middle grade Sisters in All Seasons series is Summer of the Wolves. Soon after their parents marry, step-sisters Diana and Stephanie are thrown together on a family vacation. Their rocky relationship is full of tension, distrust, and misunderstanding.  The two points of view allow readers to climb inside each character's skin thus increasing their empathy for the characters' experiences. When the girls misguidedly attempt to save some caged wolves, they have to face the repercussions of their actions together. Taking responsibility becomes a vehicle by which they each grow and they become more than step-sisters.  

Lisa shared one of her challenges in writing this series: "There is also a special issue with the passage of time that you face in writing for two voices. You always must keep time moving forward, even when you change from one voice to another. This is a trick that one of my teachers taught me a few years ago. If you have a scene that’s told from the point of view of one person, and you want your readers to see that same scene told from the point of view of the other, you first need to move forward, and then tell that scene as though it’s a flashback. You can’t move backwards in time when you make your move between the two voices. Keep your clock always ticking forward."

I met Beth Revis three years ago and purchased Across the Universe. It took me too long to crack the cleverly done reversible cover, but when I did, I was hooked. This young adult science fiction novel tells Amy's story: frozen for the purpose of populating a new planet in three hundred years, she wakes up early on Godspeed, a spaceship controlled by a tyrannical leader bent on creating his own maniacal world. Amy meets Elder, the young man who is being groomed to be the next leader. From different worlds and different times, they are linked by their common goal of finding out the truth about Godspeed.

I was fortunate to win a copy of Under the Never Sky, Veronica Rossi's first book in her young adult dystopian trilogy.  The reader is immediately hooked into Aria's sterile world in which her scientist mother has gone missing. Desperate to find her, Aria leaves the safety of her Pod and goes into Reverie where she is convinced she will die. She meets Perry, an Outsider and a savage who is both frightening and attractive to her, but who can help her return home.  The alternating viewpoints highlight not only the differences in Aria's and Perry's intrinsic natures and world views, but also their contrasting male and female points of view. 

So, what did I learn from studying these books? Writing in two points of view can demonstrate how two individuals--from different backgrounds and/or worlds--unite to overcome a mutual enemy and reach a common goal. A great lesson from three great authors. 

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I am giving away my gently used, autographed copy of Under the Never Sky. If you want to win it, please leave me a comment by March 17.  Every time you share this on social media of your choice, I'll add your name again to the "hat". Follow my blog or tell me you are already a follower and I'll give you another chance to win. If I don't have your email address, make sure you leave that too!

If you want to discover more about books from two points of view and for another opportunity to win Under the Never Sky, as well as a copy of Season of Change by Lisa Kline, Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O' Malley and Cowboy Up! by Nancy Bo Flood--then check out Joyce Hostetter's and my next issue of Talking Story. 

Free Expressions Part V- The Revision Toolbox

In this last blog on the Free Expressions writing seminar, I will highlight a few revision techniques provided by the YA Muses. This group of writers met at the  Big Sur writing conference in 2009 and decided to stay in touch. Although all were unpublished in the YA world, they formed a writing blog to highlight their journeys and within a year they had eleven book contracts between them. 

TaliaVance, Donna Cooner, Veronica Rossi, Bret Ballou
(Katherine Longshore was unable to attend the seminar)

Talia Vance, author of Silver,  creates a chart for each character and outlines scenes with the main character and each minor character. In addition she:

1.  Looks at the character arc for all characters
2. Looks at the relationship arc between characters 
3. Considers where a minor character is in relation to the main character
4. Cuts scenes
5. Sketches out additional scenes

This helpful post of her revision checklist  for WriteOnCon includes many of the points she made during the seminar. 

Donna Cooner, author of Skinny, talked about the importance of creating QBCD: A Quick Brief Character Description when the character first comes into the book. If these introductions are well-crafted they will stick in a reader's mind. Donna uses pictures that she pins to a character board hanging next to her desk.

I played with this idea and came up with: 

Lillie- her skin the color of duck egg shells, black hair tightly curled at the roots

Kate – innocent hazel eyes looking out from a farm face

Sam – dark mahogany skin that glows and throbs outwards, catching you in its circle of beauty

I'm not sure if these will stick, but these word pictures (as well as images I am collecting on my desktop and in Pinterest) will help me portray my characters consistently.

Veronica Rossi, author of Under the Never Sky, recommends setting attainable goals for each month.  "Set yourself up for success," she said. "Give yourself a daily or weekly page or word count. Track your progress. Be as visual and concrete as possible." 

Veronica printed out each draft of her novel and put it in a binder. This way she could visually see her progress. Similarly, after editing or revising a page she folds the page over; a reminder to herself that the page was "done." (At least for that draft!)

To keep herself pumped up, she re-reads old work. "When you get close to a manuscript you're looking for all the mistakes and weaknesses. You get so close that these are the only things you see. Reading old writing can remind you of the point, which is to tell a good story."

Bret Ballou, who writes middle grade fantasy adventures, suggested that distance (the macro level) makes the author more objective. He recommended beginning with an outline and then reevaluating that outline after the draft was done. "Big issues may be resolved with well-crafted, perfectly placed lines."

Bret suggested that writers should break the revision process into buckets in order to focus on one thing at a time. His buckets include: 

1. Plot: step back to see the whole picture
2. Key world details can be cleverly placed without ripping or destroying entire passages.
3. View your ms. in a different font, color, margins, or line spacing in order to step away and see it differently.
4. Listen to your work (for example, on a Kindle) in order to uncover glaring issues.

For more on Mental Revision, see Bret's contribution to WriteOnCon. 

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How am I going to incorporate these ideas into my work? 
1. Set new goals.
2. Be inspired by the YA Muse blog.
3. Pull out some old stories that never saw the light of day but might be perfect for my grandkids. 
4. Review ALL my Free Expression notes when my own work is ready to be revised!

If this series has captured your interest, you'll be happy to hear that Lorin Oberweger and her competent staff will be returning to Charlotte, NC on October 14-20, 2013.  Check the Free Expressions website for more information.

Here are the four previous blogs in this series:
Free Expressions Takeaway Part I- Voice and Deep Point of View
Free Expressions Takeaway Part II- Deep Scene
Free Expressions Takeaway Part III- World Building
Free Expressions Takeaway Part IV- The Quintessential Query