POV Dilemma - Pt. 2

Well, I did it. I revised my first chapter back into third person, added a chapter two from a second character's pov that because I was writing in first couldn't be used and then revised chapter three back into third person. Not serious revision, just a change of pov.

While studying where I wanted to add this second character's pov, I realized he'd have ch. 2, maybe 5 or 6 and then 10. I also realized after rereading the revised chapters that I'd lost a lot of the MC's voice which was one of the things I really, really wanted to keep.

I also realized third person just wasn't the POV for this novel. First person is just better for the story. And like I said at the Let's Write a Novel...Together! blog, the story is the most important thing.

So, I saved the third person chapters in a seperate file and now I'm feeling confident in my choice of POV.

Sometimes it just takes a while to figure out which POV works best. So, when you wonder if you made the right choice, play with it a bit. See which works best. You aren't stuck with your original choice.

Now, off to ponder where I'm going from here.:-)

POV Dilemma

Those of you who stop by here on a regular basis know the horrid time I've had deciding on which POV to write my novel in.

I started the darn thing in third and had about three chapters done. Then, due to shoulder vultures and encouragement from a friend, I gave first person a try and actually liked that better.

At about the 10k mark, I started questioning my choice though. It's been nagging at me for about 35k now and I finally decided to revise part of chapter one back into third person since I'd gotten a better grip on my MC's voice.

Both POVs worked well. I still couldn't decide which way to go. So, I talked to my mentor tonight.

She told me a couple things I already know. First, that first person POV is a weaker pov to write in. You are limited by just what the character sees, knows, hears, smells, etc.

Next, that first person had a different structure than third person. Meaning, you have to plan your scenes so that you can get in the info you need instead of being able to use others to get the info to the reader.

So...you guessed it. I'm back to third person pov for the novel. I'm going to continue where I left off on Friday in third person and will revise the previous later.

I feel good about the change. Not only can I get in a bit more info, I can add another character's pov and get his take on things too.

I'm ready to get started.

Be sure to stop by Let's Write a Novel...Together! and see what's happening there. I'm posting every day there during the week and we'll start planning our NaNo novels in Oct.

Changing POV...

Seems my mystery novel wants to be written in first person. It's been nagging me for a while but I'd been ignoring it. I mean, I already have a good start with it in third person. But the other night I finally gave in and seriously pondered the change.

My writing mentor, if I'd asked her, would say to write some in first person and see which way worked best. So I took her advice and gave first person a try. I figured I could do the "First 500" in first and not lose much if I didn't like it.

The only problem…I didn't have a good opening line. I wasn't happy with the third person opening either but just didn't have a clue how to fix it. However, once I made the commitment to give first a try, a really nice first line arrived.

Now I'm almost 2k into my rewrite, changing from third to first person. I'm really pleased with the way things are flowing and how much more the character comes through. I figure by the end of the day, I'll have caught up to the 4k mark on the counter to the right. Which will be very cool.

So, what's your favorite POV to write in and why?