I am a traditionally published YA author here on RU-vid to offer insight into writing, YA & the publishing industry. My first two books Brightly Burning and The Stars We Steal, sci-fi retellings of classics (Jane Eyre and Persuasion), are OUT NOW, and are published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. My third book, YA thriller THE IVIES, will be out May 25, 2021 from Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House. My fourth book, MURDER, SHE TEXTED, will release in 2022, also with Crown.
This channel has craft advice, publishing Real Talk, drafting and editing vlogs, interviews with authors, book reviews & more.
I am represented by the incredible Elana Roth Parker of Laura Dail Literary. You can find me @alexadonne on most social media spaces.
As someone who's recently, for fun, counted _every single character_ to compare with writing friends and come up with oh, _128_ (granted, this is across worlds) this is greatly appreciated insight I'm having a heck of a time juggling povs haha One tenuous strategy I've come up with is linking the 'side/importantish characters' with _at least_ the previous/previous couple of chapters beforehand. Since there is way too much happening behind the scenes to miss out on, which tie into the overall grand Plot
Some of my favorite titles of all time are those by Terry Pratchett: Feet of Clay, Color of Magic, Unseen Academicals, A Hat Full of Sky, etc There is just something really fun about his titles that makes me want to read the books. They are clear enough to get a general sense of what the book is about, but there is still enough of a wordplay to make you think They are also memorable which is important
All of this is really helpful, but especially the post-college, pre-novel sections. I'm in a similar place myself right now (and have had similar discouraging experiences with writers' groups that weren't the right fit for me). It's great to hear about someone else trying, failing and then succeeding, rather than just the highlight reel. 😄
Save the Cat saved my outling, especially the middle. I got so confused when other writers talked about the "pre-midpoint, midpoint, and post-midpoint". It made so much more sense when Save the Cat described it as "fun and games". Now writing my middles are a lot easier. I wish I found it sooner!
Oscar Wilde thought that all the writer's characters are part of themselves. I find that interesting and logical. If it's good enough for Oscar, it's good enough for me, lol. 😉
The only book I ever read where the multi-pov really was the best way to go was "Her Sister's Keeper." by Jodi Picult. Each member of the family needed to be heard for the story to be told properly...
Do you think doing one pov from one character then half way through the book switch it to another pov or do you think readers would be upset because they don't see it coming? 😮
Im familiar with art and only just now getting into writing, they're entirely different mediums but I'm starting to realize the learning process is very similar. Like, one common blunder i and many other artists make is waiting until we think we are "good enough" to do the projects we actually love, but the issue is that we'll never have the motivation to improve if we're always working on practice work that we're not passionate about lol
My first novel has 14 POV's 😮 I'm still working on rewriting it so I don't have any advice on what to do about it 😂 I was inspired by books I read as a kid like Animirphs and the Boxcar children, but thoses maxed out at six. More than 12 can mean not enough time to develop. I'll let you know when I figure it out.
I'm using mul5t POV for a romance. How I've done it as I write an event happening to one character Ii write the other character. So i think it has prevented a lot of head hopping in paragraphs.
Simone Leigh is a good author for multiple POV. I have enoyed her books, however i have to admit that I've had to go back to the. Hapter header to realize whose POV I am reading. So she hasn't nailed the different voice. Still great books.
Every field is competitive. I'm a photographer and I struggle to find work because there are so many good photographers. I am also a content creator and have had a variety of success with it through my life but it's an incredibly competitive field. Unless you are looking for a standard entry level 9-5 the competition is going to be stiff. You should not discourage someone just because the competition is tough, definitely let them know the reality, but not in a discouraging way. ❤
Is it okay if you have, say, 4 POV's - but one of them is a main character (60% of the chapters) and the other 3 are minor characters whose POV's take up the other 40% of the book? Also, at the end of my book there is a big battle where I NEED to switch POV's in the same chapter to show what other characters are doing. Is this ok as long as it is clean and makes sense?
I'm so happy to see you making videos again! I'm working on my first novel, a dual POV romance, and your videos are at the top of my arsenal when I need help. Thank you!!
I am absolutely new to creative writing, and I just took a story telling and genre writing course with no prerequisites, to try and maintain high marks I am going to keep your video on replay this week while I learn to write as if I can solve all these mistakes you mentioned, what's remaining should not be so bad. Thanks again.
I usually begin my stories in the middle of the conflict---to get my idea out, then I write backward to the beginning to fill in the gaps. Then I work on the ending... This helps with complicated world-building.
I feel like most of these problems are very easy to solve if you just have a proof reader. It doesn't even have to be a professional. Just someone to read everything over, and point out places where things seem off, or the story is dragging, so you can fix it. You can have a family member do it, or one of your friends. Personally, I have my grandfather proofread all of my work since he was a writer too, and can give me more in depth explanations to the problems, and give me better solutions
And some of these "worst mistakes" aren't even mistakes, their just a unique writing style that OP doesn't like for whatever reason. For example all of the "fanfic-y" stuff, like the dialog tags vs action tags, or "run on sentences" aren't inherently bad things, so long as you know what each thing actually is, how it's used, and don't make it too repetitive. There's nothing inherently wrong with a fanfiction style of writing, especially if you pair it with a strong, interesting story. You just have to know how to use it to your advantage. I for one write a lot of prose - which is, in laymens terms, really big pretty words, and lots of sentence fluff. And there isn't anything wrong with that. A lot of fanfic has a lot of prose, and there are so many people who read fanfics that like that style of writing. The only people who truly think the fanfic style of writing is bad, are people who just hate fanfic in general, or people who were pressured/brainwashed by other writers that the style is amateur, when it isn't. Another example is "run on sentences", which I've been doing a lot of in this comment alone - but, since I've been punctuating my sentences properly, have structured my sentences to flow naturally and get my point across, and have been using the length to my advantage, most of you won't even notice until I point it out. My biggest advice is to write what makes you happy, and then have a second pair of eyes help you clean it up a little bit before publishing
I remember when you first started talking about this book in 2019/2020. I'm almost finished with a book I started to conceptualize in 2021 and it took until this time last year to really start writing it. The process has been something else.
I basically wrote my first book in about a month of inspired work... After countless attempts that are about ten books worth in total.... But I worked on trying to edit it and being unable to make myself do it or stick to it for over a year now! Well, I did literally MAKE myself start doing it about a month ago and finished going over half of it (multiple times, getting every last error out and adding detail and better writing), but it tires me out super quicky and kind of makes me feel super dry and uninspired! Maybe it just take habit? Idk, writing comes super easy to me and is even enjoyable, editing so far feels like light torture
I'm writing a multi first person POV and sometimes there are multiple head hops in 1 chapter. I use their initials as a break but I'm not sure if that's annoying or not. Sometimes it's too short to comprise a single chapter.
This video came to me at the right time! 🙌🏻 I’ve been toying with the idea of trying dual pov for my next WIP. I’ve been hitting a wall trying to move through the middle (those dreaded middle sections!) After watching this video, I gave it a shot. I rewrote one of the scenes and it unlocked the rest of the story for me. Still have a long way to go in this first draft but it’s given me new hope! 🎉
I use multi POV on my first draft as a way to get past writers block. Even if I don’t end up using the POV chapter having a different character explain the scene can help me figure out what happens next. If I keep it Multi POV depends on the story, first drafts are rarely what it looks like at the end, and maybe it’s a crutch, but as long as I edit out the parts that are weakly written I find it to be a useful first draft tool. Sometimes I even keep it multi POV, though usually only two or maybe three POVs, rarely do I do too many more than that.
Beartown by Fredrick Backman (author of A Man Called Ove) is one of the best multi pov books I've ever read. Disclaimer tho, it's literary, so its focused on the human condition and their inner worlds, not like a fantasy quest. There’s 30+ povs, but still obvious main characters, and every pov is so well done (check tw tho). Anxious People by him is another one, with maybe 10 ish povs, and has more of a plot (mystery) that it's following.
I really love when the reader knows more than the character so I like switching pov's when the words and actions of the non-pov character will mean something different to the reader than to the new pov character. Even better if they completely misinterpret them and the reader can say 'nooo! you foooool!'
