I really love this topic, and I don't think it's one that gets covered enough. What other questions or requests do you guys have for more multi-POV videos?
A common multi-POV struggle for me is keeping the different voices straight and not having each POV chapter sound like each other. I have characters different ages, genders, backgrounds, races, etc. They should SOUND different. And yet, they all sound like ME. Send help :-)
@@Avionne_Parris I second this! I'm having a hard time figuring out the different ways characters would express themselves and write about the same experience. And then being able to write in each character's voice consistently is really hard.
I love this topic! It would be cool to look at different ways to weave the multiple plotlines together. Like they can all move the same overarching plotline per scene, they could have separate arcs that weave together, or share themes etc., And it would be cool to look at the options and when to choose which ones
Another question if you don't mind, I'm working on a Caribbean Contemporary that I mentioned before about 4 fat camp friends whose friendship spans 15 years. It's dual timeline with 4 main POVs. With one of my main MCs, her overall goal (to win a contest) is a bit repetitive and redundant. Each of her scenes feels one-note: Her goal is to win the contest, how can I break up an overall goal like that into smaller milestones that are more dynamic? Or perhaps she's not the POV character for that particular scene? Another MC's goal is to win a trophy (keeping these goals super vague on purpose) but she does have other minor goals like getting the attention of a boy she likes, befriending her cabin mates and avoiding her childhood nemesis. Therefore each scene can have different goals besides just getting her activity button that leads to the overall goal of the trophy. My question is, how do I make my scene goals more diverse and not keep repeating the same goal in each scene. Hope that makes sense.
Even recognizing this was an instructive brainstorming exercise and not based on real novel notes, I really want to know what crime involved a bathtub and a gun! Michelle, don't leave me hanging!
The way I wanna read this book now 😂 this is such a great method! I’m going to have to try it out while revising my multi POV to see if it creates any new spark for the story
This is really helpful, Michelle. Thank you for taking the time to show us how to develop the characters, map out the POVs, and include the different story arc possibilities. You are clear in your instruction and simplify a seemingly complex style of storytelling.
This is so great, even for a single POV story (since you still have to keep track of subplots.) Thank you so much for sharing your analyses of your process!
I've watched this video three times so far - this is such an AWESOME video! I love the style of developing a "fake" story. I'm also finding it very motivating and mind-stirring on my own stories. Ahhhh I love it !
Great video! I love seeing how other people develop plots, and your method is very different from mine. Here’s what I would do if I wrote this story: Maggie’s busy lawyer wife is the killer. Someone she prosecuted early in her career gets out of prison and stalks her in revenge for ruining his life (he claims to be innocent). She kills him, then panics and buries the gun AND the body in the vacant house’s backyard. There was an old bath sitting in the backyard ever since the previous tenants left, they were too lazy to dispose of it properly. Kate sees Lawyer Lady digging the hole and asks why. Making up a quick lie, she says she’s sick of looking at this hideous bathtub, is burying it. Kate doesn’t believe this lie, but drops the subject. Lawyer Wife then has to bury the bathtub over the dead body to make her story consistent. If they dig BELOW the bath, they’ll find the dead body. Lawyer Wife has been distracting herself with work ever since this event. Kate avoids Maggie so much because she’s undecided if she should say what she saw her wife doing.
@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Thanks! Your set up was so compelling it honestly would have bugged me if I didn’t figure out why that damn bath tub was there! 🛁
I had a multi-POV story, that was 5, and I narrowed it down to two, when I realized I that one of my characters is an empath (all of my characters have powers and this has been hers since the beginning). She can't read minds but she can read emotions off of body language. Not only that but I've written one of her character flaws as curiosity. And she doesn't know she's an empath either, she just thought that's how everybody sees things. The other POV is also empathic, but he doesn't know it either. On top of that, he's a shell, so he creates no connections with the poeple who are close to him, which means he never has the opertunity to use this power. So we get the two different perspectives and emotional analysis of these characters (originally the other povs) from an invasively curious empath, and an isolated empath who takes his relationships for granted, until the other POV starts to draw him out.
This came at the perfect time! I just started drafting a book that's mostly one POV, but has some letters between the POV character and her best friend and I plotted it almost this exact way! I know there is so much variety in writing advice and different things work for everyone but it's nice to see my method validated and explained better than I could! Thanks so much!
Okay, it took me forever to actually get to this video, but I was dying to watch it as someone writing a dual POV book now, and who generally prefers ensemble casts in books. WOW, was it worth the wait. You always bring such articulate, digestible lessons to us (not to mention this fake story sounds SO GOOD). The addition of motive and secret to the character chart is a game-changer for really digging deep into a character's emotional core. And while I've messed with timelines, I've never really considered the linchpin moments beyond super obvious things, like tragedies or events, etc. Thank you thank you thank you for all you do! Also, I agree about the kickstarter or crowd sourcing to get this book made real! 😃
Thank you so much for laying this all out! If you do any follow-up videos, I'd love to hear you talk about how you shape the characters/plot to keep the story cohesive (all these characters belong in the same story) and balanced (characters aren't repeating themes/beats *but* still feel connected). I know it has to do with those lynchpins! (My project is both multi-POV and multi-timeline, but this is the first resource I've found that really got into the nitty-gritty of how to make it all happen - so thank you!)
Fun to learn I’ve been doing the timeline thing instinctually for years. I love how your character sheet goes a little deeper than the standard want v need. The secret and motivation prompt may help me crack a few troublesome characters
Thanks for this! It is such a good video topic! My novel that I just finished the first draft of is just one POV, but the whole time that I was writing it I kept thinking maybe I should have added another POV, but I've never really found a good description or method that really explains how do interweave it all together as well has you have in this video. My novel is an epic Fantasy about two sisters (a Mage and a bounty hunter) who hadn't seen each other for 10 years but now have to work together to help save their home town, and uncover the mystery of why Magic seems to be losing strength across the world - while trying to work through the resentment and pain caused by their time apart. The POV is currently the Mage sister, but I keep wondering if I should add in the Bounty Hunter sister's POV. (although the prologue and epilogue are currently different POV's) I finished the draft though, and it's over 140K words at the moment... so it would involve a whooole lot of reworking. I'm still on the fence about it for this story, but I have at least 2 more books for the series that I can see if multiple POV's will work with.
WOW. What a terrific video. I always love how your example plots sound like books I'd immediately pick up at a bookstore and want to read. 😍Thank you so much for the timeline tips. I've actually never used a timeline or even understood its purpose until I saw this video and I realized how it can help you further construct plot/character elements. Definitely a game changer for me.
I've gotten into writing for TV and even though this is for novel writing, I can already see how I can utilize your method for outlining potential Pilot scripts and breaking story for an entire season (or series) haha. Thank you for this. I appreciate you
Hi, Michelle. Really looking forward to listening to your thoughts on POV. Bookmarking this video to watch as soon as I'm done with today's writing session. 👍
I'm so glad you did this video because I was hooked. I can't drive in the dark either but I do a little different way of 'plotting' because I know at sone point it can all change with new ideas and characters speaking to me while drafting
So the basic premise of this video is that you outline the characters before you write (or outline) the rest of the book. That's kinda interesting. I find that as a pantser, I lose track of character motivations, sometimes even forgetting character names. This could be good to do for me, figure out the characters and motivation loosely before I start pantsing the rest of the book
This video. Is. Gold!!! Many similarities to my own process, but also very many ne insights. I will come back to rewatch and take some notes, that's for sure! And I'd love to know the secret behind the gun and the bathtub, LOL!
I'm so excited to watch this with my notebook in front of me. I just finished outlining my story but I struggled a little and I think this will definitely help me figure out what I'm missing.
Thank you, Michelle ... Really well done, I appreciate you sharing your expertise. I've been waiting for this video ever since you mentioned it a while back! Worth the wait too 👏👏👏👏
This is fantastic information. I’m using your framework here to plan my next video, which will be a historical look at some serious conflicts in church history.
You stated my thoughts exactly around the start, on how writing craft books are like "just use this (STC method or some such) for every character in the book", which to me sounded like too much work when you likely wouldn't use half of it. Add in the fact that if I go that in depth on all the characters it makes me more want to write separate POV novels for each of them. (I read a similar mystery "series" that several authors took part in where each wrote a full novel from their characters POV that came together to flesh out every aspect of the same mystery) But for me it feels easier to write the story, making notes of any background info as I stumble on it and adding it in after the zero draft has been made. It's what I'm currently doing for a couple novels because I find it harder to plan all this ahead of time when often times I need to write the book to know the characters. I did try to plot a mystery as far as STC goes to get a handle on the story, but as I wrote it and discovered my MC's relationships to the other side characters, the ending, and many plot points changed wildly because no matter how hard I tried to come up with the first few main characters' back stories and character relationships, none of it worked out after I had them actually "talk" with the MC and discovered their personalities. (The most drastic change being that a character I'd originally planned to be my MC's support system throughout the series instead ended up dying not far into the first book which completely throws them from the planned trajectory they had with their life. Which made the story better as a whole because it forced them to leave their comfort zone that I had otherwise plotted them to stay in.) Anyway, I hope your writing is going well and that the week ahead will be a good one for you. Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Hugs to Rosa pup!❤
Ngl, I'm cracking up that you created a "support" character for your MC and then killed them off! 😂 But I really love that you embraced it - that's the kind of spontaneity that I love with discovery writing. Thanks for watching, K!! Hope you have a great week!
@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor funny thing was (aside from the MC) they were my favourite character. No clue why, but I *always* end up killing off my fave side character!😂 it's like I somehow know they're going to die (even though it's never in the plot) and when it happens it feels so organic and sad and exactly what's needed for the plot and character developments (and in this story the family dynamics). On the plus side, I try and make their character shine and be the most lovable...so I won't be the only one that suffered a gut punch from their death.....not really a plus....🤦😅 Anyway, I'll let you go. Have a good evening.
@@kanashiiookami6537 That's so funny! I'm the opposite - I need to get much harsher with the characters I love! They walk around in plot armor because I'm too weak to kill them off haha
The idea of your character chart is genious, especially the idea of describing the personality of a character in one or two words from the outside to have something to show to the reader when the character ist firstly introduced. I think I will try this whole want/need/personality/secret/motive approach for myself. I'm still in search for a method that helps me to grab hold of my charcters. I normally come up with them while writing (even thou I'm more a plotter in almost every other way) and have trouble to get to them for the revision process. Sometimes so much that I can't revise the book at all because my characters won't let me in, so to speek. But I tend to psychologize my characters a lot, probably a more observant approach would work better, at least sometimes.
It is so valuable to see your thought processes here. This just pushed my own story over a little hurdle, just by listening to your scene ideas. Thank you so much! And the video was just so amazingly made, too! :)
There are no words for just how helpful this was. Thank you SO much! I'm writing my first novel now and this not only helped with establishing multiple POVs but gave me so much inspiration for outlining in general. (๑•ᴗ ~๑)づ♡
This was really helpful. I'm writing a short story collection, which I know is a different beast but, I think I can use some of what you showed here to help me with planning out my stories. Also, is Joe King keeping his name? Hahaha
Holy Smokes, did you hire a production company? Or at least an assistant? Seriously, with the amount of work on screen here, you should be charging for this content. (Ironic statement in light of previous discussion on courses.) This really looks great. Another thought: *So much* of this video is great advice that is applicable to just about any story, and I worry many who could benefit from that insight might pass it by as they aren't writing multi-POV. And as someone writing multi-POV: Whoa, is it harder. It has the advantages of more deep interiority for improved character empathy; letting me build suspense by skipping around; and hiding info from the reader without cheating. But my first book was single POV -- easy peasy. Second was 3 pov. A little tricky. Now I have 6. Fun but difficult.
Aw, thanks Paul! It was just me, Canva, and Final Cut having a party all last week 😂 I agree, I find multi-POV more challenging as well. I'm really glad you found this helpful! Good luck on book #6!
Even though I’m not writing multi-POV (yet) I still found this video incredibly helpful! The timeline is something I hadn’t thought would be all that helpful until I saw you using it in the video, will definitely be giving it a try. Your craft videos are honestly the best because you actually put the methods into practice with well thought-out examples which not a lot of authortubers do, so thank you! (Also where can I preorder a copy of the Cul de sac?? I’m hooked lol)
Hi MIchelle, this was very helpful! I took a multi POV course from you earlier this year through WFWA. While I am moving forward I am still struggling with interweaving various plot threads, which are already substantially drafted, together into a coherent whole in a sensible order. I would love your thoughts on what questions to ask myself to help discern which pieces of the story (which has five POV characters) need to come in what order to move the overarching story forward, even as things advance with the subplots. I have a pretty good idea of where to start, but after that I'm just not sure. Thanks!!!
This was very informative and helpful. I like the breakdown and I can see this working for me. Thanks a lot for making this video. Have you ever worked on more than one book at a time? Is it possible to be effective and efficient at splitting your time and focus in such a way?
Glad it was helpful! And ha - yeah, I'm pretty much always working on two or three books at the same time. I do think it's possible to be even more efficient that way! For me, I try to make sure each project is at a different stage (brainstorming/plotting/drafting/revising) so when I switch to one, it feels like a 'break' from the other two.
This is such a great method. Now I feel like I can finally put "things" together. Always leave your videos with so much zeal and purpose!! I have direction. Yeah!! I have a question about using CANVA for your videos - how do you use the narration feature? Section by section then piece together? I Thanks again for your help.
Thank you so much! And re: Canva - I'm not sure what the narration feature is, can you explain? I might be doing things the hard way, lol. I basically start each chart fully finished then delete piece by piece, saving each one as a separate png.
Hey Michelle... Can you make a video on how to increase your word count? I'm almost done with my 1st draft ever, and I realized that I'll be about 10,000 words under genre expectations. At first, it was sad, but I've learned to face the truth. This thing needs some beefing up. But how? 🤔 I'd love if you can give me ideas on how to increase my novel without adding information or scenes that I don't need. Thanks 😊 🙏🏼
Wow. This is so helpful, even for single POV. I write fantasy and scifi with lots of character and I struggle to get the ideas I have into a plot for my newest story. You mention you create the timeline and scene overviews on your whiteboard? Do you also use apps/ softwares for planning and plotting? Thx so much for your help. :-)
What process would you use for revising a book like this? One idea that I have for multi-pov novels is to read through each POV separately and examine the individual character’s story through line/character arc…is that something I should do?
I’m trying to critique my sequel draft and am conflicted about how much leans more into 3rd person close than 3rd person omniscient. Certain sequences I believe require some close internal conflict, but I’m afraid how much head-hopping I’m doing throughout. There is a focal protagonist in this entry, but I’m also juggling several other developing characters throughout the series.
My pitch: "Is it possible for a chubby thirty-five year old gay man to find love in a world that prefers perfection? Can a Catholic man overcome his religious upbringing and love a man his family and church says is a sin? Two best friends fight their insecurities to find the love they deserve.
Is there any chance you have these steps in a document or worksheet for download? Not necessarily the details with the characters and story you have created here, but a general list of the steps, i.e., the cast and chart your characters, and timeline ideas.
Not yet! I do want to create one, but those PDFs take some work and honestly I was losing steam at the end of editing this video haha. But once I make it, I'm going to link to it in a pinned comment here!
