I’m a big fan of letting my characters tell the story.I just type what they tell me to. However, sometimes it doesn’t work. I’m working on my second novel, and I have different point of view characters for each chapter. The ensemble cast stays together for most of the story, so it’s not like I have a group here, a group there and group way out yonder working, unknowingly, together to defeat the big bad guy. I tried chapter eleven from a soldier’s point of view. A page and a half later he stopped talking to me. I changed the point of view to a captain, and the chapter took off after that. Moral of the story is: don’t be afraid to change point of view characters if one isn’t working out the way you thought.
Years ago when I let my characters tell a different story, they changed it, probably for the better. In an unfinished epic fantasy tale, my small band of heroes arrived in a small town to convince a paladin to join them. At least that was my train of thought: go into town, get a paladin to join them, move on to the next town. Simple, right? My characters convinced the paladin to renounce his faith before joining the group. Big change! However, a paladin who lost his faith is a much more interesting character and one I hope my reader would cheer for as he struggles to redeem himself. In this example, the characters knew the story better than I and gave me a plot point to carry through the rest of the story. Now I just have to find time to finish the story.
May 21, Sunday afternoon, come see me at Books in Bloom on the lawn of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Although I’m not an officially invited author, I’ll still have my business and trading cards available to pick up at the Village Writing School tent. I’m looking forward to meeting you. It’ll be a great afternoon and who knows what ideas will pop in my head. After all, history doesn’t write itself.
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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book I have my nose in. I may not be a published author yet, but I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read. I finished reading Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel. My review is on Goodreads. I’m now reading Amy Stewart’s Girl Waits with Gun. I bought this book last year at Books in Bloom and just now getting to read it. I encourage you to read a variety of topics.