Janice Seagraves's Blog, page 13

Guest Blog Post

Hi, I was just a guest on Fiona’s Blog: authorsinterviews.

Please stop by and leave a comment.

https://authorsinterviews.wordpress.com/2019/05/23/here-is-my-interview-with-janice-seagraves/

Vlog: The Right POV For Your Story by Janice Seagraves

THE Right POV FOR YOUR STORY

By Janice Seagraves

 

Hi, I’m Janice Seagraves. Sorry I’ve been absent, but I’ve had a health crisis of sorts. After a week or nose bleeds and getting rushed to the hospital because I couldn’t stop the last one, I was told I have high blood pressure and must take meds from now on.

Now on to the point of this article: POV or Point of View means the eyes and ears of your story and it is important to pick the right POV for your story. You’re also showcasing that character’s feelings when something happens in any given scene.

Here’s a list of POVs and how they are used to help you decide on the right one for your story.

First Person POV: involves “I” and “me” in the story telling. You’re in the head of the protagonist only. What she or he see, hears, and feels is what is offered to you in the story telling. First person is used primarily by chick lit, urban fantasy, YA, and others. A lot of writers prefer this first-person narrative because you can really get into the head of your protagonist.

Second Person POV: used only rarely in which the point of view of a narrative work is told in the voice of the onlooker, which is you, the reader. For instance, the text would read, “You went to school that morning.” Is written as “you” see this, “you” hear that. Not my favorite POV. It feels clunky. I’ve seen this mostly for children’s lit. And the 1990’s pick your own ending novels.

Third Person POV: Can be told in two ways: Third person singular: which stay strictly with one person in each scene. Deep Third person: also stays strictly with one person but goes deeply into that person’s narrative almost as deep as first person. Is written with “she” or “he” sees this or hears that. It more universally accepted by publishers for fantasy, sci-fi, romance of any sub-genre, and many other genres.

Omnipotent POV or Narrator POV: This type of story telling is not used very much anymore except for children’s lit. It’s a type of floating narrative that was used primarily before 1980 or so. You can be in anyone’s head at any given moment or be floating above the action. It was used for a time in the early horror and gothic genres. But could be used in anything from romance to science fiction. I recently read an example of it in an early Anne McCaffrey novel. It’s loose, floating, and I find it confusing. Whose head are we in now? Who knows?

And add to that Omnipotent POV reads like head hopping and most editors frown on their writers using it.

What is the POV that I use? Deep third person POV. I find I can show case both the hero and heroine’s POV (in separate scenes of course) and tell the story well.

I hope this helps you in your own writing.

Please like and share and I’ll make another vlog next week.

Guest post on Killer Craft and Crafty Killers

I did a guest post and answered some question on how I got my idea for Alien Heart.

It also was my birthday yesterday. Please drop by and leave a comment and wish me a happy birthday. That would really make my day.

https://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2019/05/romance-author-janice-seagraves-on.html

 

Write Time in scenes by Janice Seagraves

 

Writing Time In Scenes

by Janice Seagraves

 

Hi, my name is Janice Seagraves.

Today, I thought I’d talk about time in writing. I don’t mean the day or week or month, but the speed in which things happen. Have you ever had someone tell you that your scene went too fast or maybe the opposite, your scene was very slow? And not in a good way.

Here’s some tips on how to fix that.

First, if your scene is going fast, you can odd more detail to slow it down. Believe me this trick works. Don’t know what to add in? Then I suggest describing what is happening in minute detail. Add in colors, textures, how things smell. Was the scent in the area nice, sour, or did it smell like something died? Maybe there is a background buzz that is irritating or soothing one of your characters? Add in details in all its glory: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Go deeper into your characters’ feelings. Add a pause as something else happens.

I had a scene that my critique partners said went too fast, so I added in more detail, more feelings, and more internal dialogue of one of the main characters. Then as they headed out, I wrote a pause. The heroine speaks to someone, while the hero is chumping at the bit to get her walking again then takes her arms and drags her down the road. And having one character wanting to leave the area, while the other is speaking to a secondary character can make the scene tense.

If you need to speed up a scene, then you’ll need to lose some of the detail. One time I added what in the business is called a ticking clock to speed things up. One of the characters is urging the others to hurry. His frustration shows whenever anything slows down. Have the characters speak in quick, short bursts.  One liners. No long dialogues. And if there is only two characters, you can leave off some of the dialogue tags. No one ambles anywhere in this scene. It’s all dashing, sprinting, and doing things fast.

Spring in the California Foothills

April First Interview with VetistheFallen

I meant to post this on April first and forgot. April fool!

Blog Post

It was my turn to post on Romance Books ‘4’ Us Blog.

I wrote about how I handled harsh critiques. And it has one of my vlogs attached to it.

Please like and subscribe.

https://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/2019/03/harshcritiques-harsh-critiques-by.html

Funny Irish Blessing

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Since it is Saint Patrick’s Day I thought I’d post an Irish blessing.

May those who love us love us.

And those that don’t love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if He doesn’t turn their hearts,

May He turn their ankles,

So we’ll know them by their limping.

Can I ask a favor? #booktuber #authortuber #channel

Hi, can I ask a favor? I have a YouTube channel and would love some new subscribers. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkv3-libJBS3iwer2UxEVSw?view_as=subscriber

How to write a critique

 

How to write an honest critique

By Janice Seagraves

 

The first publisher I worked with suggest that I work with a critique group to help improve my writing. Since then, I’ve been working on critiques nearly every couple of weeks for the last ten years. And in that time, I’ve gone through five critique groups and I even took a workshop on critiquing.

Here are some things to consider if you have been asked to do a critique or are doing critiques or possibly beta reading someone’s work.

Please keep in mind that this is someone’s baby.

They most probably have slaved away at this manuscript for months if not years.

So be kind.

They may not have ever had any feed back on their work before this.

Say nice things about the pages or manuscript you’re working on.

If you find misspelled words, simply correct it within the pages and move on, or leave a comment in a comment bubble: “I think you mean this word.” Everyone at some point will have problems misspelling a word or using a word that spelled just a little different than the word that they mean to use. Or maybe it’s a typo. We all have those brain fart moments. Don’t make a big deal about it. Just correct the spelling and move on.

One of the moderators for a critique group I work with likes to say, “Sugar and spice. Mark what you like as well as what needs work.”

If nothing else, compliment the genre they chose to write their story in.

I find that if you compliment the writer first, then they are more likely to consideration the changes you are suggesting.

And remember, it’s suggestions. You are producing a critique and they didn’t hire you to be an editor.

All critiques should be in the body of the pages you’re working on.

Use the comment bubbles in edit format.

I always go through the story first before I write a note at the start of the pages.

The note will usually start with why I like their story.

For example: Vampires stories are a very popular right now. Or I love your characters. I can totally picture them. Or this scene was very exciting and really grabbed  me.

Next, I’ll drop down to a new paragraph and write: Good Job.