Mere Joyce's Blog, page 7
May 1, 2015
Making the POV Switch
Have you ever, during the editing process, decided to switch your story's POV?
I've made the decision to do this with one of my projects. Currently, the story is told in third person POV, and I'm going to switch things to first person POV.
It was a difficult decision to make. I love third person POV, and it works fine for this story. But I think there's something a little extra I can add by telling the tale in first person instead. I won't lie...it's a rather tedious process making so many small changes, but I definitely think it'll be worth it in the end.
In addition to these small changes, however, it's also been interesting to see how many sentences require complete overhauls because of the switch...a sentence perfectly well-suited to one POV can sound awkward or just plain wrong in another! I enjoy making these changes...the challenge of rewriting each scene to convey the same mood with different sentences and sometimes entirely new paragraphs is proving to be a lot of fun.
Do you have any experience changing a story's POV? Did you like making these changes, or did it feel like a repetition of effort you'd already made?
I've made the decision to do this with one of my projects. Currently, the story is told in third person POV, and I'm going to switch things to first person POV.
It was a difficult decision to make. I love third person POV, and it works fine for this story. But I think there's something a little extra I can add by telling the tale in first person instead. I won't lie...it's a rather tedious process making so many small changes, but I definitely think it'll be worth it in the end.
In addition to these small changes, however, it's also been interesting to see how many sentences require complete overhauls because of the switch...a sentence perfectly well-suited to one POV can sound awkward or just plain wrong in another! I enjoy making these changes...the challenge of rewriting each scene to convey the same mood with different sentences and sometimes entirely new paragraphs is proving to be a lot of fun.
Do you have any experience changing a story's POV? Did you like making these changes, or did it feel like a repetition of effort you'd already made?
April 30, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things
Hosted by Lexa Cain, this is a great weekly chance to talk about the small things worth celebrating in life!
This week, I'm celebrating:
Exciting news in my inbox! Got a lovely message yesterday...I'll share more information when I can! After a long stretch at work, my husband had a nice few days off this week. We visited our local butterfly conservatory, which was nice, but surprisingly unsettling. I mean, I thought 'oh sure! Butterflies flying around, how nice!' But really, there are butterflies EVERYWHERE, and some of them are massive. When they swoop towards your face, it's hard not to duck! Still, a fun visit, =D
What are you celebrating this week?
This week, I'm celebrating:Exciting news in my inbox! Got a lovely message yesterday...I'll share more information when I can! After a long stretch at work, my husband had a nice few days off this week. We visited our local butterfly conservatory, which was nice, but surprisingly unsettling. I mean, I thought 'oh sure! Butterflies flying around, how nice!' But really, there are butterflies EVERYWHERE, and some of them are massive. When they swoop towards your face, it's hard not to duck! Still, a fun visit, =D
What are you celebrating this week?
April 23, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things
Hosted by Lexa Cain, this is a great weekly chance to talk about the small things worth celebrating in life!
This week, I'm celebrating:
Good t.v. - My husband and me finally started watching Game of Thrones (yeah, we're a little late to the party). We're partway through season four right now, and love it so much. We've also bought the first book and we'll both start reading it soon. I tried to read it a few years back but found all the characters confusing. Now that the show has helped me understand who everyone is, I'm really looking forward to reading it! Spring-like weather! (A.K.A Where did Spring go??) - Okay, this is more of a wish than a celebration. We had gorgeous, warm weather here for most of April, and now suddenly it's become cold and has actually started snowing again. I'm hoping for a return to the lovely, celebration-worthy weather soon!
What are you celebrating this week?
This week, I'm celebrating:Good t.v. - My husband and me finally started watching Game of Thrones (yeah, we're a little late to the party). We're partway through season four right now, and love it so much. We've also bought the first book and we'll both start reading it soon. I tried to read it a few years back but found all the characters confusing. Now that the show has helped me understand who everyone is, I'm really looking forward to reading it! Spring-like weather! (A.K.A Where did Spring go??) - Okay, this is more of a wish than a celebration. We had gorgeous, warm weather here for most of April, and now suddenly it's become cold and has actually started snowing again. I'm hoping for a return to the lovely, celebration-worthy weather soon!
What are you celebrating this week?
April 18, 2015
A Grimm Challenge Month 2 Recap
Two months into A Grimm Challenge!
The challenge is still going well. We're a bit behind with our stories at the moment due to a writing-thing, but I'm hoping to get caught up this weekend! Our longest story yet is next, so once we're finished that one, we should just fly through the next few.
This month, I've started to really notice how, when we start a new story, it's always a game to try and guess the ending. (Well, not the specifics of the ending...some strange things occur in these tales, so that would be a game for a very skilled story-guesser, =D). What I mean is, trying to guess what the general outcome will be. Sure, if you have one sister who is beautiful and good and the other ugly and cruel, you know things will turn out much better for the good sister. But other times, particularly when dealing with "clever" characters, it's not so easy to guess. Sometimes, clever people outwit many and end up with everything they want, even if they don't deserve it. Other times, these same kinds of characters get their comeuppance, and wind up having nothing to show for their trickery. It's a lot of fun trying to guess what kind of story it will be!
This month included a lot of my favourite tales, including The Robber Bridegroom, Fundevogel, and The Juniper Tree. I also quite liked some of the quirkier tales like Clever Hans, which is about an idiotic (or possibly clever) boy who always does what his mother tells him, a day too late.
Looking forward to month 3!
April 10, 2015
Reading, Revising, and Recharging
Since What's Up Wednesday is no longer running, I thought I'd do a general update post on what I've been up to lately!
Reading:
I'm currently working my way through Witch Child by Celia Rees. I'm enjoying it, although I haven't been reading much as of late. I've been busy with writing projects, so reading is going a bit slower than I'd like. It's alright, though. I've been busy and productive in other areas, at least!
Revising:
Writing-wise, I've been focusing on two projects. One is in the stage of hard-copy edits. It's quite fun doing edits on a hard-copy, actually! There's something wonderful about putting pen to paper.
My other project is a major revision, which is going well, although there is still a lot of work to be done. I'm using Scrivener to organize everything, which is fantastic. I'm really enjoying using this tool, and I think it'll be extremely useful for completing this revision. I like being able to group all my notes together in one place, where I can easily glimpse at one page and then quickly switch back to the main story.
Recharging:
It was my birthday at the beginning of the week, and for my present me and my husband spent a couple of hours at our favourite Scandinavian spa. It's a thoroughly relaxing experience to go there, but I always also like to use the time to brainstorm (I pretend I'm on a mini-writer's retreat!). I got a few revision details worked out on our latest visit, which is great.
So, that's a bit of what I've been doing. The weather has been fairly cool and dreary here, but I'm happy with the rain, =) I'm just hoping we'll get a few sunny days soon so I can start taking the baby and the dog out for some strolls!
What have you been up to?
Reading:
I'm currently working my way through Witch Child by Celia Rees. I'm enjoying it, although I haven't been reading much as of late. I've been busy with writing projects, so reading is going a bit slower than I'd like. It's alright, though. I've been busy and productive in other areas, at least!
Revising:
Writing-wise, I've been focusing on two projects. One is in the stage of hard-copy edits. It's quite fun doing edits on a hard-copy, actually! There's something wonderful about putting pen to paper.
My other project is a major revision, which is going well, although there is still a lot of work to be done. I'm using Scrivener to organize everything, which is fantastic. I'm really enjoying using this tool, and I think it'll be extremely useful for completing this revision. I like being able to group all my notes together in one place, where I can easily glimpse at one page and then quickly switch back to the main story.
Recharging:
It was my birthday at the beginning of the week, and for my present me and my husband spent a couple of hours at our favourite Scandinavian spa. It's a thoroughly relaxing experience to go there, but I always also like to use the time to brainstorm (I pretend I'm on a mini-writer's retreat!). I got a few revision details worked out on our latest visit, which is great.
So, that's a bit of what I've been doing. The weather has been fairly cool and dreary here, but I'm happy with the rain, =) I'm just hoping we'll get a few sunny days soon so I can start taking the baby and the dog out for some strolls!
What have you been up to?
April 9, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things
Hosted by Lexa Cain, this is a great weekly chance to talk about the small things worth celebrating in life!
This week, I'm celebrating:
I had my birthday this week, which was lovely. Got to see family and visit my favourite spa, =) We had our first thunderstorm of the season the other day! It was very short-lived (like, one flash of lightning and a single bellow of thunder), but exciting nonetheless. I love spring, and since it snowed here at Easter, the rain was definitely welcome.
What are you celebrating this week?
This week, I'm celebrating:I had my birthday this week, which was lovely. Got to see family and visit my favourite spa, =) We had our first thunderstorm of the season the other day! It was very short-lived (like, one flash of lightning and a single bellow of thunder), but exciting nonetheless. I love spring, and since it snowed here at Easter, the rain was definitely welcome.
What are you celebrating this week?
April 3, 2015
Celebrate the Small Things
Hosted by Lexa Cain, this is a great weekly chance to talk about the small things worth celebrating in life!
This week, I'm celebrating:
Early birthday presents! My birthday is next week, but my husband's too impatient to ever wait until the actual day to give me my gifts. So I got a couple of things early, which is always fun, =). Long weekend! Okay, I'm on maternity leave and my husband works all weekend, so long weekend doesn't actually mean anything special at the moment. But we'll be visiting with family for Easter and my birthday, and that's a reason to celebrate for sure.
What are you celebrating this week?
This week, I'm celebrating:Early birthday presents! My birthday is next week, but my husband's too impatient to ever wait until the actual day to give me my gifts. So I got a couple of things early, which is always fun, =). Long weekend! Okay, I'm on maternity leave and my husband works all weekend, so long weekend doesn't actually mean anything special at the moment. But we'll be visiting with family for Easter and my birthday, and that's a reason to celebrate for sure.
What are you celebrating this week?
March 28, 2015
Book Launch: The Surrogate Sea by Danielle E. Shipley
Today I'm excited to share information about the latest novella released by the always awesome Danielle E. Shipley! There is good reading and a giveaway to be had, so check it out!
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Want more? Click the links below to visit Danielle's blog, or to get your copy of The Surrogate Sea!
Ever On Word (Danielle's blog and giveaway site)
Buy the Book:Amazon (Kindle and paperback)Barnes & Noble (Nook)
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Want more? Click the links below to visit Danielle's blog, or to get your copy of The Surrogate Sea!
Ever On Word (Danielle's blog and giveaway site)
Buy the Book:Amazon (Kindle and paperback)Barnes & Noble (Nook)
March 24, 2015
What's Up Wednesday
Hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk, this is a great way for writers to get together and keep in touch!
So what have I been up to?
WHAT I'M READING
Reading has been fairly slow lately. I'm still reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and I've also started Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. But I've been more focused on writing these last couple of weeks, so I'm only getting a few pages read each day. It all comes in cycles, though, so I don't mind. I've been editing, and reading my own material more than anything else!
WHAT I'M WRITING + WRITING GOAL
I finished my additions, and have edited the new material twice. I've put it into the longer manuscript, and now I'm going to do some combing through the whole thing to find and replace troublesome words, and then I'm going to have the work printed so I can go over it in hard-copy!
For this week in particular, I want to get the combing over complete. WHAT WORKS FOR ME
I'm trying out Scriviner right now. I've got a project waiting in the wings which is going to undergo a MAJOR rewrite (switch of POV, MC age & target audience shift, several scenes cut, locations changed, and about 15-20k added overall). It's a big project, but I'm excited to tackle it, and I want to ensure the changes are carefully, well-executed.So, I'm using this application to keep all my research and notes/character and setting sheets in one place. I'm just doing the free trial for now, and I haven't decided whether I'll purchase it or not. Right now it makes me feel all professionally organized, but we'll see if it actually makes me more productive! I'll keep you posted.
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TOWe finally got ourselves a water cooler so we can stop buying cases of bottled water, and so I wanted to get some glass water bottles to use with it. I knew our Target had some, so we went there on Sunday and of course got roped in my all the going-out-of-business price slashing. Among other things, we bought a few new candles, including a Yankee Candle that smells like a summer beach. It's burning while I write this now, and it smells so good it's making me really long for summer!
That's been my week. What have you been up to?
March 22, 2015
A Grimm Challenge - Month 1 (and a bit) Recap
Technically my first month of A Grimm Challenge ended last week, but as I had just put up another post, I decided to wait a week and do my recap today. I can't believe it's been over a month of fairy-tales already!
The challenge is going well. I'll admit there have been a few days where we've completely forgotten to read a story(!), but we've always caught ourselves back up, so overall we're still right on track with the ultimate goal.
There have been some great stories, and my favourite tale as of the beginning of this challenge, Rapunzel, was in this month's batch, giving me something extra fun to read! Out of the stories I didn't previously know (at least know from the Brothers Grimm), my favourites have been The Three Spinners and The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs. And my husband's overall favourite is The Brave Little Tailor.
The biggest surprise so far of this challenge is how varied the stories are. Some are classic fairy-tale material, others are quite religious, and some are just plain odd. This last is especially true in stories like The Louse and the Flea, which revolve around unusual characters including inanimate objects.
We're both looking forward to the month ahead, reading the next batch of tales. Another of my absolute favourite stories, The Robber Bridegroom, is coming soon, so I'm quite looking forward to that!
