Author Heather McCorkle

There are many different points of view you can choose to write your novel in. First you must choose which character's point of view that you are going to tell the novel from, then you get to decide what kind of point of view to use. It's easier for me to choose the character and get to know them first, then the type of POV I'm going to use falls into place. Here are the types of POV: 1st Person POV past tense: This is a popular style among young adult novels and is becoming increasingly popular among adult genres as well. It reads much like the person is telling you their story. Example: I walked into the room. 1st Person POV present tense: This is becoming increasingly popular in young adult novels. It is believed that there is more sense of immediacy and tension, as if the reader isn't certain the narrator will live or be all right. Example: I walk into the room. 2nd Person POV past tense: This one is so tough to pull off you almost never see it done anymor...

The point of view you choose to use could be what makes your novel stand out or what makes agents and editors pass it up. There are many things to consider when making the decision of which point of view to choose. First you must choose the most compelling character. Sometimes a stable hand's point of view is more interesting than a prince's. Explore each of the characters in your novel thoroughly and decide whose point of view would interest you the most. The next big decision you have to make is what kind of point of view do you want to tell the novel in. First person is literally in the head of the main character. It is the kind of novel filled with I, me, and my type of phrasing. This is very popular in young adult. This point of view has its up and down sides. On the plus side, the reader is immersed fully in the story by experiencing everything the main character does down to their very thoughts. Its can be easier for the writer because you only have to deal with one...

Telling your story in a certain point of view can make or break it. In fact, that's what broke my first book. I had six key characters that each felt equally important to me. I told the story from all points of view. Can you imagine how confusing that was? I was switching back and forth on every page and I never really got the reader inside any one character's heads with good monologue. Can an author tell a story from multiple points of view? Sure, Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson all pull it off beautifully in the Dune series. For any of you who have ever tried to read Dune and had to put it down, point of view is probably why. While it can be done that doesn't mean you should do it. Once I realized I was no Frank Herbert I knew I had to change the way my first novel was written. The question you have to ask yourself is, whose story is it? Among your characters, who is the most important to you? Upon asking this of myself I realized the answer was obviou...

Figuring out who's point of view your story should be in is essential to it's success. My first book had six main character, oh yes, six. I loved them all and thought each one of them was strong enough to be the story's protagonist. However, I made the mistake of not picking one and wrote it from an observer's point of view. I even made the horrible mistake of occasionally jumped into different characters heads, without a change of chapter or a break. You can imagine how incredibly hard this was to read. Hey, when I make a mistake, I go all out. That's not to say this kind of thing can't be done. However, you must be an experienced writer to pull it off and 99% of the time, if it's your first book it won't get picked up if it's written that way. This is often seen as an amateur mistake and agents and editors will usually pass on a book written like this. So I had to fix my book. The really hard part was deciding who's story it was going to be. I ...