Writers Tricks of the Trade May-June 2015

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK “BUY” TO PURCHASE THE BOOK BALANCING POINT OF VIEW FRED RAYWORTH Editor’s Note: Okay, I confess, the novel Fred refers to below, (and did an excellent job of editing I might add,) was “Bumping Off Fat Vinny,” my latest release co-authored with Dennis N. Griffin. Therefore, I thought this would be a great article for our positive attitude issue. Ego has no place when it comes to working with an editor. Denny and I are both seasoned authors with about 30 books in publication between us. And, what did we do? What did Fred help us to rectify? We had so many POV violations, if they were parking tickets or moving violations, we probably would have wound up in the “clinker.” We kept positive, took Fred’s astute critique and advice, and what a difference. The message here is no matter how skilled you’ve become, even if you give workshops on POV like I do, you are not immune to messing up now and then yourself. That is why a good editor is so important. May 15, 2015. The book releases today in Kindle and paperback editions, and you can find it on Amazon. So, here is Fred’s wonderful advice. FRED RAYWORTH A MAN OF MANY TALENTS VISIT FRED’S OWN BLOG HTTP://FREDRAYWORTH.CO M On March 18, 2015 Fred blogged: I’m in the middle of beta reading/editing a novel for some friends. It’s written in multiple-character third-person, much to my great pleasure! The story is a fun read. However, like all raw manuscripts, it needs lots of work to get it right. MULTI-CHARACTER POINT OF VIEW When you’re writing in any point of view, there’s nothing wrong with having more than one character represented. In fact, it almost goes without saying in thirdperson except on rare occasions. My Meleena’s Adventure series is one of them. In first-person, often the entire story is driven solely by one character. However, I’ve seen and anecdotally heard of stories told in multiple first-person viewpoints, and have read mixed first-person/third-person narratives. The key is balance, making it flow, making it fit. If it’s jarring, you need to can it (the jarring parts), simple as that. WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE Cont’d… PAGE 3 MAY-JUNE 2015

Writers Tricks of the Trade May-June 2015 | Page 13