Wednesday, May 6, 2009

WIP Wednesday #2

After all the helpful comments last week, meeting with my writing buddy CB on Sunday, and rewriting a few chapters, I decided to change the POV in my WIP from third person to first. Commence screaming, gnashing of teeth, and pulling out of hair.

But, seriously, I'm excited! While it seems like this huge, overwhelming project - because it is - it's not that much more work than I was planning on. I've already been working on rewriting huge sections of the novel, so changing the POV is just one more step in that process. At least, that's what I tell myself.

Plus, during this past week, as I've been rewriting chapters 4, 5, & 6 into first person, all sorts of new ideas have emerged, as if they've been there all along, but I just needed to discover them. It's an invigorating feeling, and I'm more excited about this novel than I have been in the past couple months.

I initially wrote Through Charlotte's Eyes in first person because of Anne's time-traveling escapades; I couldn't imagine the way the time-traveling would play out, with Anne being inside Charlotte's head, experiencing the French Revolution, without it being in third-person omniscient. That, and the fact that there's so much history involved, which no single character knows, that I didn't think I could write the novel from first person (Anne's perspective) alone.

Yet, so far, so good. The issues seem to be working themselves out as I write. (I had a wonderful 'aha' moment yesterday as I discovered a way for Anne to know things about the past, and about Charlotte, that she shouldn't know... but I'm not going to give too much away about that). The real challenge, I think, will come with rewriting the switches between 2005 and 1792/1793... but Bob & I are excited to take on the challenge this week! We're very excited about this development, if you couldn't already tell.

Til next time, happy writing!

If you want to join in on WIP Wednesday, check out Kate's blog here.

1 comment:

Kate Karyus Quinn said...

Ooh, I love when things just start clicking like that, and you know that you are on the right track. It sounds like switching from third to first was definitely the right decision for you! Can't wait to see how it continues to progress!