Barry Lyga's Blog: The BLog, page 57

So, a while back I wrote a lengthy post on point of view. It was chock full of info and you should go read it before proceeding any further. I’ll wait.

[Muzak plays]

Back? Great!

Recently, someone left the following comment on that post:

Hello,

Thank goodness I found this site!

I’m writing an ebook series which I have not published quite yet. But the first will be out Dec.

I had a question maybe people are willing to help me with. I’m wanting to use First Person Multiple. I didn’t know what it was called until I read this site.

I’ve written the first two ebooks 1st POV from only one character’s point of view. I’m editing the third now, and I want to switch between 2 characters in different scenes. In trying to consistent with first 2 ebook, is there any way to do this while using 1st person?

Can a writer, wanting to use first person, start a scene in third person saying person’s name then quickly switch to first. For example, “Ace stepped slowly to the creek.” Then switch to first person, “I stared into the water feeling lost.”

In the next chapter, I would change characters and say, “Amen squinted at the horde of Undead charging. I swallowed, my body stiffening, preparing for the onslaught to come.”

Or are there better examples of how to do this?

Well, as I like to say, the only thing that really matters in writing a book is not what you do, but that you do it well. If you can pull off such a scheme as you have above and do it with skill, then fine.

But I have to be honest with you — it seems extremely clumsy to me. It’s going to throw off readers, jar them.

First Person Multiple is simple. Look, all you need to do is give the reader some kind of trigger that indicates you’ve switched from Character A to Character B. Something simple, like…

CHAPTER 1

CHARACTER A’s NAME

I was looking over the fog bank from my perch high atop Glassfoam Peak when I noticed…

And then, when you get to the chapter from another POV…

CHAPTER 2

CHARACTER B’s NAME

The clouds, their underbellies dun colored with dirty rain, parted just enough that far ahead in the distance I bespied the green-glowing angles of Glassfoam Peak…

Done and done. Sometimes authors will use different fonts to indicate different characters (Jodi Picoult does this, for example), but fonts are tricky to mess with in an e-book, so I don’t recommend that path.

Above all, though, remember this: Your greatest asset when writing First Person Multiple is making the characters’ voices distinctive! Theoretically, once you establish your characters for the readers, the reader should be able to tell the difference without any clues whatsoever…because each character speaks differently, describes things differently, etc.

Good luck!

Here’s what I posted recently on Tumblr…

parislemon:

JOHNNY CASH’S PERFECT, SEMI-EFFICIENT TO-DO…

I'm guessing Jasper Dent #3 is going to come out in April like the other two did, right?

How good are you at drawing? Have you ever thought of illustrating your own book cover?

Honest Trailers – Man of Steel

Is this the most perfect trailer…

"Enter the odd—yet useful—free app Coffitivity, which livens up your silent home office with the…"

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Here’s what I posted recently on Tumblr…

Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, we finally have…

Memory Monday: Race Relations, Comic-Book Style

"Yes, women are “different” from men. It cuts both ways. If Jack Nicholson’s character is right and a…"

This Week in Rejection!: North American Review

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Here you go; everything you need to know about race relations in the mid-80s:

(From Ambush Bug #4, September 1985. Written by Keith Giffen & Robert Loren Fleming. Art by Giffen and Bob Oksner.)

 

“The editors regret that the enclosed contribution is not adapted to the particular needs of the NAR at the present time.”

Are you kidding me?

Here’s what I posted recently on Tumblr…

"I thought it would generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights. I miscalculated, pure and…"

"Despite what the Olympics and the existence of Justin Bieber might have you believe, very few people…"

"Look, I don’t care what your opinion of fat people is. I really don’t. Maybe you’re into the…"

"Take your time! There’s no prize for finishing first, only for finishing WELL."

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From the book Double Down, as excerpted today in Time:

Punctuality mattered to Romney. Christie’s lateness bugged him. Mitt also cared about fitness and was prone to poke fun at those who didn’t. (“Oh, there’s your date for tonight,” he would say to male members of his traveling crew when they spied a chunky lady on the street.) Romney marveled at Christie’s girth, his difficulties in making his way down the narrow aisle of the campaign bus. Watching a video of Christie without his suit jacket on, Romney cackled to his aides, “Guys! Look at that!”

Wow, what a fucking asshole.

Look, I don’t care what your opinion of fat people is. I really don’t. Maybe you’re into the fat-acceptance movement. Maybe you’re not. Maybe you are fat. Maybe you used to be fat. Whatever. I don’t care. But here’s the thing:

Can we at least comport ourselves with a modicum of human decency?

Hey, if you see someone morbidly obese and think to yourself, “Christ, that’s not good,” then whatever goes on in the privacy of your own thoughts is your business. But when you’re running a large organization — when you’re running for President, for God’s sake! — maybe it would behoove you to at least pretend to be a human being?

We’re not talking about, “Oh, man, we need to look out for the health of these obese people.” No. We’re talking about adolescent-level ridicule. From a grown man who should know better and should be ashamed.

Sniping at random overweight people on the streets? Because, yeah, ha-ha, the very thought that any of the lily white, can-afford-a-gym-membership douchebags on the Romney campaign would get caught mackin’ on a fatty is hilarious! Let’s all giggle like fucking high school boys. Let’s dare Tag to go ask the fat girl out on a dare.

And oh, wow! Look, here’s a fat slob daring to peel off a layer of his corpulent personal onionhood, going without a suit jacket. In public!  Fucking hilarious! Bring the popcorn! (Extra butter — we’re allowed because we’re not fat!)

You know, if you “care about fitness,” then you can lead by example. And if you’re particularly close to someone who isn’t fit, you can maybe talk to them about it, sensitively, if you’re genuinely concerned for them. And if you “care about fitness” and you’re President, you can lead a mature national discussion on it and set up programs to encourage fitness. (You can do this if you’re First Lady, too. Ahem.)

What you shouldn’t do, though, is just outright mock people. Treat them as subhuman. That’s precisely what Romney did (and, most likely, still does). It’s certainly not the attitude or behavior I would want in a President.

Good thing I didn’t vote for him. I always suspected that, beyond touting bad policy and under the leading-man good looks and Reagan-hair, he was a garden-variety total asshole. I was right.

Here’s what I posted recently on Tumblr…

"You’re welcome, Toby Ziegler."

"If it’s a “practice novel,” then why not use it to, well, practice? Really tear into that…"

"The two primary characteristics to look for in a critiquer are a good, critical eye and a…"

Memory Monday: Hilarity, 1950s Style

"I can abide a poorly plotted tale that winds up being a good story, but struggle to think of a bad…"

"La Femme Comique." A very cool mannikin/statue made of comic…

If you were a superhero what powers would you have?

"Like Falling"

"Copyright doesn’t protect your idea — it protects the EXPRESSION of your idea."

This Week in Rejection!: DC Comics

Photo

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So, apparently I've been nominated for the Goodreads Best of 2013 in the YA fiction category for the second book in my thriller series, Game.

Those of you who've been following me for a while know that I have no particularly strong feelings about awards, prizes, and lists. So this is not a blog post begging you to vote for me...or even suggesting it!

If you look at the list of nominees, there are some damn fine books represented. You could almost close your eyes and click at random and feel that you'd voted for a worthy title.

If you enjoy voting in such contests, go for it! Have fun with it!

Back in the day, comic book used to have one or two text pages. Something about the presence of text pages reclassifying them for a better postal rate or something like that. I dunno. Anyway, paging through my copy of Adventure Comics #247 the other day, I stumbled upon this forgotten gem of Eisenhower-era hilarity…

Yeah, it ain’t exactly Showtime at the Apollo, is it? Just be glad you were born when you were!

(From Adventure Comics #247, 1958.)