I’ve had some recent conversations with new or aspiring authors about “tense,” “POV,” and “show don’t tell.” I'd like to talk about each of them to offer some help for anyone who needs it. I prefer to write in present tense and first person POV. I also enjoy dual POV, when I do this, I switch between characters with the switch of the chapter. But I don’t necessarily swap for every chapter, only when it makes sense for the story.
In Force of Corruption, I swap POV between Paige, the FMC and Rhett the MMC. For a surprise and fun twist, the epilogue is from the POV of a completely different character. I remind authors all the time that they’re the one writing the story, they can tell it however they want. If you’re comfortable writing in a certain tense and POV, do it! Just remember to keep it the same throughout the book. Authors get into a tough spot when they accidentally switch tense randomly in their book. Avoid this, because you’ll have to fix it. Your editor should catch it if you don’t, but if you do it a lot, it’s going to make you crazy going back to fix it all. If you don’t fix it, readers will notice, and they won’t be able to get into your story. You never want a reader pulled out of the story because of a mistake. It leads to bad reviews.
Regarding the infamous, “Show, Don’t Tell” method, it’s a simple concept that’s difficult to master. With practice it’s very doable, you just need to get into the habit. There're two good books on Amazon about this topic and there’s several YouTube videos. I especially enjoy Natalia Leigh; she has an easy-to-follow style and describes everything in detail. The basic idea is to let your reader feel, taste, smell, whatever the characters experience.
Don’t just tell them, “Sally feels tired.” Show them: “Sally's eyes drooped as she reread the last sentence three times before dragging her concrete laden feet off to bed.” In both examples I relay that Sally is tired. In the first example I just tell the reader Sally is tired. In the second example I show the reader Sally is tired by letting them see her drooping eyes, that she’s struggling to keep her attention focused on her task, and her feet are heavy because she’s so tired she can barely lift them, so they feel like they’re covered in concrete.
I’m not the best at “Show, Don’t Tell,” but I can paint a picture with words if I try. Now don’t go thinking you have to “show” every action in your story, there’s still a place for telling some events. I use a combination of the two methods. The idea is to balance your story between showing, telling, and dialogue. When you reach the right balance, your story will flow and engage your readers. Don’t worry, your writing will improve the more you write. You’ll learn habits that help you automatically blend these magical effects and write a wonderful novel.
I met an author who’s doing a virtual book signing event for eight additional authors. It’s such a cool idea and I’m really excited for the opportunity to participate. I’m lucky I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and she allowed me to join the event. All of the author’s will be on a Zoom event and we'll each read excerpts from our books, talk about them, and answer reader questions live. During the event the readers will be able to purchase signed copies of our books. There are different tiers, it’s free to attend, but there’s a tier with book swag, digital swag, and a raffle for bookish items. I’ve never heard of such an event, and I think it’s brilliant. It sounds like such fun. She plans to have one every other month I believe though this is the inaugural event. I'll include the link to sign up or purchase tickets at the end of this blog.
I’m planning to do a cover reveal for Force Majeure during the event. I’m also planning to use a recording of an excerpt by the voice artist I’m working with. I figure I'll read a part and have him read a part on recording. I need to choose which parts I want to read. I’m thinking of having him read the part where the two main characters go on their first date. I might read the part where she meets him. But I need to test them out and see how it goes. I don’t want to do anything too spicy in case people have kids around. I suppose we can do a warning. I’m going to have to ask in our event chat group.
I’m also getting excited about the release of Force Majeure, I want to try to get it launched before the summer ends, so by Labor Day. I’m in need of three different hand surgeries so I’m not sure how difficult that goal will be in reality. If you remember, I explained about my autoimmune disease in a previous blog. My body is destroying my bones and tendons. I have two ruptured tendons in my right hand that need repair so I can use my fingers again. At the moment they’re just hanging off my hand useless. I’m typing with one finger from each hand. My wrist bones are disintegrating, and the doctor was shocked at my x-rays. Additionally, my right thumb is a twisted mess of misplaced bones that need to be screwed together so I can use my thumb again. My left hand is only slightly better with my pointer finger twisted into almost a ninety-degree angle at the middle knuckle. It looks awful, like a gnarly old, wicked witch hand twisted up by evil deeds. If you pray, please say one for my doctors to fix me up quick and keep my books on schedule.
I've mentioned this before, but why do I get more new followers on TikTok when I’m not posting than when I do? Is my absence the magic formula? I can’t figure TikTok out, I suppose it’s a mystery for many since I’ve read numerous blogs and chats about how to get their algorithms to work with you. Somehow when I don’t have a chance to make videos and post much on there I end up with more views and followers. Does anyone understand how it works? Sometimes when I post something on there, it gets me a bunch of new followers, but I usually do better when I ignore it. That just doesn’t seem right. If I figure it out, you’ll be first to know in a future blog.
Here's the link for the virtual book signing event:
https://facebook.com/events/s/readers-break-the-internet-onl/797504215772748/
Here’s my website you can subscribe for updates:
https://www.enchantingauthor.com
As always, thank you for reading. Have a fabulous weekend!