Doom and gloom still prevails on Facebook (not unjustified), so I did a quick run-through of My Pictures and came up with a potpourri of pics from the past. Firstly, one I missed in my tale of bell-ringing—a view of two of the bells in Harkness Tower, taken by my daughter on our visit in July of 2019.
Below, the extremely handy pic I found online, and which I used in two books set in Bath; most recently, The Abandoned Daughter.
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| Sydney Garden Maze |
One of my favorite typos (not mine, thank goodness):
A truly funny pic to brighten your day . . . (Be sure you read every word.)
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WRITING - POINT OF VIEW, Part 2
FIRST PERSON
Some years ago, I recall an author declaring she "hated" books written in the First Person (books written solely from the main character's point of view, usually female). Since I loved the classic First Person Gothics of Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, and other Gothic authors of the 50s and 60s, I felt challenged to understand this negative attitude about First Person. My conclusion: it stems primarily from not being allowed to see into the Hero's head. Yet in classic Gothic novels the whole point is to make the heroine feel vulnerable. That she is alone against the world. The reader suffers as the heroine suffers, suspense building as she feels threatened yet hasn't a clue from where or whom danger stalks. Or if it's all in her head. So, let's just say, "To each his/her own," and move on to the varieties of First Person.
Grace note for anyone who might have missed this in school: "First Person" means the story is told using "I" and "We." "Third Person" means the story is told using, "He and she." Third Person stories may be told from just one point of view, multiple points of view, and/or the author's point of view.
1. Straight First Person. The heroine tells the tale. The reader knows only what she sees, what she hears, what she reads, what she thinks. NO OTHER POINT OF VIEW ALLOWED.
2. First Person - Variant 1. After a chapter (or two or three) written by the Heroine in her POV, the next chapter is headed with the Hero's name and the story continues in his POV. Which, however, is expressed in THIRD Person. (In more recent years some authors may have written the Hero's POV in First Person, but I have not personally seen it.) The majority of the book in this variant, however, remains in the Heroine's POV.
3. First Person - Variant 2. I find this a "fun" approach to First Person POV. Anne Cleeland uses this variant throughout her Doyle and Acton Scotland Yard series. In the first books the hero's brief comments were expressed in three or four lines in small type (centered) at the top of each chapter. As the series progressed, however, Ms Cleeland snuck in a few "ringers" - comments from characters other than the Hero of the series - challenging readers to figure out who is saying what to whom!
Grace note: if anyone knows of a different approach to First Person POV, I would love to hear about it.
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This week's featured book - the cover reveal and rough draft of the blurb for my Work in Progress, which was supposed to be another Gothic paranormal and somehow turned into a Regency Romance/Adventure (with ghosts), written in Multiple POVs!
When the uncle of a six-year-old marquess threatens to take him from his widowed mother, as well as urging her to marry his rakish son, Victoire, Marchioness of Brynthorpe, hires a war-weary band of ex-soldiers as bodyguards. The resulting clash reverberates from Wiltshire to London as Captain Fox, the Stone Soldier, turns out to be far more than his military rank implies.
Violent conflict, an unexpected and rocky romance, close-held secrets—all to the tune of comments and advice from five resident phantoms. Yet even when our hero and heroine see sunny skies at last, one more stumbling block rears its ugly head.
Grace note: I grew very fond of the wounded major in my last book, The Abandoned Daughter. The Stone Soldier is my attempt at redemption for a lost soul.
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Thanks for stopping by,
Grace (Blair Bancroft)
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