[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Writing Excuses 12.1: Variations on First Person

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2017/01/01/12-1-variations-on-first-person/

Key points: First Person variations! (1) Epistolary, letters and journals, in-universe artifacts. (2) Reflective narrator, there I was, surrounded by... the storyteller over the fire. (3) First person immediate, I'm talking to you! Often present tense, lots of YA. Will I survive? Keep reading and find out! Think about the meta-element (how did we get this to read? Who is the narrator? Where is the line between the story universe and mehaving a book in my hands to read?), and the fourth wall, which might be where the shadows of the story are written?

In the shadows behind the fire... )

[Brandon] Awesome. So, as I said, there's a lot of depth to exploring even within first person. I wanted to assign you some homework. Which is to take the same idea, a writing prompt you've had, and write a short narrative based on it in one of these three first person formats. Either epistolary, reflective narrator, or first person immediate. Then, I want you to try it in the other two. So that you can personally explore how these three different forms of first person are different tools that achieve different things. Just do a short narrative. Whatever it is. You could even take something you've already written in one and change it into the other two. But until you've tried all three, until you've tried doing a piece of them, I don't think it'll really pop out at you how this all works.

[Brandon] Now, we will be back next week with the Chicago team, where we'll be talking about how to specifically create a powerful first person voice. I wanted to give you a warning that the week after that, we're going to be doing a wildcard. The four of us will be back together and we'll be talking about Risk Assessment, which is the bonus story in the Schlock Mercenary volume Force Multiplication. So this is your spoiler warning. If you want to get that and read it before we talk, we'll be having Sandra Tayler on as a guest because she was the author of it. We will discuss in depth with no holds barred spoilers about that bonus story.

[Brandon] All right. Thank you guys so much. We are excited to have you in season 12 of Writing Excuses. This has been Writing Excuses, and you're out of excuses. Now go write.

[Mary] Writing Excuses is a Dragon Steel production, jointly hosted by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler. This episode was mastered by Alex Jackson.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Writing Excuses 11.6: The Element of Wonder

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2016/02/07/11-06-the-element-of-wonder/

Key Points: Sensawonda? Oh, sense of wonder! A 15 story tall ship! A giant promenade in the middle of the ocean? An aft balcony, with a new sunrise and location every morning! New, strange, and amazing. That's so cool. How do you get there? A spaceship the size of a moon. "That's no moon." Context, the POV reaction, the reader reaction. Direct the reader's attention with the character's attention. Basking in the moment of awe. Give the character, and the reader, time. Foreshadow (aka context) and then reveal. Pacing. Don't rush, let the character's attention linger on it, walk through the fine details, enjoy it. The sense of wonder isn't always big, sometimes it's something tiny. Also, there's a sense of engagement, of wish fulfillment, with the sense of wonder. It's not just wonderful, we get to do something with it!

Fireworks, sunsets, glory! )

[Brandon] We are out of time with this one. So we want to give you some homework.
[Dan] All right. Your homework today is that you are going to apply a sense of wonder to something for us. But we want you to do it with something that is relatively small and ordinary. Something maybe just by your desk, something in your house as you look around. Spot an object, and then describe it in such a way that the reader will get a sense of wonder.
[Brandon] This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Writing Excuses Episode 25: Tense and Viewpoint Part 2

from http://www.writingexcuses.com/2008/07/28/writing-excuses-episode-25-viewpoint-and-tense-part-2/

Key Points? Find the most interesting person, the one who is the pivot of the scene, and tell it from their POV in Third Person Limited, Past Tense. New writers should stick with one viewpoint. Do Third Person Limited well, and you are (almost) guaranteed to sell.
Behind the mirror )
Writing prompt: write a scene using third person limited, past tense, of riding through a medieval village. Write the same scene four times, with different characters as the POV character each time (e.g a nobleman, a scholar, a blacksmith, and a merchant). Show the backstory and conflicts of the different characters by what they notice.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Writing Excuses Episode 23: Viewpoints

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2008/07/14/writing-excuses-episode-23-viewpoint/

The episode was introduced as viewpoints and tense, but they grew too intense and didn't have enough time to talk about tense.

The key points: 1st person and 3rd person limited are the current standards. 1st person means the story is told by ME, and I do everything. 3rd person limited means he (or she) is doing things, with the POV following one character. First person has easy identification (up close and personal). Third limited allows better handling of large casts and multiple viewpoints, plus making it easier to keep secrets from the readers.
details . . . )
Writing Prompt: we've talked about keeping secrets. Write a scene in third person limited where the viewpoint character has a secret that they do not want any other characters to know about.

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