Joely Sue Burkhart

First, a killer review of Survive My Fire and The Fire Within by Bethanie here.  She blew ME away. 

Point of view. The was one of the coolest things about this story for me: Throughout, the narrative switches point of view from 1st to 3rd person depending on which character’s head we’re in (the dragon-woman is 1st, the male is 3rd). I’ve read about this technique, but have never read anything that actually used it.

It was really effective. I liked it a lot, in fact. Why? Well, for one thing, it was very clear when the POV changed, and as we all know, I am a huge fan of clarity, so that is certainly part of why this worked so well for me. But I also think the 1st person POV had a lot to do with how tightly I was drawn into the dragon-woman’s head and why I ended up feeling so strongly what the character was feeling. That line between reader and character became thinner and thinner and thinner until I forgot it was supposed to be there at all. Which was awesome.

I’ll admit the POV switching between 1st and 3rd was purely accidental.  One of the things I like to do for character development as I run through the Emotional Toolbox and Hero’s Journey is a first-person character letter.  It helps me get deep into the character’s head as I explore the key defining moment(s) in the backstory.  With Chanda, she came through so loud and strong from the first word of her letter that I simply could not avoid writing in her in 1st. 

Yet I wanted to switch to the hero’s POV, too, so I could widen the story and show her through his eyes.  I needed to warm up the story and emotions a little, because let’s face it.  Chanda is rather brutal and cold when the story first opens, at least emotionally. 

Hundreds of warriors have braved my domain.  They came, and they died.  I killed them all.

Too much of that strong POV would have suffocated the story, I think.  Anyway, so that’s how I came to write back and forth in mixed POVs, something I’d never done before.  The only other book I’ve read recently that mixed POV like that was Holly Lisle’s Talyn.  I won’t say I won’t do it again, but it takes a special story to pull that off, I think.

Thank you so much, Bethanie!  I’m still beaming like an idiot over here.

As for my Fess Up, I’m still grinding away.  I need to put the finishing polishes on the second pass of BD editor revisions this morning and get that shipped back.  I added a little 700-word scene, and it’s okay…but it’s missing that extra OOMPH that says it must be added exactly right here to balance the story.  So I need to think about it more and see if I can tie it more strongly to the theme and arc of the character.  I promised it back today.

Then back to Road.  I’m still in the aftereffects of that long agonizing torture/interrogation scene.  All threads on the Plains are coming together into one big knot, but so far, I think the knot is exactly where I need it to be.  All that remains…is the final road to Shanhasson.  The final showdown.  Basically, Act III.  But it could be 20K yet.

I hope all mothers had a wonderful day yesterday!  The monsters treated me to breakfast in bed and a tear-worthy little hand-made book they illustrated.  It’s both hilarious and adorable.