When I first renewed my love of writing fiction several years ago, I had a nasty tendency to write in first person, present tense point of view.

I didn’t do it deliberately–that was simply the way the words came out.

It was only once I discovered first person, present tense is considered risky that I had to stop and ask myself why I was using it. Or, for that matter, why I would choose any particular point of view or tense.

One blogging literary agent says:

…[P]resent tense is not a reason I categorically reject a novel submission. But it often becomes a contributing reason, because successful present tense novel writing is much, much more difficult to execute than past tense novel writing. Most writers, no matter how good they are, are not quite up to the task.

I knew I needed a better reason than, “First person, present tense just comes naturally.” I had to ask myself:

1. What do I want to achieve with this story?
2. What point of view is going to help me best achieve that?
3. What tense is going to be most appropriate?

Books are written in either:

• First person, present tense: I stand and walk toward the door.
• First person, past tense: I stood and walked toward the door.
• Second person, present tense: You stand and walk toward the door.
• Second person, past tense: You stood and walked toward the door.
• Third person, present tense: She stands and walks toward the door.
• Third person, past tense: She stood and walked toward the door.

Third person POV can also be limited, objective, or omniscient, depending on the narrator’s level of awareness of characters’ thoughts and actions.

Third person limited, past tense, and first person, past tense seem to be the most commonly used.

But, if you ask anyone, “What is the best point of view to use for my novel?” you’re likely to get an answer something like this:

You should use whatever point of view and whatever tense helps you tell your story in the best possible way.

It doesn’t matter so much what comes naturally to you, but what feels natural to your story, and what will feel natural to your reader.

To Revise, or Not to Revise?

When I started my current work-in-progress, it began as first person, present tense narration. After a few thousand words and a quick slap on the wrist, I decided to change to third person limited, past tense. It seemed less risky, and while I continued to write, I was confident I’d made the right decision.

However…

I began to notice that nearly every book I picked up in the same genre (to the one I’m writing) was written in first person, past tense. Still, I stuck to my guns and continued writing. Third person limited was right for me.

Recently, I returned from a long break from my first draft and had a good, hard look at it. What I see now is not what I saw when I began writing. The third person narration feels too distant for what I’m trying to achieve, but I also don’t want to fall into the I, I, I trap reserved for writers of first person.

I don’t have a clear answer at the moment, but I’m trialling different points of view with small excerpts from my draft to help me make the decision.

One thing I am sure about, though: I won’t be using present tense again for this project.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts on the following:

• Which POV comes most naturally to you?
• Which genres do you think best suit first/third person narration?
• Are there points of view you refuse to use or read, and why?
• How do you make the decision on which POV to use?

With August quickly coming to an end, I thought we should take a moment to reflect on the books we’ve read this summer, and recommend any gems to our fellow readers.

Here are some brief descriptions of the 5 books I’ve read this summer, along with my thoughts on recommending them to other readers:

Something Borrowed, Emily Giffin

Genre: Chick lit

Description: A good-girl lawyer inadvertently steals her best friend’s fiance and must decide what matters more to her–a life-long friendship, or true love.

The Verdict: Fun, but fluffy. A quick read.

Read reviews of Something Borrowed, or order the novel here.

Abide with Me, by Elizabeth Strout

Genre: Literary

Description: When his wife dies, a quiet pastor is left to deal with his two young daughters and a once-supportive congregation who has begun to turn on him.

The Verdict: A thoughtful, but slow, read. I really enjoyed this one, although it might not be for everyone.

Read reviews of Abide with Me, or order the novel here.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Genre: YA fantasy

Description: (As if you need a description…) The new girl in town discovers her boyfriend and his family are vampires. ‘Nuff said.

The Verdict: Yes, I finally broke down and read Twilight. I can see the appeal for a younger audience or anyone with an interest in vampires, but I really couldn’t get into it.

Read reviews of Twilight, or order the novel here.

Rush Home Road, by Lori Lansens

Genre: Women’s fiction

Description: When tragedy strikes, a pregnant young black woman is forced to leave her home and family. She spends the rest of her life trying to make her way in the world, but in her twilight years, she gains closure by helping an abandoned child find her own way home.

The Verdict: This was a great novel. Very well written, but also a page-turner. I highly recommend this one for women who enjoy character-driven stories.

Read reviews of Rush Home Road, or order the novel here.

The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy

Genre: Mainstream literary

Description: A football coach from South Carolina travels to New York to help his suicidal twin sister by telling her psychiatrist the story of their troubled childhood.

The Verdict: I’ve read about 450 pages out of almost 700 of this book, but even though I’m not finished, I’m still going to recommend it. Pat Conroy writes some amazing prose, although I must admit some parts are overwritten, and I’ve been tempted to skim. I think this book could have been edited down to half its length and still would have been an excellent story. *Update* A note of caution: after reading further, I must strongly caution readers as to the graphic and disturbing content that appears later in the book.

Read reviews of The Prince of Tides, or order the novel here.

What books have you read this summer that you would or wouldn’t recommend to others? Please let us know the genres, what the books are about, and your recommendations.

Thanks, and happy reading!

Do you tend to write short or long first drafts of short stories, novels or articles?

Short First-Drafters are those who like to get down the bare bones or key scenes before going back to fill in the holes.

Long First-Drafters are those who spill everything they can think of onto the page, and end up with more material than they need.

Is one way better than the other, or do both methods have their unique pros and cons?

Short First Drafts

Pros: Writing a short first draft means you might do it faster, you’ll get your most important ideas down first, and there’s less chance you’ll lose motivation early in the writing process.

Cons: You can write a first draft that’s too short and subsequently lose motivation during the revision stages when you realize you still have a long way to go. Also, (in fiction) if you skip the flesh and go for the bare bones initially, you’ll likely have to revise your key scenes once you fill in the details and discover more about your plot and characters.

Long First Drafts

Pros: Cutting words can sometimes be easier than adding words, especially once you learn to recognize unnecessary offenders that  dampen your prose. By the time you finish a long first draft, all of your story or ideas will be fully-fleshed out, so you’ll be able to see any problems or logic holes during your first revision.

Cons: You might spend longer writing the first draft and perhaps lose motivation along the way. Once you’ve written more than the full word count you’ll need, you might find it difficult to let go of all that hard work.

Personally, I’m a short first-drafter. I’ve written about 55,000 words of my work-in-progress, and I anticipate writing about 10,000 more before I’m finished sketching in all the key scenes. I intend to go back and add another 15,000 words or so to take the total to 80,000.

Of course, I’ll probably write more than that number and end up cutting and adding–and cutting and adding some more–before I’m truly finished.

So, does it really matter whether you write a short first draft or a long one?

Nope.

In the end, they’ll both take you where you want to go, provided you don’t give up along the way.

Just to make things even more subjective, you can even be a fast long first-drafter, or a slow short first-drafter. I’m suppose I’m the latter, since I will have taken more than 7 months to complete my first draft.

I believe people have a natural tendency toward one method or the other, and I’m no sure it’s a good idea to force oneself into the opposite camp. For example, I couldn’t write a long first draft if my life depended on it, because I would lose motivation very early on.

• Are you a long first-drafter or a short first-drafter?
• Do you think one method is inherently better than the other?
• Are there other pros and cons you can think of for either method?

I must admit that I am not currently part of a writing critique group, although I did participate in one several years ago.

A part of me thinks I should invest some time in finding a suitable group, but another part says my life is far too busy at the moment to physically attend one.

Is there an alternative? A way to enjoy the benefits of a writing group without ever leaving the house?

In the past few months, I’ve found several online venues that help people do just that.

When literary agent Nathan Bransford created writing forums through his blog, I was quick to join. Hundreds of writers interact there to discuss all things writing, publishing, feedback and finding agents.

There are plenty of other communities for writers like Absolute Write Water Cooler, Writer’s Digest Critique Central, Critique Circle, The Public Query Slushpile, and many more.

These sites are not merely venues for aspiring writers to post stories or novel excerpts. Rather, they help writers accomplish a number of tasks which help bring them closer to having their work published.

Online forums and critique circles can help you:

Find a critique partner

Connect with another writer and swap your works-in-progress. Help one another identify strengths and weaknesses in your prose, spot logic holes and inconsistencies, offer suggestions for improvement, or simply offer to proofread.

Try to find someone who reads or writes extensively in the same genre. For example, I write mainstream/literary, so I wouldn’t have much to offer a writer of science fiction or fantasy.

If you’d prefer to share only a short excerpt of your work, there are opportunities to have it critiqued by multiple contributors.

Get feedback on your queries

Queries are the bane of every writer’s existence. How does one go about boiling down a 300 page novel into just a couple of paragraphs?

The biggest problem with writing a query is that you know your story so well, it’s easy to leave out crucial information. Sharing your query with other writers can help you iron out any problems in communicating your story to a literary agent.

Discuss particular problems

If you find yourself stumped over a plotting problem or character issue, a quick post on an online forum can provide you with a number of different perspectives from other writers.

I once posted about an issue I had with the structure of my own work-in-progress, and soon received several replies with advice, and relevant reading recommendations.

Find moral support

There will be days you’ll want to give up. Days you’ll think you’re no good.

When you’re feeling down, it’s always comforting to be able to reach out to others. But, your non-writer friends and family members aren’t likely to understand your plight, try as they might.

An online writing group connects you to others going through the same things, whether it be something tangible, like a rejection letter, or intangible, like lack of confidence.

Is there a catch?

As with any group in which you share your writing, there are always words of warning:

• Take feedback with a grain of salt. Not every piece of advice you get will be good, so use your best judgment.
• Express your thanks for any critique you receive, even if you don’t like what the person has said. If someone offers you constructive criticism and you become defensive, others won’t be eager to help you in the future.
• You have to give first to receive. Don’t just turn up, post your work, and expect a free handout. Give feedback to several other writers before you ask for feedback on your own work.
• Watch what you write. Words can appear much different on the page than when they are spoken. Always give positive feedback before criticism.

Are you part of either a physical or virtual writing support group?

What other online venues can you recommend to writers seeking interactive communities?

I’m starting think my English degree is doing more harm than good to my writing.

I spent so many years studying classic literature and contemporary masterpieces, I know good quality writing when I see it. The problem is, when I read through some of my draft work (and some of my finished work), I don’t see classic. I don’t see masterpiece.

I see, well, mediocrity.

Then again, when I read a lot of contemporary books, I see the same thing. Yet, instead of saying, “Hey, maybe my writing is getting close to publishable quality,” I say “I’m terrible, horrible, awful. I’ll never be published because I don’t write as well as all those authors I studied in English lit.”

Now, intellectually I know that if anyone said my fiction rivals Jane Austen or Charles Dickens, they would either be lying or deluded. So why do I expect myself to write as well as the masters?

I know I’m not the only one out there who’s too hard on myself. Do the following statements describe your own mindset when it comes to your writing?

You expect perfection–the first time.

You and your first drafts enjoy an ever-present struggle. You realize there’s a time to write and a time to revise, but looking at your rough work discourages you to no end. Why can’t the prose just come out perfectly?

You refuse to let anyone read your work until it’s complete.

You may be on your third draft already, but no one is going near it until you’ve edited out every last grammatical error, cliche, and logic hole. You’re afraid anyone who reads your work prematurely will think you can’t write, so you find excuses to keep it under lock and key.

You think everyone else’s writing is better than yours.

You read other unpublished people’s stories and immediately want to crawl in a hole. It doesn’t matter whether their work is truly superior to yours or not–you’re insecure enough to find a reason why your writing stinks by comparison.

These thoughts are probably universal amongst writers, at least at some point in their careers. But how can you lighten up and keep yourself moving forward?

1. Remember, not even seasoned authors get it right the first time. Everyone has to revise their work, usually many times over. Try not to pass too much judgment on your writing until you’ve finished a later draft.
2. You don’t have to show your rough drafts to anyone, but why not show a second (less-than-perfect) draft to a trusted friend or critique partner? Put yourself in control of the situation by specifically requesting feedback on strengths and weaknesses, but feel free to explain that your work is still incomplete.
3. Instead of being envious of other people’s writing, try to identify what you think they are doing better than you. Is it plot? Dialogue? Characterization? Perhaps the thing that bothers you most is something that’s missing from your own manuscript.

Every writer has doubts. Everyone has days the mountains just seem too high to climb. If you follow literary agent Nathan Bransford‘s blog, you may already have seen this fascinating post on why lack of confidence can actually be a good thing for writers.

Personally, I need to remind myself that my books don’t have to be classics. They don’t have to win Pulitzers or Booker Prizes to be good, to be published, or to be well-loved by readers.

How do you refrain from being too hard on yourself? Do you have strategies that work particularly well to help reprogram your thinking?

This week, I went to the library to load up on new books.

I deliberately chose one light read, so I would easily be able to identify its story structure–something I’ve been researching lately.

Though I wasn’t expecting literary perfection, I was quite disappointed in my selection. I found a number of common writing pitfalls that could easily have been fixed.

I’d rather not identify this particular book because I think anyone who’s managed to write a novel and have it published has accomplished something amazing. Still, I think we can all learn from the things that irritate us as readers.

Here are 6 easily-fixed weaknesses I found in this particular novel:

1. Too Derivative

Think total rip-off of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Everything about this novel is something I’ve already read or seen somewhere else. There’s absolutely nothing that sets it apart from other chick-lit books.

2. Stereotypical Characters

The main character is (you guessed it) a thirty-something professional woman living in a big city, looking for Mr. Right. Throw in two cliched best pals (one outgoing, one reserved) and a boisterous gay friend, and you’ve got a full cast of stereotypical characters.

Come to think of it, didn’t Bridget Jones hang out with those very same people?

3. Improper Story Structure

As I mentioned earlier, my main reason for choosing a light read was to be able to quickly spot the story structure. Unfortunately, the structure of this novel was off.

If you don’t know much about story structure, you can find tons of great articles by Larry Brooks over at Storyfix. Basically, a story should consist of a set-up, a response, an attack, and a resolution (in that order).

In this book, the inciting incident happens within the first few pages, and the ‘response’ part of the story takes up nearly the entire rest of the book. Near the end, you think the main character is going to ‘attack,’ –that is, figure out what she wants and go for it. But that never eventuates and the resolution is rushed, and questionable.

4. Unrealistic Details

The main character in this book pays a visit to a psychiatrist to discuss some of her issues. During one of the scenes in the therapist’s office, I was immediately aware of a few details that didn’t add up in my mind.

This particular psychiatrist–the best one in town–stocks wedding magazines in his waiting room and has a cuckoo clock on his office wall, which chimes every 5 minutes. While these details are meant to be funny, they struck me as too unrealistic.

People with relationship difficulties probably don’t want to read wedding magazines while they wait for therapy, and I might have believed the cuckoo clock if the doctor was described as eccentric instead of well-respected.

They’re only small details, but they can make all the difference if they make your reader say, “No way.”

5. Predictable Ending

I guessed the ending of this book on the first page. At one point later in the story, I almost thought the author was going to go in a different direction, and for the first time since starting, I was looking forward to seeing something unique.

Nope.

While not every story needs a huge plot twist or shocking ending, sometimes it pays to try something just a little out-of-the-box.

6. Lack of Character Arc

Our protagonists should grow through the course of our stories. They grow because–by the ending–they have overcome conflict.

I didn’t see a whole lot of growth in this novel’s main character. She spent the entire book making the same mistakes and exercising the same poor judgment. And, at just the point when I was convinced she had finally learned her lesson and would move into ‘attack’ mode, she went back to doing the same old thing again. It became difficult to sympathize with her plight.

It’s only in the very last pages that this character really starts to see what she needs to do, but I felt her final choices weren’t terribly convincing.

The Quick Fixes

Am I being too harsh?

To be fair, this book isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, but it could have been more fun and a better novel overall if the author had addressed some of these issues during the revision stage.

How can we fix these mistakes in our own work before we send it off to the world?

1. Stand out. If you’re using a common premise, find some way to make the story your own. Try changing the setting, the character’s occupation, their motivations. Better yet, give the overdone premises a pass and opt for something fresh in your genre.
2. Avoid stereotypes. Give your characters true human characteristics–at least your leading characters. No one is a stereotype in real life. We all have goals, needs, fears.
3. Stick to the structure. Story structure exists for a reason; without it, you don’t have a full and satisfying story. Make sure you have a set-up, a response, an attack and a resolution.
4. Choose details carefully. It’s so easy to write a scene and not think twice about the small details. When revising, pay close attention to ensure there are no details that contradict or seem out of place.
5. Make your reader guess. Yes, most endings are predictable to some extent, but try to keep your readers guessing as long as possible. If you’re giving away your ending on the first page, you might want to rework your manuscript.
6. Make your characters learn their lessons. Your main character needs to change throughout the story. By the end, he should have made some kind mental adjustment or realization that allows him to function better in the world. This should be a gradual adjustment, not something thrown in at the last minute.

What weaknesses have you found in books you’ve read?

What are your biggest fiction pet peeves?

Would you like to know more about Story Structure? Catch my review of Story Structure – Demystified that I posted back in October 2009. Any fiction writer will benefit from Larry’s proven knowledge in this area, so please do your novel a favour and buy his eBook on the subject – an eBook for which I am an unashamed affiliate!

(Pssst! Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to enter Jennie Nash’s Mother’s Day contest for your chance to win some fantastic prizes!)

Jennie Nash‘s latest novel, The Threadbare Heart (May 2010, Berkley Trade), explores themes of love, loss and hope through three generations of marriages.

Lily is a fifty-something college professor, wife to Tom, mother of two grown-up boys, and something of an eccentric fabric-hoarder. Rather than use the material she collects, she prefers to imagine the possibilities of what each might become. Her most prized possession: a piece of her grandmother’s heirloom lace, still intact.

Lily and Tom share a quiet but stable marriage, so when he suddenly suggests they exchange their teaching careers in Vermont for an avocado ranch in California, Lily begins to question everything she thought she knew about her husband.

After tragedy strikes, Lily is forced to come to terms with how she really felt about Tom, and what she has left once she’s seemingly lost everything.

The Threadbare Heart also follows two other stories. Eleanor, Lily’s seventy-five-year-old mother, has sworn off men after three failed marriages. Lily’s eldest son, Ryan, begins to feel the strain on his own marriage to Olivia after their daughter is born. Eleanor and Ryan’s stories complement Lily and Tom’s in a way that brings perspective to all their relationships.

There are no surprises in this novel–most of the big events are given away in the jacket blurb– but it does achieve its goal of provoking readers to think about their own relationships. Lily’s fears and doubts about her marriage are spot on. And although Ryan and Olivia’s story is secondary, I think Nash does a particularly good job of capturing the stress and ambivalence experienced by young married couples with children.

This is a quick read. The writing is simple, but interspersed with passages of more sophisticated prose and beautiful description. I particularly like the sewing and fabric metaphors that are woven through the story.

Because it follows three generations, I’d recommend The Threadbare Heart to women of all ages. It’s particularly suitable for book clubs or other discussion formats.

You can read an excerpt of the first chapter here, or order your copy from Amazon today.

Note: if you do purchase The Threadbare Heart after clicking on one of the affiliate links above, I will earn a small commission. These commissions will help pay my hosting and site costs. Thank you in advance!

Today’s post is written by Nina Badzin. Thanks, Nina!

How do you know when you’re a query letter addict instead of a novelist?

When you recognize yourself in the following scenario.

You spent a year writing a novel and revised it twenty times. Armed with tips from agents’ blogs, you crafted such a compelling letter that a number of agents requested “a look.” Now you’re a writer, you told yourself. Now you’re in the game.

The rejections to your partials and fulls trickled in one-by-one, but you were prepared and realistic. Following the advice of successful authors, you sent more queries in batches of ten, gleefully responding to new requests for your book—a version you tweaked with vague comments from the agents who liked your book, but not as much as they liked your brilliant sell.

Your friends told you not to lose hope. Of course not, you said before boring them with query-letter lore: J.K. Rowling, Kathryn Stockett, etc. You gave them your request statistics even though they didn’t ask. You relished uttering “real” industry-speak. You loved the sounds of the words, “Eight agents are reading my book.”

More rejections came. You wondered if you should revise the book again, but the conflicting opinions of the thirteen agents who read some portion of it, or all of it, confused you. You lost your way, your voice. You could hardly remember what made you want to write that story in the first place. Revise? Give up? But Kathryn Stockett, Kathryn Stockett, Kathryn Stockett.

Now, instead of working on the characters and the plot that’s been brewing in your mind—the ingredients that you suspect would amount to a better book, a good book—you’re researching agents again. You haven’t written anything new in six months, not even a short story. You’re sending out queries to every new agent listed on the Guide to Literary Agents blog. You’re out of control.

My friend, you’re a query letter addict.

I, too, had to face that my query letter was excellent, or at least good enough to elicit an outstanding rate of requests. But the truth was I had never employed the enthusiasm, determination, and sense of perfectionism to the manuscript that I brought to the process of trying to find an agent. At some point I knew this, but I couldn’t stop.

Once I was in the cycle of the agent research and sending out letters and actually communicating with publishing professionals, the idea of stepping away from the potential high of an agent’s offer seemed worth the time and effort of the endless lows I had to experience first.

I think it takes a certain instinct to know when you’re a potential Kathryn Stockett and when you’re beating a dead horse. I’m grateful that I eventually decided to take my bizarre passion for industry research and transfer it to reading information on the craft of storytelling. But I don’t beat myself up too much about my addiction. One day, when I have a manuscript worthy of sharing, I’ll certainly know how to go about trying to get it in the hands of the right person.

Breaking an addiction is hard, so I’ll give you the key to what made it possible for me to step away:

I figured out that what drew me to the query process—other than the dream of publication—was not an unfaltering belief in the merit of my novel, but a desire to feel less isolated in my work. There’s nothing wrong with seeking colleagues and professionalism, but I was like a first year medical student asking the chief of surgery for a job.

I’m now working on an entirely new novel and following the guidelines of my self-imposed Query Addicts Anonymous:

• No contacting agents
• No researching agents
• No loitering in bookstores reading acknowledgment pages
• Study the craft. Write. Revise. Repeat.

Editor’s Note: Have you ever been caught in a similar query letter conundrum? What aspects of writing and publishing distract you from learning more about the craft? What would make you choose to pull your manuscript out of circulation and work on something else?

Nina Badzin lives in Minneapolis with her husband and three young kids. Her short stories have appeared in Literary Mama, Scribblers on the Roof, and The Talking Stick. She was also honored as a finalist in Glimmer Train Stories, and as a quarter-finalist for Writer Unboxed‘s recent search for a new contributor. Find her on Twitter @NinaBadzin.