A New Perspective On Perspective
Writing a novel is a humbling experience. The idea begins as a tiny seed in the back corner of a writer’s mind. The images dance across the imagination as if a movie is unfolding right before the writer’s eyes. The characters become real people, friends or foes, whose dialogue both taunt and delight. And then, the writer sits at their desk and begins to write.
When it comes to writing, perspective is everything. Whether a writer is determining who the protagonist is or where the story will take place, the author’s perspective on the story has the ability to shift and mold to a variety of different outcomes. Perspective though is also about character point of view and it was only recently that I learned the challenging lesson of listening to your instincts as a writer.
I would love to be able to tell you that this was the first lesson in following my instincts when it came to the creation of a story, but sadly, I have taken the path of the pebble, the brick, and the wall on this particular journey.
The story goes, when it is time for a person to heed a bit of advice in life, first a pebble will fall. Should the person ignore or be unaware of the pebble along their path then a brick will fall. Finally, if the brick is once again discounted, the person is soon to find themselves under an entire wall, trapped and unable to move forward until they fully understand that which they came to learn.
When I set out to write my upcoming release All That Was, I confided in a close writing friend that I was going to challenge myself and write my protagonist from the perspective of third person point of view. My first three historical fiction novels were written in first person point of view and I did this not realizing many authors shy away from this perspective.
To me, writing from first person point of view was equal to sitting down at my desk each morning and slipping on my characters like I would a heavy winter coat. I found myself immersed and easily delved into the world I had created from my character’s perspective.
Before the actual writing of All That Was began, I spent weeks brushing up on point view, trying to wrap my first person brain around the logistics of creating a story in third person. Every time I tried to write from a third person point of view, I found myself not just sitting outside of my character’s head but quite likely in the next room with my back turned to my protagonist and her journey.
I was stuck and being stuck was uncomfortable and so, I did what any sane person who is looking to remedy an uncomfortable situation does. I chickened out. I let my desire for things to flow easily lull me back into first person point of view.
The words flowed and the story unfolded. Along the way I learned I had a ghost for a character. I fell in love with the ghost and her storyline and thus her voice came through loud and clear, and oftentimes delightfully funny as well. I relished my writing time and the banter that existed within the pages and when the time came, I joyfully handed the manuscript over to my editor for her first pass.
It was only a matter of a few weeks before my editor came to me and dropped the news like a hammer falling from heaven. The gist was, my protagonist would benefit greatly by changing her perspective from first person point of view to third person. It felt akin to a punch in the gut.
My wind knocked out of me, my balance unsteady, I was stunned that once again my editor had managed to call me out on what I had originally intended and then shied away from on the page. The wall fell all around me as I realized with great disappointment that I had just made my job more challenging.
The irony to my lesson in this case is that the premise of my novel is all about moving forward in life. My characters must do battle with their current state of being stuck and the story follows them as they learn to move forward. The similarity was not lost on me.
Once I discovered I was buried under the wall and after a few days of lamenting to my family and friends, I began the arduous task of moving each individual brick, rewriting two-thirds of my novel, until my path was once again clear and I could move forward with the story I had originally intended to write.
It has been said that we learn best from the lessons that cause us the most pain. With each novel I write, I grow as a writer and as a person. In the end, it really is all about perspective.
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Tanya E Williams is the author of historical family saga, A Man Called Smith along with two other stories in the Smith Family Series. Her next historical fiction novel, All That Was will be available in autumn 2020. Tanya loves to help a reader get lost in another time, another place through the magic of books. History continues to inspire her stories and her insightful view into the human condition deepens her character’s experiences and propels them on their journey. Ms. Williams’ favorite tales, speak to the reader’s heart, making them smile, laugh, cry, and think.
Find out more about her on her website https://tanyaewilliams.com/
Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/tanya_breathes
ALL THAT WAS
Separated by a century. Bonded by loss. Will examining all that was invoke comfort or calamity?
Seattle, 2015. Emily Reed refuses to dwell on her emotions. When the first-year attorney is assigned a church archival project, she dives into the records to hide from her own heartache. But when she discovers her parents were married in this very chapel, she is forced to confront the grief she buried a decade ago.
After she died in 1935, Elizabet Thomas was devastated when her beloved husband wasn’t waiting for her on the other side. A lost soul, she’s wandered their church for the past eighty years, desperate to find him. And now she must persuade a young, living lawyer that the historic building needs to be preserved rather than sold and torn down.
Discovering a diary among the disarray in the building’s basement, Emily is first engrossed and then moved by the dead woman’s words. And as the fate of her home unravels, Elizabet realizes she and the grieving archivist have more in common than she ever would have guessed.
Can Emily and Elizabet save themselves and their cherished sanctuary?
All That Was is an uplifting standalone women’s literary fiction novel deeply woven with historical elements. If you enjoy dual-perspective storylines, complex female characters, and the rekindling of lost hope, then you’ll love Tanya E Williams’s soul-stirring tale.
Buy Link: books2read.com/
A Man Called Smith
A battle-scarred father. A disillusioned daughter. Can a grieving widower rebuild his splintered family to find peace at last?
South Dakota, 1949. WWII veteran John Smith longs for the life he lost after the tragic death of his wife during childbirth. But in the desperation to provide for his two small children, he is manipulated into an unsuitable marriage by a young woman with a dark neurosis. Tormented by his own grief and the ravages of war, John is blind to his children’s turmoil and pain.
Washington State, 1964. John’s sixteen-year-old daughter Calla dreams of a life beyond her vindictive stepmother. Forced to care for her younger siblings with a list of household demands larger than she is tall, Calla knows it’s only a matter of time until she can escape the abuse and begin anew at college. But her dreams crumble when her heartless stepmother claims the college fund for her own selfish purposes.
As John fears he is too late to stop the war within his home, Calla vows to build a new life worth living.
Can John survive the consequences of war on the home front? Can Calla find the strength to rediscover the meaning of family?
A Man Called Smith is the heartwarming and heart wrenching historical family saga following the life of John Smith. If you like courageous characters and narratives told over multiple generations, then you’ll love Tanya E. Williams’ emotional tale.
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That’s interesting and ‘strikes a chord’. In my recently released novel I had not realised that I had slipped into first person until I was half way through. As you say, if flowed so easily, the main protagonist’s voice flowing on to the page as Dot shared her memories as to how she became homeless.
Writing it’s sequel I felt I needed to distance the novel from Dot as she became the teller of other people’s stories rather than her own. I’ve found this quite painful and empathise with your mountainous task to rewrite your novel in the third person. I hope, like you, I overcome the pain threshold and am set free again to write with a rich variety of perspectives as in my previous novels. Thanks for the article Tanya.