My fiancé recently read one of my short stories and offered some ponderings. For a man who doesn’t often read novels and is reading in his second language, he was able to offer very thoughtful ideas. The main thing he talked about was the point of view of the story. He wondered if the story might be more interesting from a different perspective. I was very impressed that he could give me the type of criticism and suggestions that a writer needs, and explain his reasons for challenging me. I think I’ll keep him around.
One of the reasons I wrote that story in the particular style and POV I did was because a large chunk of my writing has been more naturally from First Person Singular, I wanted to try something different and in short writing this is a very popular choice, so I hoped that another POV might help it stand out. The First Person Singular POV naturally leads the reader more easily into an emotional attachment with the character and their story. What about other POV? Well, I certainly haven’t tried Second Person (that daunting ‘you’), I’ve struggled to complete a novel I am hugely excited about in Third Person Limited, and as for Third Person Omniscient and First Person Plural, well I like to focus on one character usually, so I simply haven’t approached them.
Writing my novella on this blog was a great challenge and gave me an interesting opportunity to try out some ideas, but it wasn’t as specific an exercise toward particular skills in the craft of writing. In considering how to write about my wedding preparations in a more creative way, I have become interested in the different POV I could use to better entertain and capture my audience. I don’t want to simply write from my own perspective; I want to understand more and have a wider idea of how this time is affecting those around me. This is not a wedding or living abroad blog. While these things, and my faith, come up, the main focus is writing: the process and product.
So, the writing challenge of 2016 is: Using First Person Singular (FPS), First Person Plural (FPP), Second Person (SP), Third Person Limited (TPL) and Third Person Omniscient (TPO) in separate stories, I will share my experience about planning two weddings (one in NI and one in SK) while living as an expat in South Korea. It will not be in that order of POV (more likely the order of when the events happen), there will be no word limit and other writing skills may be explored in the process. I may have a short passage ahead of the story to explain some of the content and give insight into some points you have to consider, while gathering legal documents etc. The stories will be based on true events, however I may have to push those boundaries as I make them more interesting or fitting for the stories. They will be labeled #weddingstories to group them together. I hope you enjoy.
By the way, the engagement story is almost complete and will be checked by my fiancé this weekend (since he is so involved in that one). It will hopefully be up early next week for all who are curious. Spoiler alert: he did well!
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