Revising, Characters

Writing a multiple POV (point-of-view) story is an eye-opening experience. There are things I thought I knew, things I didn’t, and things that are taking me completely by surprise.

Last week as I worked through the first chapter with my second POV character in the narrator’s seat, I found that moving into her perspective gave me more insight into the story. Going through the motions of her watching her sister and reacting to her sister showed me just how deep her love for her sister is. Seeing her doing what she does because of what she wants to do for her sister gives a deeper understanding to who she is and how fiercely she loves. It also will leave the reader so incredibly frustrated because of her actions. The love she feels for her sister drives her to a depth of stubbornness in her decision-making that frustrates me because I know if she let her sister in on her decision-making, they could work together to find better solutions. But, like her sister, she feels everything she does is to keep her safe and she lets that fear-induced state drive her. Unfortunately it’s going to take a lot to get her to see just how much she’s narrowing her options by making the decisions she is. Continuing to tell the story from both sisters is going to tell me even more about both and deepen the story even further.

This week I am excited to continue working through the second sister’s POV and then get back to the first sister. I want to get to my desk to do some work this week so I can stop and make some notes about what I’ve realized and what I’ve started to unravel from the past week’s work. It’s important to me to keep notes of what I figure out because at some point I know I will come up against a question and know the answer is something I’ve either worked through already or am able to go back and get insight on. Doing work at places that are not my desk make it harder to stop and make notes because wherever I am, I am usually in motion to be going somewhere else. That’s ok when I’m deep in the writing because I can fall into the story easily. When I get to a spot like this though, where the work needs to stop for notes and pulling back from the story, I do that work best at my desk.

In case you haven’t ben told today, you are more than enough.

With you in words, Nikole