Author Intrusion and Trust Issues

Author intrusion is one of my greatest pet peeves AND something I've struggled to correct as a writer.

What is author intrusion? Anything that pulls you out of the story and makes you remember that a person wrote the words you're reading. There are several ways this can happen, but there's one that's common in self published novels.

Meaning, the author doesn't trust the reader to make the connections and keeps beating them over the head with:

"Notice this!" 

"Pay attention because this is important." 

"Let me tell you in case you didn't understand what I just showed you in that last scene."

Have you ever done that? I wish I could find some of my early writing to show you what I mean. It was bad. I'd write a lovely showy bit and then ruin it by explaining what I'd just shown though action or good dialogue. Luckily, now that I've noticed it in other books, I'm getting better at cleaning up my own manuscripts.

We must remember that our readers are intelligent people. They're readers for crying out loud! I don't want someone to treat me like I'm stupid, and neither do my readers. 

Here are two other things I've seen that can be avoided. All of them fall under author intrusion because they can jolt me out of the story and remind me that I'm reading instead of living vicariously through the characters. 

1. Distant POV (I'm guilty here in my first drafts!) I want to see and feel right along with the hero. This means getting deep in their head, even in third person. When the writing is like a fly on the wall it's hard to really care. Make me laugh, make me cry, make me sit on the edge of the couch.

Here's a great review of the different kinds of POV.

2. Dropping in a phrase, technology, something that just doesn't fit the world. This happens in historical fiction sometimes. Modern slang or a reference to something that the character shouldn't know anything about. This could include something the reader knows from a different character that the main character shouldn't know about. 

Do your research and then comb through to make sure everything is accurate for the world or time period, as well as double checking your own facts and timeline. 

Best fix?

1. Spend more time on your novel. Don't write it and then hit distribute on Createspace. Let it sit, revise, let someone read it and listen to what they say. Revise it again! Get the picture. Self publishing is faster than traditional, but good publishing still takes time. 

2. When you think it's ready to share with the world, hire an editor. I can guarantee they will be able to help you make it better.

Helpful Links:

Close vs. Distant POV by Annette Lyon

How to use close third person to get closer to your characters

A POV Footnote on SFWA (cause you know I love scifi) This talks about a lot of other things, POV drift, saying something a real person would say, show don't tell and have sufficient motivation. 

POV chart is from another great blog post--Who's story is this anyway?

Writing Exercises

Do 100 Leg lifts...

LUNGE! Feel the BURRRRNNN!

Not that type of exercise...Though those are good too. AND can help with the creativities!

In college I majored in Creative Writing. Which was good...and bad. Good because, believe it or not, I've used my creative writing skillZ many many times. I Nailed menu descriptions. I was the go-to gal when people wanted to come up with a great way to describe the new special. I was good with figuring out where descriptions on retail sites needed to be edited. Less is more people. Less is more.

*Bad because, well, yah..."So. What do you have for a degree?" "Well. I have a BA in English. Major in Creative Writing and a Minor in Anthropology. (Long story)." doesn't really get you TOO many jobs...*

Anyway.

The professor I had my last year in college was a HUGE Jack Kerouac fan, and therefore felt everything should be written in stream of consciousness. Hack. Gag. Blech. Lord Kill Me now.

So that's what I'm going to have you do now. HA!

Bear with me...

Because this does help focus you to the POV of your characters.

Sit.

Think of the setting of your story/novel/scene.

Now. Set a timer for a half hour.

Now type until the timer goes off. Simply write description. That's all. Describe your setting. Everything. All the details you can think of.

When the timer goes off, reset it then think of your main character. Now write the same description from the point of view of that character. This isn't as simple as it may sound. You have to take into consideration what your character does.

For example. My mother hates it when I come to visit...because the first thing I do is give her crap about how overwhelmingly full of unused leftovers the fridge is. And the FUN times my dad and I have arguing about how to properly cook a turkey. It seems that since I AM a professionally trained chef he would just bow to my expertise...

Do you see what I'm getting at? Try to see things how your character would see them. And ONLY how your character would see them. Write the same description from their point of view. In their voice.

It's a challenge.

But a good one. And you may discover new things about your main character!

Or your setting...

Point of View

This week I've been talking about the lessons a writer can learn from reading poorly written (or perhaps just poorly edited) books. The kinds of books you find for free on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

One issue that comes up time and again is head hopping. But I'm not an expert on this.

My novels are written in first person. My main character is the only point-of-view character. This is easy for me. It means that some information remains hidden as the main character doesn't know it, but I don't have to worry about whose head I'm in.

But what is the proper way to shift from one point-of-view character to another?

I thought it should only be done at chapters. Or, at least scene breaks. I've seen it done in the middle of scenes, though, and I don't know if that is the way to do it.

So, I'm asking. When is the best time to shift point-of-view? Is there a proper way to do it?