From Athol Dickson at Novel Journey: Scariness in Fictionland.
“Sometimes being a novelist is scary. For example, over the last year or so I’ve seen dozens of emails from other authors who claim they strongly dislike the first person point of view. That’s a frightful development for a serious novelist.”
And from Steven Pressfield, an interview with Hollywood script consultant Jen Grisanti: The Log Line of Your Life. She gives a very workable formula for creating a log line (or one sentence pitch, as I tend to call it) for your story:
SP: How exactly would you define a log line?
JG: A log line is a brief description of the plot of your story, which involves an emotional hook and a twist of irony. A log line organizes a story in the briefest form possible while retaining the strongest emotional effect.
Athol’s post is inspiring, challenging, freeing, and Steven Pressfield’s interview with Jen Grisanti helped me write a much better one sentence pitch for the novel I’ve just begun. Check them out!
Great! Thanks for the links. Enjoy your day!
I enjoyed reading the blog on first person point of view. LOL. It made some really good points.
I just finished reading a 1st POV book by Julie Carobini and LOVED it, but did make the comment in my review that I didn't always like 1st person POV. Julie really nailed it though — very zippy, focused and a variety of angst and comedy. I can't imagine the novel being nearly as good if written any other way.
I think that sometimes 1st POV tends to get off track and weighted down with too much 'thought' — maybe that's backstory? Anyway, it seems to derail the action repeatedly and that can be off-putting.
I guess when it comes right down to it, though, it's the author's voice that compells us to read no matter out POV he/she chooses. So, that's good for me to remember and I won't make sweeping statements about writing any more.
Kav, I enjoy reading first and third, and I've written both, but feel most comfortable in third, reading and writing. However, in one of my novels I could not get the female POV character's voice right until I write her in first person. I later switched her to third, like the male POV in that story, to keep it from seeming too jarring switching back and forth.