The Beauty of Omniscient Viewpoint

Omniscient viewpoint is like the person with the telescope, seeing everything.

Ever since I’ve been writing

I’ve read over and over that omniscient viewpoint is old-fashioned, no longer used, that publishers won’t take it, too distant, etc.

It’s not true.

I found that out when I took on viewpoint. At the time, I felt like the viewpoint for Miasma was not right (it was in third), and I couldn’t pin down why. The instructors of the class went into all the viewpoints, but even they didn’t really understand how it worked.

The concept of the all-seeing narrator is difficult to understand, especially when trying to frame it from the perspective of third person. So I went out and hunted down books in omniscient.

What I discovered was quite unexpected

My favorite re-read books were in omniscient.

Every single one of them.

Omniscient viewpoint has this wonderful and warm storytelling quality, like you’re sitting in front of the fire being told a story by a storyteller. In fact, when it’s done well, most readers probably have no idea they’re reading omniscient viewpoint, and writers (and even agents who should know better) have mistaken it for third person.
It’s a beautiful viewpoint to read and work with.

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This week’s post was for a prompt from the WANA folks (though I conveniently had a topic that fit right in):

Second Time Around - Tell us about a book you can read again and again without getting bored — what is it that speaks to you? ~ Ellen Gregory

Check out everyone else’s:

• Will post these for you as they become available.

And don’t forget to drop in some of my other posts on omniscient viewpoint.

• The Myths About Omniscient Viewpoint
• 5 Advantages to Using Omniscient Viewpoint (and 1 Reason Not to Use it)
• Why I Chose Omniscient Viewpoint

 

Week 3: 10 Weeks of 10 Stories

Photo from ClipArt.com — If I tried something like this it would be all dark.

Story #3′s electrons are merrily winging their way on submission, finished a few days earlier than I expected.  The story started with a theme of “strangers.”  I wondered what the heck I was going to do with that, because strangers implies, in a way, horror.  I don’t do horror.  An hour or so later, the story hit me, almost fully formed, and also inspired by the colors of sunset and by a lecture on Wicca I got in my writing group the previous week.  The story took about 30 minutes to write.  No soldiers this time — it’s a fantasy set in a village with a healer who makes a really big mistake.  It turned into a strange and powerful story.

For more of 10 Weeks of 10 Stories:

• Week 2
• Week 1

 

Things People Get Wrong About Washington, DC (and Photos!)

Washington, DC, turns up in a lot of books and TV shows.

We can see stock shots on NCIS, Covert Affairs, and Bones.  None of the shows are filmed here.   There are some books where I’ve wonder if the author at least Googled the city because of the things they do get wrong. The three biggest culprits:

Thinking it’s all about politics

Granted, if you read the Washington Post or Washington Times, you would think that DC is all about politics.  There isn’t a major newspaper in the area that reports on local news.  But a lot of books and movies and TV are guilty of thinking DC is only politics.

It’s a city that has a lot of problems with money. In the past, the schools have been shut down by the courts because the city could not afford to fix safety hazards.  More recent news has the fire departments keeping their trucks that need repair because they come back in worse shape when they are repaired.

Then there’s the exploding manhole covers …

But it’s also a city with a very visible disability population, because the Federal government is the largest employer of the disabled and actively recruits for it.  It’s common to go into a mall or a Starbucks and see a person with a service animal or with a cane or a wheelchair.

There’s also a lot of military.  You will see them on the Metro, walking the street, eating in Burger King.  I’ve even seen foreign military.

Washington DC has a large food community.  Because there are so many different cultures in the area, there’s a wide variety of different cuisines.  Chefs are always opening new restaurants or experimenting with ways to serve the food.

Then there’s the history … Really, I could go on and on.  There’s a lot here that never gets touched in most fiction.

Ford’s Theatre. I kept hearing that Booth leapt off the balcony and landed on the stage and couldn’t picture it until I saw it.

Getting the traffic wrong

Let’s start with the traffic here is bad.  And it gets worse when it rains or snows, when the President’s motorcade departs or returns, or when an event happens, such as when the cherry blossoms bloom.

Traffic is so bad in this area, we actually have an advice columnist on it.

Yet, books and TV portray us as having no traffic.  No one driving around discusses leaving a different time to avoid rush hour, or gets caught in traffic (except for NCIS).  In one book, a high speed chase took place on 17th Street.  My first reaction: Have you been on 17th Street?!

Cherry Blossoms on the tidal basin.

Call Metro a Subway

Yes, we do have an underground train system.  Technically, it’s a subway. No one here calls it a subway.

It’s the Metro.

NCIS is the only TV show to have gotten this one right.  They’ve even shown the map of the Metro system.

Have you been to DC?  What did you think of it?

And check out these other posts!

• Photos: Fall Colors of Washington, DC
• 60th Anniversary of the Great Alien Invasion of Washington, DC (No, it wasn’t the politicians)
• Photo Journey of Williamsburg and Marscon

 

Week 2: 10 Weeks of 10 Stories

It’s hard to believe this was the site of a Civil War battle. Yet, it’s where the Battle of First Manassas was.

10 Weeks of 10 Stories

Story #2 is off to a magazine for their May 31 deadline.  It was a steampunk story, set in an alternate universe for the Civil War. I made use of a trip to the Manassas National Battlefield Park a few years ago, plus some research for a shelved Civil War novel.  In it, women have been recruited into the army because too many men were killed, and they were going to lose without the extra people.

It was a lot of fun to write, though I’ll admit the first day of it was in panic, thinking, “This story is never going to work.”  Day 2 was only slightly better, and then Day 3, it began to work.

Not sure what the next story will be yet.  I have two ideas, but once isn’t due until October, and the other I can’t send until June.

See also:

• Week 1 of 10 Weeks of 10 Stories

 

Photos: Inspiration in Color in Washington DC

I’ve discovered I’m a visual spatial learner

It means I need pictures to understand information.  So when Rabia Gale posted this writing prompt:

A favorite or inspiring piece of art (could be a statue, a painting, a musical composition, even performance art)

The first thing I thought was color

And during spring and summer in Washington, DC, color is everywhere!

Jefferson Monument

Jefferson Monument

The sharp white lines of the Jefferson Monument against the bright blue sky was magnificent.

Ahoy! Ducks away!

Mason District Park

I liked this picture because of the brilliant blue of the water mixed with the reflections of the green trees.  Then there’s that lone duck sailing across the middle of the pond.

Green, green everywhere

After sitting through the dull browns of winter, I still look at the green our trees and go “Wow!”

Flowers Galore

And, of course, the flowers that are everywhere.  I love the striking purple of these.

Other blogs writing about art and inspiration:

1. Large Blue Horses – Rabia Gale
2. Christ and St. Michael - Liv Rancourt
3. The Music that I Love – Siri Paulson
4. Botticelli’s Venus – Ellen Gregory
5. Through the Lens – Tami Clayton
6. How do you decide a favourite – Margaret Miller

 

5 tools to help prepare for pitch sessions

I’m over at Unleaded, Fuel for Writers today with a post for writer’s conference season, which is in the spring.

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The first time I went to a pitch session

… I was so nervous I was surprised the agent didn’t mark me down for babbling.

In a way, it’s like a job interview.  The pressure’s on, and it feels like a giant magnifying glass is right on me.

Taking a page from the army, being prepared will help in case the brain goes on autopilot.  Not the same as a combat situation, but it might feel like it!  So here are some tools to make sure you have with you in case nervousness strikes.  Read the rest on Unleaded, Fuel for Writers.

 

10 Weeks of 10 Short Stories

I took this flower photo in the early morning when it was raining.

For the next 10 weeks, I’m going to write a short story a week, and submit it to a magazine. This will be in addition to working on my novel.

Story #1 / May 7-11

The first story I started on May 7 and finished on May 11.  It was a fantasy, with a woman soldier, for a magazine requesting submissions for a military theme.

It was scary committing to sending the story out so fast, because it meant I did editing and proofreading, but I did not do any revision.  I’m a pantser, and I tend to leave things out (like the details, description, setting, etc.).  So I had to focus on making sure those elements got into the story.  I didn’t realize how big a deal this would be, because I kept thinking, “It’ll get rejected for that,” and then I thought about the last incarnation of this particular idea. The things I revised into the story probably got it rejected.  So off it went.

Next story on the plate for tomorrow is going to be steampunk — my first steampunk.  Women soldiers again, because the magazine I want to submit to is looking for stories with women protagonists.  Women soldiers is going to put me on the good side of that.  Exactly how many people are writing about that?

If you want to join in and do 10 and 10, please post your progress in the comments.  It’s only ten stories, but also ten submissions.  The only catch is that you have to do your other writing, too, because part of the challenge is managing the time.

 

Am I the only one who doesn’t like Game of Thrones?

Photo from Game of Thronesx

Everywhere I go lately, everyone is talking about Game of Thrones.  The series is airing on HBO and just had its third season premiere, and is based on the popular series by George R.R. Martin.

I read the first book back in 2010.  At the time, I was taking Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel, and she recommended it as having examples of the perfect scene.  My initial reaction was “Not enough plot,” which made the story very slow moving for me.

There were also so many different storylines going on that it was difficult to stay in involved.  Just as I’m into one storyline, it vanishes for many pages, and by the time it comes back, I’ve forgotten what interested me.

So it ended up being a book that got a “Meh,” and I didn’t read any more books in the series.

However, my local cable channel offered a freebee week, which included the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, so I tuned into see what I thought.  Again, I had about the same reaction, “Meh.”  I did like Daenerys storyline (which was the one I was interested in while reading the book), but there was too little of it too far apart to stay involved.  I did not like all the nudity, which I’ve heard has been a controversial issue (I think the nudity would bother me less if the men weren’t always fully dressed while the women were nude).

Is anyone else not enthralled by Game of Thrones?

Related Posts

• Why I don’t like Game of Thrones from Where Worlds Collide
• 8 Game of Thrones Characters Better on TV than in the Book from IO9
• Skin is wearing thin on the Game of Thrones from the Washington Post

 

How to find details for a story when you’re not good at them

The trees hadn’t quite bloomed when I visited Mason Neck Park for research.

I admit it.  I’m terrible with details. 

I can look at a place, see all the details, come back, and not remember a single one of them.  They all merge with the big picture.  So all the things I see at the beach turns into beach, sand, and water, and I forget about a bunch of stuff I did see.

So I’ve learned these three work arounds:

1. Ask questions about the place

No matter the location, I ask questions about specifics.  If we’re in the woods, then the questions might be:

• What kind of trees are here?
• What kind of birds live in these woods?
• What sounds do they make?

Which leads to the second workaround:

2. Take notes live at the site

Visit the location with a notebook and write down everything.  I went to Mason Neck Park, which is located on Pohick Bay and noted all kinds of things:

• Flies buzzing past.
• Warmth of sun
• Long ago fallen tree being gnawed away

Mason Neck Park was a substitution.  I couldn’t go to the actual location of the setting, which is in Hawaii, so I had to make do.  Woods are pretty universal in how to they operate.  I’m planning on going to Virginia Beach for the beach experience (yes, pictures!).

After I get back, I pretty them up in notes.  I plan to do these trips at different times of the year, since Spring is different than Winter.

3. Research

The library is my friend for looking up specific names of plants.  I usually just make a note in the manuscript with something like:

(Name of tree) towered overhead.

Then I can hit the library once I have enough details to research, preferably ones in the same detail family.

I’ve mentioned some of the things I do in passing and have had people pop up in surprise and say, “That’s what I do!”  So we’re not alone.  If you have trouble with details, what do you do?

Related Posts:

• When you Hate to Research
• The Frugal Novel Researcher

 

5 military things about me

1.  I was in the Army Reserve, the Army, and the Army National Guard.

Those are three different services.  I started out with the Reserve because it helped me make the decision and decided to enlist in the regular Army after Basic Training.  The National Guard was a big mistake, and I was glad to be finished with it.

2. I was the least likely soldier to be in the military.

I have “Adams Feet,” or flat feet.  The whole family on my father’s side has them.  In my case, I have high arches and they drop.  It makes me a terrible runner, and I can’t march well either.  They debated about me, then decided to let me in.  The debate happened again during Basic Training, and then again at my first duty station.  No one ever told me I had flat feet!

3. I went to war.

It was Desert Storm, when the thought of women deploying was strange and new and different.  The photo above was taken when President Bush visited us for Thanksgiving.

4. I was enlisted.

With the way everyone talks about the military in movies and film, you would think that everyone is an officer.  They make up only a small percentage of the military.  Enlisted are the bulk of the service.  Because I had a degree from a community college, I came in as a Private First Class (still a private) and left the military as a Specialist.  I’m afraid I didn’t aspire much to come up in the ranks!

5. My Basic Training was at Fort Dix, NJ.

I went during the summer.  Hot, really humid.  Imagine a heavy cotton jacket soaked with sweat, and that was what it was like for us.  Most alarming though were the signs posted on the words warning us about ticks.  Yikes!

More military stuff to see:

• Seriously, are meals in the military as bad as MASH portrayed them?
• What’s it like on a military post?
• Getting shot at on Paragon Trail
• The League of Extraordinary Women Veterans