One way to check whether you’ve slipped out of a character’s viewpoint is to consider the subject scene as if it were written in first person. That will usually identify anything that doesn’t belong.
Bear in mind it can be confusing to the reader if you break viewpoint. Some slip-ups may go unnoticed, but others will throw them out of the story, the ultimate author faux pas.
Understanding what it means to stay within a character’s viewpoint can be difficult for new writers. Bear in mind that all narrative, including the vocabulary, that relates to the POV character can’t be anything s/he doesn’t know or understand.
There are a few exceptions, but they need to be noted, such as by using a qualifying statement, i.e., “He didn’t know it at the time, but…” The main thing is not to give a character with a high school education the vocabulary of a literature professor. Unless, perchance, he’s a genius in disguise, or there is some explanation for it.
“Cardboard characters” are those that have no personality. Make sure yours have likes, dislikes, and opinions so they act like real people. If necessary, keep a list of each character’s physical and personality traits on file if they’re not vivid enough in your mind without it. Readers notice if your hero’s eyes are blue on one page and green on another. Same goes for that couch or car! Never underestimate how astute your readers may be! Otherwise you’re likely to find out when they give you a lousy review.
Give your book a professional appearance by formatting it properly, whether for an ebook or print version. If you don’t want to bother doing this, hire someone to do it for you. Proper formatting contributes significantly to your story’s readability.
Improper or sloppy formatting is distracting and pulls the reader out of the story, a big author no-no. Proper formatting should be virtually invisible to the reader, allowing him or her to be entirely immersed in the story.
If your story has terminology that will be unfamiliar to the average reader, consider including a glossary. A few words can be covered by footnotes, though these require special handling in the ebook version. Defining them in context the first time you use them is a must.
Using accurate terminology adds to the authenticity of a story, but be aware that it may annoy some readers. It depends on whom you want to impress, those familiar with it or those who aren’t. If it’s inaccurate, you’ll lose credibility with those in the know and won’t make inform those who aren’t. Good fiction should be believable.
If you leave a poor review for a book, do the author a favor and tell them why. In some cases it might simply be subjective, since there are few stories everyone loves once they get past Winnie the Pooh. If it’s technical, such as too many typos, say so, giving the author a chance to correct it. Same goes for other things that were confusing or threw you out of a story.
Authors tend to take their reviews seriously and often use them as a guide for future revisions or as lessons learned for future books. However, no one should expect everyone to love their book. You can’t please all the people all the time.
Don’t over-use exclamation points! Save them for where they’re really needed! They should only be used for emphasis! Using too many gets annoying and reduces their impact!
This applies even if it’s a very intense chase or fight scene! It may work in comic books or even some graphic novels, but not in most stories! They work well to show surprise or an unexpected event, but lose their impact if there are too many! The story action should tell the reader if something is exciting and sustain the suspense, not the punctuation alone!
Capisce?
I’m amazed how often authors don’t know the proper way to punctuate dialog. Even if you weren’t taught how to do this in school, you should have figured it out by reading novels that were properly edited.
Okay, here’s the scoop. Dialog is punctuated differently than a normal sentence. Rather than a period, use a comma, followed by “he said”, “she said”, etc. A question uses a question mark (?) and if the speaker is noted, it should say “he asked” or “she asked” or questioned or queried or even wondered, not “said”. A sentence that is an exclamation is punctuated with an exclamation mark (!).
In all cases, the “he” preceding “said” or “asked” doesn’t need to be capitalized. For example, “I’m going to the library,” he said. Or “Are you going to the library?” he asked.
I hope that I have insulted the intelligence of most of you with this 4th grade grammar lesson who already know this. But I am amazed by how often I see it done incorrectly by otherwise very talented authors. Being creative is really not in your favor in this area.
When rewording a sentence, make sure you take out any words that no longer belong. Many editing faux pas examples I find involve extraneous words that weren’t deleted when a change was made. This is another case where the author sees what’s supposed to be there, not necessary what is. Reading your final draft aloud may catch these; if not, hope your editor does.
Authors need to realize that many readers notice these things and can be rather unforgiving if it occurs often enough. It’s a distraction that throws them out of the story and shows a lack of professionalism in putting forth the best possible product. A few here and there is one thing, but a preponderance of them and you’ll lose readers. Trust me on that, because I’m one of them.
Missing words are difficult for the author and sometimes even editors to catch, but not an alert reader. When reading over your manuscript, do so slowly enough to note each word is indeed written as opposed to assumed. Reading it aloud may help, but not necessarily.
I suspect that most authors think much faster than they type, making it easy to skip over words. When you’re on a creative roll this is especially true, when you can hardly get the thoughts down fast enough, before you lose them. Nonetheless, like invisible typos, missing words will throw readers out of the story, something you want to avoid. In some cases, a good grammar checker may catch them, but test it to make sure. If you use beta readers, make sure they keep an eye out for such things, too.
Marcha's Two-Cents Worth 