sinking feeling

[mrissa]

When you realize that you have been blithely assuming a second POV character, you may get a bit uneasy: short stories rarely have two POV characters. There's just not a lot of room to be in two different tightly focused heads. You can do it, but it's not all that common.

It's when your hindbrain declares that such-and-such an event has to happen in one of a third character's chapters that you think, hey, wait a minute, short stories don't have chapters!

Sections, you correct yourself. It will happen in one of that character's sections.

And the hindbrain shrugs and says, Suit yourself. I thought you wanted me to learn to do chapters? And you did, so really you can't much complain.

Still and all. Oof. Do I have time to write a schemey political fantasy and a blaster-toting space opera simultaneously? I do not. Something will have to give. Guess it'll be interesting finding out what.

(One of them has elisem sparklies helping the brain. The other has Woody Guthrie and Buddy Holly. Uff da.)

Also, if you're reading and catch yourself thinking, Hey, isn't there some laundry I could be folding instead?, possibly it means that you should stop reading the book in question. Even if sometimes you're thinking, That's annoying. Hey, what would really annoy my characters is.... That level of utility is easily overrated.

So on I go with one thing and another, none of which is what I expected of today, but that's all right.

Comments

[columbina.livejournal.com]

You have encapsulated why I seldom write short stories, and why, when I do, they tend to be very Spartan. If they were an iota less Spartan, they would suddenly stop being short stories.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I can't really complain that I'm not writing enough short stories, given the output of the year so far. But I had intended for this to be another, and it is suddenly looming rather large.

[ksumnersmith.livejournal.com]

But I had intended for this to be another, and it is suddenly looming rather large.

Maybe it's a novelette! Or maybe a novella. Just a novella, a nice, focused, not-brain-eating novella.

...

Come on, I had to try.

[the-flea-king.livejournal.com]

You can do it, but it's not all that common.

All the more reason for you to do it. What's the worst that will happen?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

There's a difference between, "Ooooooh, I can't do this, it's against a ruuuuule," and, "This is likely to make this story suck." While I've had short stories with multiple POVs before and likely will again, there's usually a reason for not doing it that's more organic to the story than being a rebel.

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

I hope this isn't some new trend in the story hivemind. The thing I'm writing right now has 2 povs, and keeps telling me it needs a third. I doubt it will be longer than 3.5k.