Each time I sit down to begin a
new novel, I find myself facing at least one new challenge that scares me; that
forces me out of my comfort zone.
I don’t always know what it’s
going to be till I get to that place in the manuscript where I think: “[Insert
your favourite swear word here], I have to write a whole battle scene/write as
a woman with Asperger’s/have someone speaking the Doric.”
In this latest book I’ve started
writing, BELLEWETHER, I’ve already hit three such places – but the latest one,
because it happened just last week, is freshest in my mind, and seems the kind
of thing to get a good discussion going.
I’ve
discovered that I’ll have to write at least half of the past scenes from the
hero’s point of view.
My first thought was: “[insert
your favourite swear word here], I can NOT write the hero’s point of view. I
don’t know how to do it!”
Which, once I had calmed myself
with coffee, proved to be not wholly true. In fact, my first book, UNDERTOW
(long out of print, and rightly so), had alternating points of view between the
two main characters, and in my thriller EVERY SECRET THING some of the people
who narrate what they remember to my heroine (a journalist) are men.
But I was 25 years old when I
wrote UNDERTOW. I really didn’t know what I was doing, and the book was short.
And in my thriller those male voices were still filtered somewhat through my
heroine’s first-person voice.
So, yeah. This definitely puts me
past the boundary of my comfort zone.
So reassure me. Tell me why you think the hero's voice deserves a place in a romantic novel. What do you enjoy (or not) about reading his point of view?
From the Winter Sea: I would have liked to hear Patrick Graeme's POV. I perceive we are so accustomed to the female POV that a poignant story line is missed. As we say 'why did (or didn't) he do that? I would like to know a man's reasoning. Would the storylines change? Would it move at a different pace?
ReplyDeleteI feel that the male POV is simple and direct. Any male that is hero material should be somewhat confident. Where are woman would waffle and have internal debates, a man would work more from a perspective of black and white. "I can do this. I can not do that therefore I will do this." My husband rarely suffers from indecisiveness. Decisions are reached quickly with little debate and what is Absolutely Irritating is that most of the time he is right.
ReplyDeleteN.J., Colonel Graeme is one of my favourite characters as well, but he played his cards close to his chest :-)
ReplyDeleteBonny, I agree about the confidence aspect. My new historical hero is definitely direct, although as a prisoner of (the French and Indian) war his ability to act as he would like to is more limited. (One of the reasons I'm having to show his point of view is that he and the heroine literally don't speak each other's languages, which at the moment is irritating him immensely). But like you, I find men in my life don't debate. They just DO.
I very much enjoy getting a glimpse into the perspective of the hero's mind. In many novels, we are often very privy to the thoughts of the female protagonist and know where she stands on most, if not all issues. The reader is often left guessing at what the male lead is thinking, or feeling, about a person or a situation, until he does something, which is often very thrilling to read. As previous comments state, this is very much in keeping with the males in my life – not a lot of talking about, more doing. I would often LOVE to know what is being thought about in those beloved male minds! I believe that is why I so often enjoy reading even bits about the hero’s point of view. It gives me more insight into his character and his actions. I love knowing when a male character struggles as much as his poor female counter-part.
ReplyDeleteI think the trick will be trying to keep or increase the suspense, instead of killing it, once we know what the hero's actually thinking...
DeleteI've been talking to my son more lately about male POV and - surprise! - he has great ideas :-) some men have the ability to cut through the emotional periphery and make decisions based on pure logic, and many times that is the right approach. However, I really enjoyed the POVs of Hugh and Luc in "A Desperate Fortune." Gave me a fresh perspective on the male mental gears turning.
ReplyDeleteMen, in my experience, like fixing things. They're not always so great at handling situations that must be endured, and can't be fixed. Like illness.
DeleteI just finished my (at least) fifth re-read of The Rose Garden, and I would have loved to have known what Daniel Butler ("I'm for Daniel Butler!") thought - really - about Eva's comings and goings. I've no doubt your male POV scenes will be fabulous. And, as an aside, I'm hoping one day you'll continue the story of the Morays in Northern Ireland. I will hang on every word. Thank you so much for your gorgeous novels, they have brought me enormous pleasure.
ReplyDelete:-) Thank you. And having spent over a year with Daniel, I'm fairly convinced he took a scientific view of things. Like Sherlock Holmes, he figured that once he'd eliminated the impossible (witchcraft, etc) then what remained, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. The early 18th century was a golden age of rational thought and scientific discovery, and he was, in that sense, a man of his times.
DeleteInteresting question. Generally i think having the love interest's pov in a romantic novel takes away the element of intrigue for me...I'm less accepting of they staying apart if that makes sense. However there are exceptions to that. I had mark pov in The Cornish House and cut it, I had Tristan pov of view in A Cornish Affair and cut - I think in needed it for me for the first or tenth draft. Recently I asked my editor if I needed Sam's pov of view and she would it add anything to the story that it doesn't have or need??? I think that's the key question. If you can do it without go for it but the story might need it... lx
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