EPUBBING with NICOLA FURLONG

Intro: I’ve been teaching a writers’ workshop at our local Camosun College on how to write a mystery novel. My students are eating it up, telling me that they’re learning lots of practical and usable tips and techniques, so I thought I’d offer bits and pieces of the workshop in my new Friday Mystery Writing blog posts.

The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries and offers my tips, techniques and information suitable for crafting of all types of genre writing.

So, even if you write romance, sci-fi, fantasy or horror, please keep reading and learn with us crime writers.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (Part 8b)

The last group of posts have concentrated on the story structure of a mystery novel. Been there; done that. Now we’re onto developing characters or as I like to think of it: Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.

First Person POV Storyteller

You need a point of view (POV) from which to tell your tale. There are two common POVs in fiction writing: First Person and Third Person.

In first person POV, the story is told from a very personal point of view and uses the pronoun “I”, just like my coroner/athlete, Riley Quinn says in Teed Off!, “My ears roared with the sounds of my breathing, my blades…I don’t know what warned me but I was dodging just as I was hit. A blow to my left hip and suddenly my blades touched air, not asphalt.”

As I mentioned in the previous post, this is a great POV for newbie writers as it’s a natural and comfortable perspective for the writer.

HOWEVER… (more…)