3T Writing Tidbit - What's your point of view?

I wrote a story a while back where the couple was a woman of 26 (25 being the average age of a woman's first marriage at the time) and an ageless (looks around 28) vampire. There were other characters in the story but most of them were about the same age, except for one retirement aged man and two older women.

Now, one of the older women had moments of quite broad humor. But most of the characters in this story were quirky. And I myself am an older woman, so I didn't see any problem.

I was surprised therefore when a reader wrote with how offended she was with how I treated older women in the story.

Here's why. We all read stories through a point-of-view character. When we really get into a story, a lot of times we'll see ourselves as that character. Think Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes literature.

What I didn't get at the time was this: not everyone's point-of-view character is the heroine (or hero if the reader's male).

Here's what I figured out. An older woman might not see herself in the main female character - she might see herself in the older female characters.

So be careful writing your characters. If you have an evil character, make sure you have a balancing character - one of the same characteristics who is good. Because you never know which character the reader will identify with.

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.

2T Repeat Performance

I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!

Originally published September 3, 2013 for Rachel Brimble Romance

Thank you to Rachel and Rachel Brimble Romance for having me here today!

1.         What do you wish men understood about women?

So many things J. Sometimes we don’t want them to fix things, we just want them to listen. Active listening is supportive, and encourages—mmhmm and uh-huh are perfectly fine and helpful.

2.         Do you only work on one book at a time?

I used to. But there are tons of awesome authors out there producing five or ten (or more) wonderful books a year. Which is great—it encourages me to always look for ways to write more, and write better. I still usually do one thing at a time, for example, write new material on one book in the morning and edit another in the afternoon. Some parts of the process need time to simmer, or time off between passes, and I try to take advantage of that. In August, I’m doing pre-edits on Downbeat (Biting Love Book 7, coming March 2014) during weeks two and four, and working on a new proposal during weeks one and three.

3.         Who is your favorite fictional couple?

Francis Crawford of Lymond and Philippa Somerville, from Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles (books). Then in no special order it’s Holmes and Watson from Sherlock Holmes (books/television); Bones and Booth from Bones (television); Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy from the Dresden Files (books/television); Rhage and Mary from Lover Eternal (book) and Ramses Emerson and Nefret Forth from the Amelia Peabody series (books).