Sunday, Sept 3, 2023

Caught a mistake in my use of voice, did lots of cleaning, maybe even going to get some writing done.

Daily Diary, Day 1098:

Yesterday, I actually pulled the novel up and had a few hours to work on it in the afternoon. However, as I started to read through what I had written, I realized that I had been writing in the third person, which is what I use in my historical mysteries. Third person works well when you have more than one point of view; for example, in Dandy and the Dognappers, I had some chapters from the point of view of Jamie Hewitt, and the others in the point of view of Emmaline Fournier.

However, I started the Caelestis science fiction series by having Mabel Yu’s diary entries that start every chapter in the first book, Between Mountain and Sea, in the first person. This, of course makes sense in a diary entry, but I wrote the rest of the book, which was from Mei Lin’s point of view, in third person. This also made sense, because it was what I was used to, and it helped distinguish between Mabel Yu’s voice in the diary entries, and Mei Lin’s voice.

Yet, I enjoyed writing the diary sections in first person so much that when I started the second book in the series, Under Two Moons, I decided since I intended to only have one point of view, Mei Lin’s, in the rest of the series, to write in first person.

When I started book four, Tides of Acerba, five years had passed since I finished the third book in the series. This meant that I had spent those five years writing my historical mysteries, using the third person.

Consequently, I had written about four chapters in third person before I noticed I hadn’t made the switch to first person. Well, the same thing happened this time. The four months or so while I was writing Dandy and the Dognappers, had gotten me back into the third person mode, and now I needed to go through the first chapter in the new novel, and change it all to first person. Thank goodness, this time I only had to change 2 scenes, not four chapters!

Anyway, I spent the time I had yesterday afternoon and an hour this morning, rewriting, and of course doing some editing (because it is more than just substituting I for she).

So, here it is nearing lunch time, I have finished my Sunday cleaning, most of the laundry is done, and I haven’t yet started writing new words…sigh. But let’s put it this way, I have all my chores done, I’ve already spent 80 minutes on my feet getting mild exercise, (in three separate bouts of cleaning, so my feet don’t hurt), and after I post this, I will still have time to do my PT and pilates exercises before having lunch. Then, I may get some new words written!

And, here is yesterday evening's sunset.

In case you aren’t sure how you got here, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. This is my newsletter reflecting on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. If you aren’t already subscribed but are interested in doing so, you can subscribe for free by clicking the little button below. If you enjoyed this post, please do click on the little heart and/or share with your friends, and I always welcome comments!