nancyfulda (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nancyfulda) wrote,@ 2008-07-09 19:56:00 |
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Novel Revisions: Linking Chapters Across POV Shifts
One of the things I've noticed while critiquing Mike's novel is which chapter shifts work for me and which don't. He's working with two POV's and I'm reading, on average, a chapter a week, so the question of continuity is particularly relevant for me. Here's what I've noticed:
The shift into a new chapter works best if the opening paragraph immediately picks up a thread that was left dangling by a previous chapter.
That probably sounds self-evident, but like most writing advice, it's a lot more obvious in theory than in practice. I've frequently found myself floundering because the opening of a chapter drops me back into the middle of the character's life with no easy reference points.
Some reference points are easy. For example:
(1) Continuous Action. The new chapter picks up at the same point in time as the previous chapter (although perhaps from a different point of view).
(2) Intention followed by implementation. One chapter closes with the POV character's decision to take a particular action. The next chapter for that POV opens with an indication that the character is about to carry out said decision.
Other reference points are more subtle, building on more tenuous concepts like theme or internal conflicts. Obviously, the more POVs you're working with and the more complicated your storyline, the more important the clear establishment of chapter links is going to be.
The key in all cases, though, seems to be to establish the connection early in the chapter. Most chapters are connected nicely once you stand back and look at them from an impartial distance. But when I'm up close, reading the book for the first time, it's very helpful if the connection is firmly established in the chapter's opening. Otherwise, I spend the first half of the chapter wondering, "So what? Where is this going? What does this have to do with any of the things that happened before?"
One of the things I've noticed while critiquing Mike's novel is which chapter shifts work for me and which don't. He's working with two POV's and I'm reading, on average, a chapter a week, so the question of continuity is particularly relevant for me. Here's what I've noticed:
The shift into a new chapter works best if the opening paragraph immediately picks up a thread that was left dangling by a previous chapter.
That probably sounds self-evident, but like most writing advice, it's a lot more obvious in theory than in practice. I've frequently found myself floundering because the opening of a chapter drops me back into the middle of the character's life with no easy reference points.
Some reference points are easy. For example:
(1) Continuous Action. The new chapter picks up at the same point in time as the previous chapter (although perhaps from a different point of view).
(2) Intention followed by implementation. One chapter closes with the POV character's decision to take a particular action. The next chapter for that POV opens with an indication that the character is about to carry out said decision.
Other reference points are more subtle, building on more tenuous concepts like theme or internal conflicts. Obviously, the more POVs you're working with and the more complicated your storyline, the more important the clear establishment of chapter links is going to be.
The key in all cases, though, seems to be to establish the connection early in the chapter. Most chapters are connected nicely once you stand back and look at them from an impartial distance. But when I'm up close, reading the book for the first time, it's very helpful if the connection is firmly established in the chapter's opening. Otherwise, I spend the first half of the chapter wondering, "So what? Where is this going? What does this have to do with any of the things that happened before?"
