Every second person I speak to believes they’ve “got a novel in them”. It’s getting it out and onto the page that’s the tricky part! 

Only about 3% of people who actually start writing a book, will ever finish it. Fewer still end up with a story that works. 

​So, how can you be in the minority of fiction authors who end up with a story that hits all the marks publishers and readers are looking for?

In my experience, it doesn’t matter when or how much you like to plan your stories, so long as you nail four critical aspects. It’s all about writing with purpose. Having a fabulous idea, is just the beginning. The hard part is moulding that idea into a living, breathing story that captures the imagination of readers, plucks at their heart strings and lures them towards ‘the end’. 

​Point of View (POV) characters determine the focus of a story, which is why the decision shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s not just about who is telling the story but how they are the best character to convey information in an interesting and believable way.

Whether you decide to use first-person, third-person limited or omniscient POV, you will still have to decide which character is going to communicate the story to readers.

​But how?

There are various options when it comes to choosing the right Point of View (POV) for your romance story and they each have benefits and drawbacks.

• The Omniscient narrator was popular 100 years ago.
• First Person is favoured for a deep connection between the reader and main character.
• Limited Third Person is the most common in romance novels.

But why?

Regardless of the length or genre of a story, creating tension is essential to holding readers' attention.
But what is the best way to add more tension to a story?

Often I see aspiring authors withholding information in an effort to be vague and cryptic, which only serves to frustrate readers instead of engage them. Perhaps surprisingly, it is the act of proving information to the reader — be it in the right place and quantity — that makes them curious enough to continue reading.
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The whole point of storytelling is to share tales and you need people to read the whole thing in order to get your point and fully enjoy what you’ve created, but not even having a best-selling book provides this guarantee. Data collected by Kobo from more than 21m users, showed that readers were keener to finish Casey Kelleher’s self-published thriller Rotten to the Core than many award-winning and best-selling novels.

The purpose of these exercises is to explore how it feels to write using Third Person Limited Point of View (POV).
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This POV option restricts you to one character’s heart and mind at a time, which gives readers time to engage deeply with that character’s desires and struggles. 

We are all familiar with being so engrossed in a story that we can’t put it down: the “I’ll just read one more page before bed time” scenario.

Tension is the critical element that keeps readers expectant regardless of the genre, place in the story, or whether a scene is action-packed or reflective. Read on to find out how to increase uncertainty and eek it out for as long as possible, to keep readers on the edge of their seats in your stories.

Providing readers with truly memorable stories requires complex and authentic characters, but to provide the kind of meaningful character traits and motivations that keep readers intent throughout a story and pondering its characters long after they close a book, you need to go much deeper than the standard Character Profile checklist.

The trouble is, deficient characters lead to weak stories. So, it's not enough to figure out where they came from, you need to make their thoughts and actions relevant to the plot.

Too often, when working with authors, I find missed opportunities in this area, which leaves readers not quite satisfied. The consequences of not delving deeply enough into a characters psyche are:  

• Characters behaving in ways that aren’t believable, based on their previous thoughts and actions;
• Two dimensional characters who readers don’t care enough about to feel an emotional response; and/or
• Puppets who are forced through the story to serve the plot.

All of which can lead to unpublished manuscripts languishing in bottom drawers.

The key to bringing out the best and worst in our characters, is to make their thoughts and actions relevant to the plot. 

Whether you start with plot or character, to create a dynamic story, you need to tie the two together and this means knowing which parts of their personality and backstory you can use against them, and which abilities you can harness to give them a fighting chance.

​It’s not enough to fling mud at the wall and see what sticks, you have to know which parts to use and how to leverage them for the benefit of the story.

Are you sometimes bamboozled by all of the choices and subtleties of story Point of View (POV)?

You’re not alone. POV is one of the most common errors in fiction manuscripts and even after reading explanations, authors are often still unclear. Should they choose first person, second person, limited third person or omniscient? Which one is right for their story? The mind boggles.

Today we’re going to explore the difference between Point of View and Perspective and the whole reason behind applying them to fiction. I’m not going to go into the different types of POV or how to use them, but will:

• Make a case for why it’s important to get them right; and
• How they can affect your story. 

Building a platform, blogging and posting on social media regularly, getting your branding right, having professional headshots taken and more. Not to mention your day job, family commitments, etc. It’s exhausting just thinking about it all!
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And when are you supposed to find time to write?
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Don’t get me wrong, it is important to take any business seriously, but a creative pursuit isn’t the same as a regular business venture. Writing a novel is a labour of love and there isn’t a totally right or wrong way to do it. There isn’t a checklist of what to include that will automatically result in a best-seller. The whole process is more complicated than that.

I feel that the assumption you can build a creative business the same way you would for other products or services, leads to a lot of heartache. Sure, in the end you hope to have a book that sells and make money from it, but a regular business venture isn’t founded in the hopes and dreams of the creative arts. It is grounded in measurable goals, trackable data and profitable results right from the start.