The Over-do-er's Editing Checklist: Part 2 - Point Of View

Earlier this week I posted part one of my personal editing checklist, as compiled over three years of agent stalking and reading every editing blog post I could get my hands on. The good news is – you liked it! Thanks so much for all the tweets, likes and favourites of my post, and I hope you enjoy part two just as much. Thanks so much for all the tweets, likes and favourites of my post, and I hope you enjoy part two - Point Of View - just as much. You can find the full post over at my new blog (time's running out to head over there before I stop posting here for good!). Enjoy!  

Point Of View

1. If there are multiple changes in POV, check that they’re all necessary. Are they increasing tension or confusing/slowing the action? If you NEED to show a character’s thoughts, can you imply them though their actions or through the internal observations of your main character? (Showing a character’s judgement of others can strengthen POV and character anyway, see point 9).  Can you combine passages to reduce the number of changes?

When in Greece... take silly pictures of marzipan figurines
whenever humanly possible.

... 3. Beware that you can’t always count on the location – for example a particular character’s house – to give away the POV. Look out for instances where you’ve only assumed it because you’re the writer and you’re used to a certain setting meaning a certain character.

... 7. Check for filters, e.g. “I watched.” If you were living that event you wouldn't think ‘I'm watching this happen’, you would just think 'this is happening'. Other examples: I saw, I heard, I felt, I wondered.

... and so on. Visit beyondthehourglassbridge.wordpress.com for the rest!