Voice

With the demise of the current writer's block, I spent a blissful Saturday crafting scenes in Henry's third chapter of Before the Blood.

Then I spent a couple hours Sunday evening, reworking those scenes, adding layers and details, rewriting prose, etc. and etc. At the end of it, while creating a homework list for it, I realized I still wasn't happy with it.

I didn't know what to do.

The elements I wanted were there.

The characters were well-drawn.

The scenes moved the plot forward.

There was tension, mystery, a good mix of show/tell.

Then it hit me. The "voice" in the chapter was a nondescript, anonymous narrator, not Henry. This is the challenge, I think, of writing in third person perfect. The story persepctive is a global third person, but the voice relating it is the protagonist.

So why am I having such trouble? When I wrote Bryony, Henry was the easiest character to write! (He even threatened to take over the story and had to be put firmly back into place). 

I think, maybe, it's because I've distanced myself from this character when writing the other novels. Well, it's time to fix that.

I stopped making a homework list for the week. I knew what I had to do: read over every line and rewrite each one in Henry's voice.

And that's what I've been doing, starting yesterday and continuing now.