Friday, November 5, 2010

"I was just trying to be funny..."

My book is written from two points of view. For example. Chapter 1 is written from A's point of view (POV), and Chapter 2 is written from B's POV.

All characters in any book have a distinct, unique "voice." They have their own personality, how they see things, how they say things, etc. Just like people.

I am over 50 pages into this book, and I realized, oh no. I think A and B have the same voice. I think all along I was writing them with the same "voice," just a different POV. Ahh! How boring is that going to be? Because the reader is smart enough to pick up on that kind of thing.

Anyway, I was telling Tyler all about my problem, and I could physically see his eyes glaze over and his jaw go slack, but I didn't care. I still told him because sometimes you just need someone to bounce ideas off of. And quite frankly, I don't like to talk about my books. So it was even better that he wasn't paying attention.

Mind you, I gave Tyler all of the same information I just gave you except I told him the genders of A and B.

So after I said I was worried that they both had the same voice, he looked at me and said, "Just have one of them use sign language."

If you laughed at that, great. Tyler will feel much better. Did he get a laugh from me?

No.

Why? Because one of my characters is mute. I'm not even joking. She doesn't speak. So she, essentially, does use sign language. It's quite a challenge to write a book written from the POV of someone who cannot communicate without using her hands or a pen.

I stared at Tyler with narrowed eyes and a growing temper.

"What?" he asks.
"Did you read my book?" (My books are strictly forbidden. I went to the temple last night so he had 3 1/2 hours to read. He could have done it!)
"No!" He laughs.
I continue to stare and he stops laughing. My eyes continue to narrow until they are slits.
"Are you serious?" I ask him.
"No, I mean yes. No, I did not read your book."
"Then how did you know one of my characters is mute and has to use sign language?"
He kind of smiles again, but it's the, "Oops, I just ruined my Christmas present," kind of smile.
"Well you said voices, and I thought speaking, and I thought maybe if they didn't have to speak then you wouldn't have to worry about their voice..." his voice is getting quieter and quieter until he says in almost a whisper, "I was just trying to be funny..."

Such is the stress of living in our household during the month of November. Pin It

5 comments:

Maura said...

OH goodness...I chuckled at his joke but I laughed at your reaction.

Brian gets the same glazed look when I start talking books....then he says "let me know when they make it a movie, sounds ok"

silly men.

Logan Family est 2003 said...

All I have to say is HAHAHAHA!! Loved the glaze over effect. It must be a gift of all men, especially the ones who want to be pulished oneday. :-) Love that you stricktly prohibit reading too. To funny! :-)

Julia said...

HAHAHHAAA!!!! Oh Deborah, thank you for that. I know it must have been serious business at the time but, boy howdy, that made me laugh....

Meagan Berry said...

Oh, Deborah! Don't get too frustrated. You're an incredible writer and I'm sure that you'll find a way to re-work your book.

Don't be too hard on the hubbs, his feeble attempt at trying to lighten your serious load was sweet. Haha I can imagine the lowering volume of his carefully spoken words hahahaha Nathan does that too when I have my "wife stare" on!

One Mom's Blog said...

So, the glazed over look kinda belongs to me in mine and Ryan's relationship (I can only listen to him talk about his new video games for a few days before I get the glazed look), so I actually relate more to Tyler on this one, lol.
I am sure the whole conversation was very serious, but I have to say that I laughed a bit when it came to the eye slit part. I can picture it in my head. So great! Good luck with your book, Deborah!!!!