Hot, Warm, and Cold Viewpoint

QUESTION: What exactly is hot viewpoint? How is it different from other types of viewpoint?

Hot viewpoint is about the viewpoint character's emotional reaction to what is happening. Hot viewpoint is full of sensual details, strong emotions, and important/dangerous/violent actions. Most hot viewpoint moments are action scenes full of adrenaline, love scenes, or physical or emotional fight scenes which can include an argument between characters.  

Cold viewpoint has almost no emotion involved. It’s a simple recital of facts or what’s happening.

Warm viewpoint is halfway between them with emotions of importance, but not extreme importance.

Examples:

COLD: Pamela glanced at the doors' numbers as she passed them. Room 82 should be just ahead.

WARM: Pamela smiled as she glanced at the hotel room number.  Tom said he's be in in Room 82.  He'd promised her champagne, roses, and a night of passion.  A night to remember.  She could hardly wait.

HOT:  The slight cheesy stench of the alien made Pamela's nose twitch as she leaned against the hallway wall.  Her hands were sweating so much she feared she'd drop the Colt she held in her right hand.  With a quick prayer for courage, she eased toward Room 82 and kicked in the door.

For a writer, it's not so important to know the difference in an intellectual way, but to understand it instinctively as we write.  If we are inside the character and feel what she feels, we are more likely to get it right.

Links of Interest

MAKING POV PERSONAL:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/10/07/writing-personal-description-through-your-pov-character

THE PLOT SUMMARY FOR A QUERY:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2015/10/09/summarizing-your-novel-the-query-trenches-part-two/

CONTRACTS, THE GRANT OF RIGHTS IN A SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/10/grants-of-rights-in-anthology-contracts/

BOOK PROMO NEEDS LEAD TIME:

http://writerunboxed.com/2015/10/09/why-book-pr-needs-lead-time-lots-of-it

ADDING A NEW TWIST TO AN OLD PLOT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/04/you-look-familiar-four-tips-on-adding.html

CAN’T FINISH WRITING THAT BOOK?  HERE’S WHY:

http://thewritepractice.com/cant-finish-writing/

AN INTROVERT’S GUIDE TO CONFERENCES:

http://www.rachellegardner.com/introverts-guide-conferences/

ON WRITING OUTLINES:

http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2015/10/lindsay-smith-author-of-dreamstrider-on.html

http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2015/10/emiko-jean-author-of-well-never-be.html

STAGE DIRECTIONS FOR FICTION:

http://writerunboxed.com/2015/10/11/stage-directions-in-fiction-where-is-the-mc

PUTTING YOUR DIALOGUE IN A PLACE AND PERSON:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/10/12/talking-heads-avoidance-device

PLANNING YOUR NOVEL’S BEGINNING:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/10/nano-prep-planning-your-novels.html

NICHE MARKETING, PART 2:

http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2015/10/lets-talk-niche-marketing-part-2.html

REVISION:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/10/the-revision-decision.html

AVOIDING OVER-DRAMATIZING:

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2015/10/6-ways-authors-over-dramatize.html

WRITING DESCRIPTION IN FIRST PERSON:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/10/14/tricks-to-writing-descriptions-in-first-person-pov

WHEN DO YOU STOP REVISING?

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2013/01/when-should-you-stop-revising.html

HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED TRADITIONALLY (BIG PUBLISHERS):

https://janefriedman.com/start-here-how-to-get-your-book-published/

MARKETS, SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE SHORT STORY ANTHO:

https://dianedooley.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/call-for-submissions-issue-9-of-sci-fi-romance-quarterly/

USING TWITTER TO INCREASE BLOG TRAFFIC:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2015/10/15/4-methods-to-get-more-blog-traffic-from-twitter/

Maintaining Tone

QUESTION: I have very abbreviated writing time so I can only work in spurts so my mood comes into the text sometimes. How can I stop that? 

The trick to holding the tone of the scene is to remember that you are the viewpoint character. You are seeing what she sees and feeling what she feels. Writing character is like immersion or method acting where you become the character.

This takes a bit of practice, but after a bit, you can switch between characters and personalities with ease as you change POV for a scene, and you can also inhabit the other characters in the scene so they continue to act as you've conceived them, and their dialogue is in character.

You also have to remember that your character should be reacting to what is happening at that moment rather than constantly sliding into introspection about the rest of her life. If you and she remains in the moment of the scene, neither of you will lose the right voice or tone of the scene.

Links of Interest

ARE YOU STARTING YOUR STORY TOO SOON?

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/beginning-your-story-too-soon/

IS YOUR STORY COMPLEX (GOOD) OR OVER-COMPLICATED (BAD):

http://writerunboxed.com/2015/10/02/complex-or-over-complicated

MAKING CHARACTER TRAITS PART OF THE PLOT:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/07/set-up-or-start-up-making-critical.html

FIVE THINGS TO DO BEFORE HIRING AN EDITOR:

http://www.rachellegardner.com/hiring-a-freelance-editor-2/

WHAT YOUR INDIE DISTRIBUTING PLAN, PART 2:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/10/indie-publishing-paths-whats-your.html

SIX COMMON MARKETING MISTAKES OF WRITERS:

http://writerunboxed.com/2015/10/01/the-6-most-common-marketing-mistakes-made-by-authors

GETTING SELF-PUB BOOKS INTO LIBRARIES:

https://janefriedman.com/self-published-books-to-libraries/

BOX SETS OF BOOKS BY INDIE AUTHORS, HOW TO AND WHY:

http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2015/10/a-new-trend-indie-box-sets.html

HOW TO USE DIALOGUE TAGS:

http://thewritepractice.com/dialogue-tags/

REVISION, FINDING YOUR OWN ANSWERS:

http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/heart-of-revision

NANOWRITE PREP, PLANNING YOUR NOVEL:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/10/nano-prep-planning-your-novel.html

TIPS FOR CREATING A STRONG PROTAGONIST:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/10/10-tips-for-a-strong-protagonist/

THE CURRENT AUTHOR BUSINESS MODEL:

https://janefriedman.com/author-business-models/

PINTEREST FOR MARKETING:

http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2015/10/why-author-should-try-pinterest.html

CONTEST WITH WINNER GETTING PROFESSIONAL CRITIQUE, THE WORST STORYLINE EVER:

http://www.rachellegardner.com/worst-storyline-ever/

PREPARING FOR NANOWRITE:

http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2015/10/nanoprep-ten.html

A MONTH LONG PLAN FOR IMPROVING YOUR PLATFORM, PART 1.  (I WON’T POST LINKS TO ANY OF THE OTHER ARTICLES.):

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/define-yourself-as-a-writer

INTERESTING WRITING TIPS:

https://www.blackgate.com/2015/10/04/things-your-writing-teacher-never-told-you-pro-tips-from-cat-rambo/#more-116281

SHOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE CHARACTER IS WEARING?

http://thewritepractice.com/characters-clothes/

CREATING GREAT PLOTS THROUGH SCENES:

http://writerunboxed.com/2015/10/06/master-scene-types-for-page-turning-plots

BEFORE YOU LAUNCH YOUR WEBSITE, THINGS TO KNOW:

https://janefriedman.com/before-you-launch-your-author-website/

WHY UNDERSTANDING POINT OF VIEW IS ESSENTIAL:

http://marcykennedy.com/2015/10/7-reasons-understanding-point-of-view-is-essential-to-writing-great-fiction

CREATING A WRITER FRIENDLY WEBSITE:

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2015/10/why-you-need-reader-friendly-website.html

THE TRUE ROLE OF THE PROTAGONIST AND ANTAGONIST:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/10/true-roles-of-protagonists-and-antagonists/

Go for the Specific

To give the reader the right image of what is happening, you should always be specific.  This is particularly important in the first description of a person, place, or thing.  

Look at the sentences below, and the introduction of the heroine’s dog, Digby.

Eager for their run, Digby whined and tugged on her leash.  

Jane laughed and began to jog down the greenway that ran behind her apartment.  

The dog kept pace until they reached the wooden bridge across the creek, then the golden retriever jerked to a halt and growled.  

Sentence one is fine.  “Whined” and “leash” tell the reader that Digby is a dog; however, the reader has no sense of what the dog looks like.  It could be a poodle or a Great Dane.

Sentence two is okay if bland.

Sentence three, however, starts with the general term “dog” which still doesn’t give the reader a clue about the dog.  Not until the end of this sentence  does the reader learn that the dog is a golden retriever.  By this time, the specific jars the reader who may have already visualized the dog or has decided the dog isn’t important because of the vague description.

How could these sentence be improved?

Eager for their run, Jane’s golden retriever Digby whined and tugged on her leash.

Jane laughed and began to jog down the greenway that ran behind her apartment.  

The dog kept pace until they reached the wooden bridge across the creek then jerked to a halt and growled.  

The reader instantly knows Jane’s dog is a golden retriever so the writer can now use more general terms like dog.  

Links of Interest

KNOWING WHEN TO PUT AWAY A MANUSCRIPT FOR GOOD:

http://labelleseditorialservices.com/blog/how-to-really-know-when-to-shelf-a-manuscript/

OYSTER IS NO MORE, THOUGHTS ON THAT AND THE EBOOK SUBSCRIPTION MODEL:

http://www.idealog.com/blog/what-oyster-going-down-demonstrates-is-not-mostly-about-the-viability-of-ebook-subscriptions/

10 DIALOGUE DANGERS:

http://marcykennedy.com/2015/09/top-10-dialogue-mistakes-that-kill-your-story

PROMOTION, ARE THE CURRENT METHODS WHAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW?

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/09/fools-gold-ii-why-indies-should.html

WHY AN AUTHOR MUST DO SOCIAL MEDIA:

https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/why-our-author-brand-is-more-important-than-ever-before/

SCENES AND SEQUELS, A PLOTTING METHOD:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/05/taking-scenic-route.html

HOW TO DEAL WITH THOSE PESKY OUNCES AND LITRES IN FICTION:

http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2015/09/word-painting-measurement-metaphor.html

USING FORESHADOWING AND MISDIRECTION:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/foreshadowing-and-misdirection-use-them-together-to-empower-your-fiction/

POINT OF VIEW 101:

http://thewritepractice.com/point-of-view-guide/

HOW AUTHOR BRAND WORKS:

https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/the-secret-to-a-powerful-author-brand/

ACHIEVING HONEST FICTION:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/your-fiction-may-be-failing-for-one-simple-reason-youre-not-being-honest/

A STRATEGIC PLAN TO MARKET YOUR BOOK A YEAR BEFORE IT COMES OUT:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/09/28/a-12-month-strategic-plan-for-marketing-your-book-before-release

EVERY PLOT NEEDS A TICKING TIMEBOMB:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/09/why-every-plot-needs-ticking-clock.html

TEN QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRITE:

http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/09/30/check-your-underwriting-10-key-questions-to-ask-of-your-story

MARKETING, DON’T NAG OR IMPOSE:

http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2015/09/how-to-market-without-imposing-or.html

TIPS ON WRITING A SERIES:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2015/09/30/guest-post-with-christy-farley-turning-a-standalone-into-a-series/

FINDING YOUR VOICE:

http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2015/09/three-steps-for-nailing-your-author-and.html

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE AND AN HISTORICAL NOVEL:

http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/2015/09/whats-difference-between-historical-and.html

HOW CONFLICT DRIVES YOUR STORY:

http://howtoplanwriteanddevelopabook.blogspot.com/2015/09/big-fights-and-little-fights-how.html

FIVE APPS TO MANAGE YOUR BLOG:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2015/10/01/five-apps-help-manage-blog/

SHOULD YOU USE A POPUP ON YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG?

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2015/09/28/5-pop-up-creation-mistakes-you-have-to-avoid-for-better-user-experience/

WORLDBUILDING, CREATE YOUR OWN INSECTS:

http://fantasy-faction.com/2015/fantastical-biology-part-nine-fantasy-insects

SCHEDULE NOTE:  Hurricane Joaquin may be heading my way after we’ve already had around six inches of rain so power outages, etc. are a distinct possibility so I might be prevented from posting next week.  I’ll be okay, I’ve survived worse, but send good thoughts or prayers to those in low lying areas and on the East Coast.  

Humor, Pushing Humor Too Far

The mystery series was a cozy with a light tone and humorous moments, but the third book in the series started with the murder of the heroine’s closest friend and moved through the next days with sleuthing as well as the process of grieving for and burying someone you love.

I imagine most would agree that this situation is not a comedy waiting to happen.  Unfortunately, the writer was so desperate to bring the light tone in that she proceeded to add slapstick.  

At the family visitation, the one of the heroine’s friends pretends to knee the heroine’s boyfriend, her heel breaks, and she really kicks him in the jewels.  

The heroine receives a threatening phone call, then her bedroom door knob jiggles.  She slips as she reaches for a Taser and bangs her head, then, before she realizes it’s a cop friend, she shoots him as he enters her room and he slips banging his head.  They end up concussed together on the bed where her friend discovers them the next morning and has a fun time wondering what went on between the not-a-couple.

I could only shake my head during these scenes that so desperately tried to add humor to a situation that wasn’t funny.  Not only was the over-the-top-to-the-point-of-ridiculous humor displaced, it tried so hard that the book fell apart.  

Moments like this are what trusted critique partners, beta readers, and good editors are all about.  They should have told the writer that sometimes a light tone just doesn’t fit the situation, and that poor taste and slapstick have no place in certain situations.  

How can you judge this with your own writing?  Think of your novel as a movie.  If you are writing a mystery movie full of dark atmosphere and duplicitous suspects, a scene from DUMB AND DUMBER just won’t  fit, will it?  A light moment of character revelation or a funny story about a victim would.  

Stay true to the tone that’s needed and listen to your early readers.  That’s more important than trying to maintain the tone of the series.  If not staying true bothers you, then find another plot that will fit that tone.