Melissa Marr: It’s All About Perspective...

I'm working on the third novel (a sequel to Wicked Lovely), and I've been pondering perspectives. Sometimes things are left unanswered in a text because it's not the right time for those answers. In the third novel, I get to develop details that didn't belong in Wicked Lovely. Frex (a non-spoiler example), the last Summer King is discussed a bit more in Ink Exchange and in the third novel. This is not new data to me, but it wasn't right for WL.

Why? Well, is Keenan going to stop and think of his father by his given name? No. Beira? No. Don and Ash didn't know him. So that detail was omitted for the time. As a reader, I get frustrated when a text bogs down in backstory and obvious world extension. It feels artificial. I don't see dropping data into the scene if it isn't a realistic thing for the character to ponder at that moment.

Likewise, some visual details make more sense to me. Landscape interests me, but finite depictions of people's appearance often feels off to me--partly because they are inevitably subjective and partly because my mind refuses to process list-like visuals of people. When I meet people, I tend to focus in on a few key details. Maybe it's a walk, a gesture, a scent, an attitude. Rarely is it height, weight, eye-colour. This filters into my writing.

The details revealed in my text are decided somewhere between characters' perspective and my perspective--and I notice buildings more than eyes :)

So what about you? When you go about your day, what sorts of things make you stop? If you were my character, what details would you notice? Which ones wouldn't you?

Melissa Marr
Author of Wicked Lovely

www.myspace.com/melissa_marr
http://melissa-writing.livejournal.com
www.melissa-marr.com
www.wickedlovely.com (Note: This is not MY site, but a fansite where I stop & answer questions.)

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