@allisonwyss @whatzaname @orionkidder @joehumphrey When I don't break, the characters and action does. I do it only rarely, and only when it feels right. It's always a sprint not exactly a marathon, but the reader is welcome to grab a bottle of water before jumping back into the race.

In the context of the current 130K novel, one chapter wants to be like this and it's 10K. It goes from MC and love interest, each of who are competing for control, feeling a weird synergy (love, [spoilers], or both?), to dinner, dancing, desserts, and asking about his "etchings", to... uh, hem. The next chapter is the greatest mystery of the whole book, and is 600 words long.

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@allisonwyss @Trajecient @orionkidder @joehumphrey When I am at my best in chaptering or naming the books/parts of a novel, the title is always a mystery to be solved by the time you reach the end of the chapter or part. Sometimes I even do that with the title of the novel. Moreover, I like it when the cover art is a scene from the novel you have to look for, also, not merely something evocative of the spirit of the work (tho that's advertising for the publisher and you're lucky if you get consulted).

This are things that engage me when I find them, so I also do them in my stories.

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@allisonwyss Some condensing, emphasis (I added must), and paraphrasing later:

We get used to the [POV] we see the most and our brain learns to read those as "natural."

Taste usually comes from our cultural biases and our reading habits.

We [must] consider these, and the expected biases of our likely audiences...

One must choose. These assertions bring clarity.

In the end, my choice of "1st person past tense" instead of "3rd person past tense close" comes down to how I can most fluidly, transparently, and clearly tell a story. My hope, anyway. For the reasons above, I chance turning away some share of potential audience—and my agent repeatedly warned me of this. In his view, the prevailing mode of POV was objectively better. It made us money. He wasn't necessarily wrong.

I haven't talked with the fellow in two decades.

To get back to @JoanGrey 's question: As I discussed in my The Hunger Games replies, I know a POV can be distracting to some, or at least me. I did read the sequels, however, but if she wrote other stories, I've not looked for them. That's bias. I understand that bias, but writing in the prevailing mode and getting it right proved too hard and frustrating to me. I'd rather be telling stories.

In a sense, I've stopped listening to peer pressure and am going with what I feel. Thus, my choice. For me, it is better. Please don't construe this as an endorsement or advice.

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@allisonwyss @charles_perkins @adaddinsane @JoanGrey

Am I less prolific because I spend so much time in revision? Certainly. But could it also be that I spend so much time in revision, because I'm less prolific?

It does come down to what makes you happy as an author. Secondary things like meeting editorial deadlines and selling enough do matter, but being happy is what makes writing worth while. That said, you may wish to think about whether too much revision is actually procrastination. This requires soul searching and thinking about what you want.

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@JoanGrey @allisonwyss @adaddinsane

Changing the POV to first person's an interesting choice - what's making you bend in that direction?

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Thank you for that question! CW: TL;DR

Every bit of advice I read insisted on 3rd person narrative sells. So did my agent. This was in the late 70s and 80s. Considering that most (but not all) of what I read was 3rd person, I did my best. I wrote about 12 works (#novels, #novellas) that way.

Problem is, for me at least, writing 3rd person is fantastically difficult. Not the storytelling but the in-writing. It's difficult because I am writing in 3rd person close. I was strenuously warned away from 3rd person omniscient, and I don't particularly like modern stories written that way.

3rd person close: If the character can't sense it or conceive of it, you can't write about it.

Staying in that #POV is very hard. To get it right required repeated boring attention-down-to-each-word-choice detailed revision. C.J.Cherryh is a master of 3rd person close, and I love her stories, but... I. Just. Couldn't. Do it!

I burned out in 2001.

By 2015, I needed to write. Non-fiction essays weren't enough. I thought, "What the hay?" I tried 1st person. I started writing and publishing fiction again -- fan-fic actually -- and it clicked.

I mean, OMFG! (Pardon my Latin.)

In 1st person, POV issues disappear because they're so obvious even while writing the first draft. The #narrative is the POV's thoughts, and my POV's are very opinionated. Entertainingly so, I'd posit. The dichotomy between what the character thinks and what the character says and does is a wonderful subtext all by itself. They even get to lie, sometimes.

As a bonus, I feel closer to my readers. (I've got a creative imagination, I guess.)

So... I'm now a 1st person past-tense #author! It is much more acceptable these days. Whilst some of my previous novels were multiple POV character works, I actually broke chapters on POV changes (like Fredrick Pohl), even naming the chapter for the character! Making the internal dialog unique will be a challenge, but it ought be fun. I certainly know the end of each story (my story-writing MO)!

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@allisonwyss @orionkidder @adaddinsane

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