Author: L.M. Lilly

6 Things To Figure Out Before You Start Writing Full Time (Part 2 – Health Insurance)

Last week’s article talked about estimating how much you need to earn before you make a shift to writing full time. This week will focus on health insurance.

Health insurance is something many people don’t think about in advance, but in the United States it’s often harder to get, or costs much more, than expected.

Because I’ve been self-employed for a decade, starting before the Affordable Care Act was passed, I’ve devoted a lot of time and energy to healthcare and insurance costs and staying covered.

I offer what I’ve learned in the hope that it helps you with what to think about before  launching a full-time writing career, but—here’s the disclaimer you knew was coming–I’m not a legal, financial, or insurance expert when it comes to health insurance or medical care.

This article is meant as an overview and starting place, not to tell you what you personally should do for your specific circumstances. Also, this post is mainly directed toward writers in the United States because that’s where I live, and it’s the health insurance world I’m familiar with.

Reasons Not To Skip Health Insurance

The Affordable Care Act requires most people in the USA to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Recent changes to tax law eliminated the penalty, but I’ve read that those changes don’t go into effect until 2019.

Whether or not you would pay a penalty, being uninsured poses significant costs and risks.

  • Even if you are overall healthy and haven’t needed to spend much on healthcare in the past, you can’t control everything in your life.

If you cross a street and a driver who is texting rounds the corner and hits you, it’s very possible you’ll suffer serious injuries. It’s easy for hospital bills to run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even for less serious injuries other medical care, such as physical therapy, is not cheap.  (I know firsthand from recently breaking my foot.)

  • Regardless of your past health and no matter how much you take care of yourself, you could be surprised by a serious illness or heart attack.

Your health insurance information is the first thing most doctors’ offices, clinics, and hospitals ask for.

Getting treated without it, other than at an emergency room, is a challenge. Paying for that treatment, unless you either have massive wealth or are completely broke, risks draining your bank accounts and sending a lot of your future earnings to healthcare providers.

  • If they can afford to pay, uninsured people generally pay the highest rates for healthcare.

Insurance companies have bargaining power because they influence so many patients’ choices of medical provider. As an individual, you have next to no bargaining power.

Also, quite often the billing office of a medical provider won’t be able or willing to tell you the price in advance, you just get a bill later and get collection calls if you don’t pay in full. (The exact words at my doctor’s office when trying to find out a price before treatment were, “Ma’am, whatever the charge is, you need to pay the full amount.” “But what is that amount?” “You have to pay it in full.” This went on through several attempts until I gave up.)

Where You Can And Can’t Get Health Insurance

Some options for health insurance:

  • You may be eligible for insurance under a spouse or domestic partner’s group health insurance policy. (You probably are not if your partner is self-employed.) If you are, there’s a good chance it will be your least expensive option or at least will offer the best coverage for the price.

It’s worth understanding other options, though. If your relationship status changes or your partner’s employment changes, you may need to find another way to stay covered.

  • Most full-time jobs include health insurance benefits. If you leave you will usually be able to extend that coverage for eighteen months under a federal law known as COBRA. (There are a few exceptions, so verify this with your employer.)

After that, you will need to find something else.

  • Since 2010, under the Affordable Care Act health insurers who offer individual coverage have been required to insure everyone regardless of medical history.

You can buy individual coverage through healthcare.gov. These plans are not government insurance (there is no insurance called “Obamacare”), but are individual plans health insurers offer.

Check into this well in advance. There are limited enrollment periods, but certain life circumstances (like a job loss or change) allow you to buy at different times of the year.

That means you can also buy an individual policy directly from an insurer if you aren’t seeking a subsidy to help pay the premiums. When the ACA became effective, I called Blue Cross directly because I knew it offered good coverage. I found the salespeople very helpful in sorting through all the plans and options.

A caveat:

In recent years there have been news stories about counties where there are no health insurers offering individual plans. This is mainly due to a lot of uncertainty about changes in the law and what payments insurers will receive. If your county has no insurers, your state or county may have a set up an option.

  • If you are or you become a student at a college or university you may be eligible for student health insurance.

But check the fine print. You may need to be a full-time student or to take a certain number of courses. Also, the insurance may or may not continue during times when you aren’t taking classes.

Some writers and artists I know have extended or enrolled in graduate programs relating to their art not because they want the further education but to stay insured.

  • Some voluntary organizations, such as churches or professional associations, may offer limited health insurance options.

Always check the benefits before you count on these types of plans. Some have waiting periods of over a year for coverage of pre-existing conditions and/or offer limited total coverage.

Also, every professional organization I’ve checked offers not a group plan but some sort of deal on individual plans. This means the coverage will be the same as what you’d get in an individual plan and typically won’t offer the type of insurance or pricing a group plan might.

I mention this because in the days before the ACA, many people mistakenly believed they could get covered despite pre-existing health issues through an organization like the Chicago Bar Association, AARP, or some type of self-employed network. Because such plans are individual plans, not group plans, that was not the case.

Costs Of Insurance And Healthcare

If you extend your current employment coverage through COBRA, your cost per month will depend on your employer’s plan. It may cost more than you expect, but in my view it’s best to take the paperwork and compare to other options before you turn it down. It may turn out to be your best option.

You can check out the range of costs on individual plans on healthcare.gov even if you don’t plan to buy through the website.

In some areas, there are a dizzying array of plans, so at first it’s best to use it to get a rough idea of costs. You can narrow it down later.

Most health insurers also provide an online tool, such as this Blue Cross Blue Shield site, to compare their plans.

A few things to keep in mind when thinking about costs:

  • The premium for an individual plan rises with your age and depends in part on where you live.

As a 52 year old in Chicago, my current premium for a fairly wide provider network (which still doesn’t include my doctor) with a $5,500 in-network deductible is over $650 a month. If I were 22 and lived in Springfield, Illinois, it would be a lot lower. If I chose a narrower network (see below) or a different insurance company, I could likely lower my premium.

  • Higher deductibles and higher out of pocket limits generally mean lower premiums.

When you budget, it’s helpful to compare the costs of a year’s premium plus a year’s deductible–and a year’s premium plus a year’s out of pocket expenses–for each plan. That gives you a better sense of the overall cost of each plan.

  • Wider networks, meaning more options for choice of hospitals or doctors, usually means a higher premium.

Search for a few hospitals and doctors in your area to see how wide or narrow the network is. Check on whether your regular doctor is in various plans. If you’re willing to choose from a smaller number of, or a different set of, medical providers the cost may be less.

Keep in mind, though, that you may not always be able to find the care you need within network, so at least eyeball the out of network benefits so you’re not taken by surprise.

  • Research the insurer to see if there are consumer complaints.

Some insurers are better than others about paying claims.

This may affect not only your bottom line but whether a healthcare provider will accept that insurance. Check sites such as your state government’s consumer website and the Better Business Bureau or simply run a general search for the insurers’ name and consumer complaints and see what comes up.

Quality Of Care

There’s an old saying in the insurance industry that when people shop for insurance they only care about price and when they use insurance they only care about benefits.

This can lead to a lot of problems, particularly in healthcare.

Writing about healthcare quality issues is a topic far beyond this article, which is already one of the longest on this site. But a few thoughts before I close.

When you’re choosing a plan, in my view it’s key to consider what doctor you’ll be able to see and at what hospital you’ll be able to seek treatment along with the cost. Even if you need to go with the lowest cost plan, being prepared in advance for what your choices will be will help.

Finding out when you’re already injured or ill (and so in distress) that the medication your doctor prescribed will cost $500 because you went to the wrong pharmacy or it’s not on the insurer’s preferred list can not only be upsetting  but can seriously harm your health.

If you’ll need to find a new doctor or hospital, look at how many options you will have to choose from. Keep in mind the number of options listed can be deceiving. My insurer lists quite a few primary care doctors as accepting new patients, but so far I’ve called seven of them and none were accepting new patients.

Also, remember that not all doctors and hospitals are created equal.

Do some research (online at the library if necessary) into the quality of care of the hospitals in the network. How does the hospital rank for patient outcomes compared to others in your area?

Also look at the qualifications of the doctors you may want to see.

How long have they practiced? Are they board certified in their area of expertise? Do they get good reviews on patient care sites? Where did they go to school?

The Future

If you follow the news you know that healthcare options and insurance options are always changing and not always for the better. For that reason, it’s wise to have a back up plan.

Many people, myself included, who sought individual plans in the days before the ACA were surprised to find no one would insure them.  I’m in overall good health, exercise 30-60 minutes a day, am the recommended weight for my height, eat a healthy diet, and don’t smoke. None of that mattered.

What mattered was that I had a blood clot a month before I opened my law practice. It was the kind that can’t kill you, and it requires no on-going treatment.

The medical establishment differs on whether it puts me at risk for the more serious type of blood clot down the road, but the insurance industry wasn’t taking any chances. I was turned down and had to buy insurance through a state plan (now gone) that allowed me to basically continue my COBRA coverage.

Another attorney I know got turned down because she went to counseling during her divorce nearly a decade before she applied for individual coverage.

I mention this so you’re aware that changes in the law could mean you can no longer get insurance even in you think you’re in good health. So it’s important to keep an eye on developments so you’ll have time to make changes if needed.

That’s all for today. Until next Friday, when I’ll talk about maintaining your mental and emotional health when you write full time—

L.M. Lilly

6 Things To Figure Out Before You Start Writing Full Time (Part 1 – Income)

For a lot of writers, including me, the most important goal is to write full time.

That may mean earning the bulk of your income through writing so you don’t need to do anything else or earning income in several ways but devoting most of your working hours to writing.

Either way, there are some stumbling blocks almost every full-time writer encounters relating to emotional, financial, and physical well-being.

Answering the questions below before you shift to full-time writing can help ensure happiness in your writing life:

Today I’ll talk about income.

Ups, Downs, And How Much Money You Need

Income from writing is generally more up and down than a regular job.

Even if you’ve been self-employed in another field for years, as I was, relying more on your writing income means shifts in the publishing world–from royalty rates to Amazon algorithms–will have a greater effect on your bottom line.

Knowing from the start how much you realistically need to earn and how you’ll earn it can help you weather the storms.

Before we go ahead, a quick disclaimer:

I am not a financial adviser, and this article is not meant to advise you about your personal circumstances. The information below is based on my own experience and information I gathered for my personal situation. You should turn to a personal financial adviser for specific advice tailored to your life.

Creating A Spending Plan

I like the idea of a spending plan rather than a budget.

A budget sounds limiting and makes me focus on what I “can’t” spend. A spending plan sounds more realistic and positive. You need to spend money to live, and it’s a plan for doing that.

There are tons of free worksheets and calculators online to help you figure out what you spend. I like Vanguard’s Retirement Expenses Worksheet. While you’re not retiring, you are making a shift (or hoping to), and many of the money issues are similar.

You can also find books in the library, bookstores, or online about budgeting. (I like Suze Orman’s books, including the 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.)

Here’s what helped me most when creating a monthly spending plan:

  • Track what you actually spend for 2-4 weeks.

Not what you hope to spend, but what you truly spent, including expenses you don’t expect to have every week like birthday gifts or car repairs.

  • If you use credit cards, your credit card company may offer you a list of what you spent the year before by category.

If you use an accounting program, you can run your own list. Both are good to compare to what you track and fill in gaps.

  • In your plan for the future, remember to include unexpected one-time expenses and average them out per month.

Home or car repairs, doctor or emergency room visits, family member emergencies, or traveling for (and/or standing up in) a friend’s wedding are all expenses you don’t expect to have every month, but you’ll almost certainly have one or more of them every year. Ignoring them while planning will leave you constantly short of funds.

  • Leave funds for non-necessary things you enjoy.

Much as you love writing, most of us need more than sitting in a room writing all day to feel happy. You may not mind spending a little less on some things, but it’ll be next to impossible to stick to a spending plan that cuts back on everything you do for fun.

  • Think about your future.

Depending where you are in life, you also need to consider planning for retirement.

Yes, you can hope, as I do, that your books will keep making you money as long as you live. But it’s possible they won’t.

Continuing–or starting–to put away money for retirement, even if it’s in small amounts, matters. If it’s something you’re not doing now anyway and you’d rather be writing than working at your current job, you may want to make the switch regardless. That’s a personal decision.

But be sure you make a choice rather than let the issue go completely. Think about when and how you’ll move toward a place where you can put something aside for your future.

Consider what you may need or want to pay for someone else.

If you have dependents, you’ll need to consider your spending relating to them. If you don’t, there may still be amounts you give to others. Do you help pay expenses for an aging parent? Donate to charity? Send your nieces holiday gifts? Take friends out for their birthdays?

Remember to include these things in your spending plan. If you plan to cut back, imagine how you’ll feel about that and be realistic about whether you’ll do it or not.

Tracking The Money

Knowing where your money comes from is essential to planning your full-time writing life. Let’s call it your Income Plan.

Make a list, chart, or spreadsheet of your current sources of income, whether you have one or many. Include all amounts high and low.

If you have a savings account that earned $10 last year or you get $2 a month from listing your ebooks on Kobo, list it. You may be able to increase those amounts in the future, so you want to have them in mind.

Remember to subtract business expenses from your business income.

If last month you earned $1,000 in royalties on three books, but you spent $500 total on advertising, paying your email list provider, and a new cover, you only have $500 of those royalties that can go toward expenses. List $500, not $1,000.

Taxes will further reduce what you keep in your pocket.

If you didn’t include income taxes in your spending plan, make a guess based on the last few years how much of your income you’ll need to pay in taxes and subtract it.

If you’re leaving a job to write full-time, leave the income from that job off your Income Plan.

Now let’s look at the future.

Planning For The Future

Unless you are independently wealthy, are already earning a large income writing, or have a partner who earns enough to cover expenses and then some, the income from you Income Plan may very well not yet cover your the expenses in your Spending Plan.

That means switching to writing full time will require educated guesses at how much you’ll increase your writing income or other sources of income once you have more time to write. While all of us hope that our writing income will increase the more time we devote, there are a lots of market factors out of our control that can affect that or make it take more time than expected, so don’t assume that if you double your writing time in the first year you’ll also double your income.

But first, look at your best case scenario.

Consider how much more you are likely to write and what you realistically hope to earn. It’ll inspire you and help you move forward.

Second, consider the worst case scenario and decide how you’ll deal with it. For writers, that usually means you quit your job and your writing income either doesn’t increase or it goes down.

If you have a plan for what you’ll do if that happens, it will ease your mind and help you focus on writing rather than panicking over money.

Some questions to ask yourself when creating that plan:

  • Are there additional or different types of writing you could do that might earn you more money?
  • How quickly can you get a new (non-writing) job if you need to?
  • Is there freelance work you can do that will help pay your bills?
  • Do you have savings that you’ve set aside to use while you build your writing career and will you feel comfortable seeing your account balance go down if you spend it?
  • Can you decrease your spending in specific ways and still be happy? (For instance, could you downsize your home, find cheaper transportation, or grocery shop at less expensive stores?)

The answers to these questions will be different for everyone, and you may think of alternative ways to cover your expenses if your writing income doesn’t meet your expectations. But whatever your personal questions and answers are, thinking about them will help you decide when and whether to switch to writing full time.

Until next Friday, when I’ll talk about a key issue for any self-employed person: health insurance—

L.M. Lilly

Writing When Life Throws You A Curve

How do you stick with your writing when life throws you a curve?

Maybe you create a list of goals for your writing. Or choose one project to finish this year: a novel you started last year, a series of short stories, a book on how to cook gourmet meals.

Then something happens.

A flood damages your home, you need to care for an ill friend or family member, you become injured yourself. In addition to your grief and learning to cope with the change in your life, you may feel more frustrated, depressed, or anxious because you can’t write or aren’t progressing the way you feel you “should.”

What do you do? 

You Don’t Write With Your Toes, But…

In late April I broke two bones in my foot.

One was a major bone on which you put all your weight, so instead of a walking boot for a short time (as one of my friends had for a stress fracture), I had a series of different casts that reached to my knee. I had to stay off of my foot entirely for over 10 weeks, spent 3 weeks in a walking cast, and am still rehabbing so I can eventually walk without limping.

When the doctor told me the treatment plan, though, I figured it wouldn’t interfere with my writing. After all, I don’t write with my toes.

It turns out wearing a cast makes it hard to find a comfortable way to sleep, to sit at a desk, and to get around even at home. Things like brushing my teeth and making the bed took twice if not three times as long as usual on crutches. And I was exhausted. Not only from lack of sleep but because it takes a lot of energy for your body to heal.

It seemed like I’d be struggling forever, and spending a lot of time at home alone didn’t help my state of mind.

So though my fingers could still type, I didn’t write all that much. But I learned a lot.

Feel free to adopt what helps you and ignore the rest.

Remember: It’s A Long Game

Whether you’re recovering from a physical injury, dealing with emotional pain, or experiencing other acute stress, you may well find you’re less able to write.

If you can keep your writing schedule and it helps you feel better to do it, then of course go ahead.

But if not, remind yourself that it’s okay to do less. Finishing a novel or building a writing career is a long game. As Anthony Robbins says in Awaken The Giant Within, most people overestimate what they can do in one year and vastly under estimate what they can do in 10.  

Slowing down or taking a break entirely doesn’t mean that in the long run you won’t reach where you hope to be.

Do Something Different

During the first few weeks of my recovery I had trouble focusing enough to write or read much. But I did two things that ultimately helped me feel better and sparked new ideas.

Each time I iced my foot I watched a segment of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern-day take on my favorite book of all time, Pride and Prejudice, told as a video blog. In doing so, I engaged with a new (to me) form of storytelling and delighted in a different spin on a story I loved.

That reminded me how much I love the audiobook edition of Pride and Prejudice narrated by Shiromi Arserio.


I started listening to it at night when I couldn’t sleep. The narrator has a wonderful voice, and hearing the book again was like visiting old friends.

Now that I’m doing better, I added a new book to my list of non-fiction books to write over the next 9 months: Pride, Prejudice, and Plot. In it, I plan to use Jane Austen’s classic to illustrate the simple plot points from my guide to plotting, Super Simple Story Structure.

If people find that book helpful and enjoy it, I plan to write Pride, Prejudice, and People, a study of characterization.

Choose A Smaller Or Writing-Adjacent Task

You may not be able to keep writing when life throw you a curve, at least not at the same pace or on the same project.

But you may be able to write or plan something else.

Perhaps a short journal entry each morning. Or maybe you can do something to help create or plan your story, such as imagining a scene or interviewing a character in your mind. 

Appreciate What You Can Do

It’s easy to think about what you’re not doing. But rather than thinking about the hours you don’t spend writing in a day or week, give yourself credit for the fifteen minutes you do.

Be Guided By Your Feelings

Sometimes something you think will help makes you feel worse. For instance, at first I thought that since I had to spend so much time at home sitting or lying down I’d be able to add to the roster of writing podcasts I listen to.

But that made me feel depressed.

It emphasized what I wasn’t doing and left me feeling as if I were behind everybody else. I cut back to the two podcasts that for me are the most helpful and encouraging: The Creative Penn and the Sell More Books Show. And even those I sometimes put off listening to for a day or two until I was in the right state of mind.

It’s also important to pay attention to what makes you feel better.

The Lizzie Bennett Diaries were so absorbing that they took my mind off of my pain and elevated my mood. That’s why I binge watched them.

That’s all for today.

Until next Friday —

L. M. Lilly

P.S. For thoughts on writing and chronic health or wellness issues, see Writing When Injured Or Not Well.

Bonus Materials For Your Readers

If I could go back and do one thing differently from the day I published my first novel, it would be to start an author email list on that day.

Why You Need An Email List

I published The Awakening (Book 1 in the Awakening series) in ebook format in 2011. When I put it in Kindle Unlimited and made it free for a few days, I had thousands of downloads.

But I had no second book to link to in the back for readers who liked the first. I was working a lot of hours as a lawyer at the time, so it was 2 1/2 years until Book 2, The Unbelievers, came out.

At least if I’d had an email list sign up option in Book 1 with some sort of bonus for people who joined I might have had a way to reach those readers.

But I didn’t. So when Book 2 came out, I had to start all over.

Forms, Bonuses, And Costs

Bonus materials or other incentives are a good way to encourage people to join your email list and to remain on it. When you offer a bonus or gift to new subscribers, though, you need to (1) be clear that you are asking them to sign up for an email list and (2) let them know what else they’ll be receiving from you.

Your email provider typically has on-line forms you can customize for your list and whatever bonus you’re offering. I use MailChimp. This is a simple form to receive a Character Creation Tip Sheet for subscribers to the Writing As A Second Career list.

Sending readers a bonus or gift doesn’t mean you need to spend money, though some authors do.

If you don’t want to spend at all, you can email a file directly to readers yourself.

If you’d like to have someone else deal with any technical issues and you’re sending an ebook as a bonus (more on that below), you can use a service such as Book Funnel.

For a minimal amount (right now $20 a year), Book Funnel will let you create a reader landing page for your book and will handle the download process. Readers can download in whatever format they read. If they have problems with the download or have questions, Book Funnel handles those.

Types Of Bonuses

Some ideas for bonus materials:

  • Complete Books

If you have more than one novel or non-fiction book, you can offer readers a free ebook edition. Offering a complete book works best if you have a series, especially one with multiple books that are for sale.

Make sure you include sale links to your other books in the back matter of the free book.

  • Inside Information/Snippets From Your Writing Process

If readers enjoy a book, they often like getting a glimpse into the writing process.

You can offer items such as:

  1. deleted scenes
  2. scenes written from a different character’s perspective
  3. early drafts (including with handwritten corrections)
  4. author commentary
  5. interviews with favorite characters
  6. author interviews
  7. research notes

I offered some or all of these at different times. More recently, I put some of these items into a Reader’s Guide in ebook format.

Here’s the Book Funnel landing page for the Books in Order and Reader’s Guide I created for the Awakening series. People who sign up for my email list get the guide free. Otherwise, I sell it for $1.99. (Go ahead and download it for free  if you’d like to see how the process works.)

 

  • Worksheets, Checklists, Tips

For non-fiction, useful materials like worksheets, lists of tips, or checklists can be a good draw.

Years ago I downloaded a book launch checklist from Bryan of the Sell More Books Show. Now I’m a devoted listener to the podcast and I attended the Sell More Books Show conference this year.

Creating those materials sometimes can help you as the author figure out what to write next. I got such a good response to a bonus I offered on a simple 5-point method for plotting that I expanded it into Super Simple Story Structure: A Quick Guide To Plotting And Writing Your Novel.

  • Short Stories

If you write fiction and aren’t yet able to offer a novel, you can offer a short story.

A short story may not be as intriguing to readers as a full book, but it’s a place to start. Also, it can be a draw if it ties into a novel or a series.

Some authors use short stories to tie two different series together. In that way, the free short story may draw a reader from one world of yours into another.

Also, once you have several short stories, you can consider putting them together into a collection and selling them.

  • Swag

Some authors offer readers promotional items such as pens, mugs, T-Shirts, coasters, or other items with logos or names identifying the author or the author’s work. Others offer signed paper books.

The downside of physical promotional items is the cost of shipping.

The upside is that other people likely will see the items, possibly adding some free advertising for you.

A podcast for my favorite TV show does a great job with physical merchandise. Whether or not you’re a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, it’s worth a look at the merch page for the Buffering The Vampire Slayer podcast to see what can be done.

That’s all for today.

Until next Friday when I’ll talk about Adjusting Your Writing Goals When Life Throws You A Curve—

L.M. Lilly

 

 

What’s The Best Point Of View For Your Story?

One of the most important decisions you’ll make as a writer is who will tell your story. In other words, what point of view will you use?

Whether you’re writing an entire novel, a short story, or a single scene, these two guidelines can help:

  • Use the point of view that best conveys what your reader needs to know.
  • A scene is strongest when told by the character with the most to lose.

What Your Reader Needs To Know

When choosing from the point-of-view options, ask yourself what your reader needs to know and when. Answering that question will go the farthest toward knowing what point of view will work best for your story.

As I talked about in previous articles, your reader can only know what the view point character knows.

If your story requires a bird’s eye view where an all-knowing narrator shares more than the all characters combined know–or the narrator comments from a big picture perspective–third person omniscient is your best option.

If your reader needs to know what multiple characters know–for instance, you want the reader to know Susan placed a ticking bomb under the table that protagonist Pedro is unaware of–third person limited shifting (multiple characters) is a great choice.

If everything the reader needs to know can be told by one character, you can explore third person limited (single character), second person, or first person.)

You can also combine the above points of view.

Making Your Reader Care

Narrating each scene from the standpoint of the character with the most to lose is the best way to keep the reader engaged. The more that’s at stake for the viewpoint character, the more likely the reader is to care about what happens.

Under this approach, if you are writing a break up scene, think about who is most invested in the relationship and who will be most devastated if it’s over. That character is probably the one whose viewpoint will jump off the page.

On the other hand, if for the character choosing to end the relationship, the worst thing in the world is to hurt someone else, that might be the viewpoint character to use.

Sometimes, though, your story might benefit from a wider perspective or the view of someone one step removed.

A great example of first person narration by someone other than the protagonist–who has the most at stake–is The Great Gatsby.

Nick, our narrator, is Gatsby’s neighbor. Because he’s a step (or a plot of land) away, he can show us how Gatsby fits into the society around him in a way that Gatsby himself couldn’t. He can also tell us about things that happen that are unknown to Gatsby but that impact him.

I often switch the point of view of a scene when I rewrite to see if it works better. The key is to save your first draft so you can easily restore the scene if you don’t like the change.

What Point Of View You Enjoy Writing

Another question for you, and this one is more fun, is what point of view you enjoy writing.

What you enjoy matters, as often more than one point of view could work for your story. And, maybe more important, if you find you really dislike writing from a certain point of view, and it’s the best one for the story, maybe you’ll decide to write a different story.

After all, why write something you don’t enjoy?

Feel free to experiment to see both what point of view works best and which you enjoy. It’s fun, and it can help avoid spending a lot of time deciding the POV before you write.

Why do I think it’s better not to devote tons of time to choosing?

First, it can be a way to put off writing. Second, sometimes a point of view you think will work great doesn’t when you get into the flow of the story. So it’s more efficient to start writing and see how it goes. You can always switch POV in your next scene or chapter and see how that works.

If you do change the point of view of a scene or story, your original version was still worth writing. You probably learned a lot, and you might use it for another story down the road. Or you can send it as a bonus to email list or Patreon subscribers or include it on your website.

Until next Friday, when I’ll talk about other types of bonuses you can send to fans and supporters–

L.M. Lilly

Combining Different Points Of View (Point Of View Post No. 5)

The point-of-view articles posted here so far covered three third person point-of-view options–omniscient; third person limited shifting (multiple characters); and third person limited (single character)–and the second and first person points of view.

If none of the options seems as if it will work for your entire story, though, you can combine different points of view in the same novel.

First And Third

Some books shift scene-to-scene or chapter-to-chapter from first person told by one character to third person limited told by another character.

You might do this if you have a strong sense of one character’s voice and really want to write using “I,” but you need the reader to know things that character doesn’t know. Or you may feel third person seems more appropriate for one or more other viewpoint characters.

In the thriller Right Behind You, Lisa Gardner shifts between two first-person points of view—a teenaged girl and her estranged older brother—and two third-person points of view—profilers Quincy and Rainie, who are foster parents to the girl. It’s worth a read to see how Gardner does this (and because it’s a great book).

Second And ???

You could do the same with second person, using it for a particular chapter and then shifting in another chapter to third person or even to first person.

Because second person is less common in fiction, though, your reader might feel disoriented, so use with caution.

First And First

You can shift from one first person viewpoint to another first person viewpoint. This can be a bit trickier than shifting from first to third. With multiple first person points of view the reader may assume the same “I” is speaking.

While you can put a character name on the top of a chapter or scene to signal the switch to the reader, beware: not all readers look at those tags. I tend to overlook them myself, just as I rarely read chapter titles.

To truly do shifting first person right, the changing voice of the current narrator alone ought to cue the reader that someone else is now telling the story.

That can be quite challenging. But you can make it work if you’re willing to listen intently to how each character speaks and get that down on the page.

The popular thriller Gone Girl is an excellent example of an author using two different first-person narratives—a husband’s and a wife’s. Both the viewpoint character’s voices and the actual story change dramatically depending upon which POV we’re in.

Epistolary Novels

Another way to combine points of view is to tell some or all of your story through letters. Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice includes the full text of multiple letters. Austen’s original plan for the novel was to tell all of it in letters.

The book overall is in third person omniscient, as we get a big picture view of the community and its views as well as a look into the minds of multiple characters.

But we also get first and second person through letters. When Darcy writes his pivotal letter to Elizabeth (the protagonist) he both details his own feelings, referring to himself as “I,” and relates things that occurred that involve Elizabeth, referring to her as “you.”

The letters create a greater intimacy between the readers and the characters, as we’re drawn into direct and often private communications between them. They also allow Austen to have fun with different characters’ voices. The letters from Mr. Collins are a joy to read–full of pomposity mixed with some good intentions and a heavy dose of self-importance–and convey his character perfectly.

(Elizabeth says to her father after hearing the first of the letters read aloud: “He must be an oddity, I think….Can he be a sensible man, sir?”)

If you try switching points of view, once you’ve written a few chapters it’s a good idea to give them to a few friends. Ask them to mark any point where they were confused, even momentarily.

Confusion doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the shift. But you’ll know where you need to work harder to make clear who is talking.

Until next Friday, when we’ll talk about how you decide which point of view to use for any particular scene or story–

L.M. Lilly

The Omniscient Narrator: When You Know It All (Point of View Post No. 4)

Third person omniscient is the broadest and most flexible point of view. For most writers, it’s also the most challenging to write.

The Omniscient Narrator Knows And Sees All

With omniscient point of view, the narrator can see into everyone’s mind. Not only that, the narrator can go beyond the experiences and knowledge of the characters.

For example, the story could start with a history of a town, a company, or a country regardless whether any of the main characters know that history. Or a scene could begin with a bird’s eye view of a city block and gradually zero in on a single seat on a single train car.

The omniscient narrator also can opine about each character from a step back, rather than being locked into a character’s perspective.

The first two lines of Gone With The Wind provide an example of omniscient narration:

Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father.

In these sentences, we are in neither Scarlett’s nor the twins’ POVs. Rather, we get a big picture view of Scarlett.

Scarlett herself, for instance, would be unlikely to describe herself as “not beautiful,” and the Tarleton twins probably wouldn’t describe her that way or refer to her mother’s and father’s ancestry if asked to tell someone what she looked like.

Later in the chapter the story zooms in so that we get Scarlett’s internal thoughts and feelings as well as those of the Tarletons, but there are many passages in the book that provide a sweeping view of Southern society, the war, and politics. Those are all told via the omniscient narrator.

Pros Of Third-Person Omniscient Point Of View

The pluses of omniscient narration are the big picture scope and feel, as well as the flexibility. As a writer, you can swoop into the viewpoint of whatever character you choose, and you can back off and give the perspective of many people at once.

Omniscient is the perfect choice for Gone With The Wind because Margaret Mitchell is able to provide numerous perspectives when she needs to, whether of soldiers on the front lines, prisoners of war, society matrons, or carpetbaggers.

She can also include descriptions of lands and cultures and characters that are rich with history and details that no one particular character is aware of.

Cons Of Third-Person Omniscient Point Of View

The disadvantages include that writing in omniscient narration can be unwieldy. As the author, you have so many choices for every single scene that it can be overwhelming.

Also, a lot of care is needed to avoid jarring the reader when you head hop from one character to another or zoom in or out from a bird’s eye view to a single character’s view.

You can avoid this to some extent by only switching POV from scene to scene or chapter to chapter, but then you may as well use third person limited shifting. (For more on that point of view option see Limited And Shifting Third Person (Point Of View Post No. 3)).

Another method is to use a character’s line of dialogue or a movement by the character to segue into that character’s perspective.

Keep in mind that because of the big picture perspective your reader may not feel as connected to or invested in any particular character. Partly for this reason omniscient narration, while common in many classics, is not often used today in fiction.

Most present-day readers want to feel as if they are truly seeing through the eyes of, or living in the body of, one or more characters, and it’s hard to feel that way with omniscient narration.

Further, today’s readers also are unused to shifts of point of view within scenes, and it may distract them or make them wonder if you shifted deliberately or made an error.

Where You’ll Find Omniscient Narrators

You see omniscient narration used more in literary novels than in popular or genre fiction.

Literary books focus more on the writing itself than the plot (though how much more varies) and also tend to leave more for the reader to infer about the characters’ thoughts and feelings. This makes such books better suited to an omniscient narrator, as readers don’t have the same expectation of closeness with the viewpoint characters, and they expect to work harder to understand the story.

So should you try omniscient narration?

It’s true that some modern readers may be unfamiliar with it and so be throw off by it at first. If you are writing an epic or sweeping tale, though, or you simply love the approach, give it a try.

Until next Friday, when I’ll write about combining various points of view in one novel—

L.M. Lilly

 

Limited And Shifting Third Person (Point Of View Post No. 3)

The third person point of view is the most complex because it allows for three variations that affect on a scene-by-scene level how you’ll tell your story.

Today I’ll talk about the first two: third person limited (single character) and third person shifting (multiple character).

The last type is third person omniscient, which will be covered next Friday.

Third Person Limited (Single Character)

Third person limited (single character) is the easiest of the third person point of view options to manage.

“Single character” means just that.

As in first person and second person, the same character tells the entire story. The difference is that rather than “I” or “you,” you’ll use “he” or “she” (or perhaps “it”) when referring to the viewpoint character.

The “limited” aspect once again refers to knowing only what that the viewpoint character knows. As in first and second person, even if you as the author know there’s a bomb under the table, you can’t tell the reader about it unless or until the viewpoint character knows it.

Likewise, your viewpoint character can’t see into the head or hearts of other characters.

As with first and second person, this type of narration can delve deep into the viewpoint character’s mind and heart. The feel may be a bit more removed because “I” and “you” are out of the picture, other than in dialogue. The narration also is less conversational than first person, though it can still give a feel for the character’s voice.

Third Person Limited Shifting (Multiple Character)

Third person limited shifting (multiple character) means that you tell the story from the viewpoints of more than one character.

But you still are limited to sharing what is known and experienced by the viewpoint character when you are in that character’s mind. The shifts from one character’s point of view to another’s occur either at scene breaks or chapter breaks.

Also, while you can shift from one character’s POV to another’s, you can’t include a fact that none of your viewpoint characters knows.

Exception:

Once in a while, an author breaks out of the limited viewpoint to share a generally-known fact for background.

For instance, my standalone supernatural suspense novel When Darkness Falls is mainly set in downtown Chicago, and my two viewpoint characters are in their mid-twenties.

In that novel, if it’s important to the story, I could include a detail about the Chicago L trains without making clear which viewpoint character knows the information, or that any character knows it. Such background information usually comes at the beginning or end of a chapter or scene.

If you need to do this, the key is to make sure it’s not distracting to the reader.

In my example, if in description I mention that the Red Line runs north and south, the reader probably won’t wonder which character’s point of view that comes from. But if I give a long history of the first L train, and talk about how each line used to be known only by destination and not color, the reader will likely start wondering whether my two twenty-something viewpoint characters actually know that and why.

Where To Find These Points Of View

Certain genres are more apt to use first person than others. Private eye novels (including the V.I. Warshawki novels that are my favorites (see Why I Love V.I.)) are often first person. This point of view gives the reader a strong sense of solving the mystery with the sleuth.

You’ll see third person limited shifting most often in thrillers. It gives the reader the chance to see the story unfold from different perspectives and allows tension to build when the reader knows something that the viewpoint character doesn’t. If the antagonist is a viewpoint character and knows there’s a bomb under the table but the protagonist doesn’t, the reader worries for the protagonist.

That ratchets up tension.

But there are no hard and fast rules, so write whatever you enjoy the most.

That’s all for today.

Until next Friday when I’ll talk about third person omniscient point of view–

L.M. Lilly

 

Pros And Cons Of Second Person Point Of View (Point Of View Post No. 2)

Second person point of view is often used in self-help books (and blog posts) but rarely used in fiction. Because it’s so rarely used, though, it can have a striking effect.

But first, let’s talk about what it is and it’s not.

Quick Look At Second Person Point Of View

Second person uses “you” as the viewpoint character:

You rushed into the room, afraid you’d make a poor first impression by being late.

In contrast, first person uses “I” and third person uses pronouns such as “she” or “he” or character names.

The best example of second person I’ve found in a novel is Bright Lights Big City by Jay MacInerny.

The author uses not only second person but present tense, which creates a greater urgency. Here are the first few lines:

You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the train is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head.

When I went looking online for examples of novels in second person, I again found Bright Lights Big City in a string in Quora.

There were a few others, but two of them were what struck me as first person in disguise or at least hybrids. The “you” was not the narrator but the person to whom the narrator was writing:

Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

You saw me before I saw you. In the airport, that day in August, you had that look in your eyes, as though you wanted something from me, as though you’d wanted it for a long time.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Come, tell me, what were you looking for? Surely, at this time of day, only one thing could have brought you….. Have I guessed correctly?

A third, interestingly, was a novel told as if it were a self-help book. From the samples pages I saw, it is told in second person:

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid

Your mother has encountered this condition many times, or conditions like it anyway. So maybe she doesn’t think you’re going to die.

It is a little easier to find short stories told in second person. The Power of You: 5 Stories Written in Second Person on Bookish.com lists five that look good.

The Pros Of Second Person Point Of View

The pluses of writing in second person include all those I talked about last week for first person:

  • Closeness/intimacy between narrator and reader
  • Simpler mechanics because you as the writer know from whose point of view each scene will be told and know you can only share what the narrator knows
  • The need for creative solutions due to those limitations

So why not simply use first person?

Second person creates a greater intimacy and immediacy as the Bright Lights Big City example shows. The reader is plunged right into the scene.

The reader is not simply in the narrator’s head, the reader is the narrator. 

Second person also tends to make a writer less inclined to ramble on about backstory or engage in unnecessary flashbacks. Something about writing as if you’re talking about the reader inhibits that, because if you were actually writing about the reader, the reader would already know the backstory.

The Cons Of Second Person Point Of View

As with the pros, the cons of second person include those of first person:

  • You can only share with the reader what the narrator knows, which means some ways of creating suspense are gone
  • It’s harder to develop side characters and sub-plots about them
  • If the reader dislikes your narrator or the narrator’s voice, the reader will likely dislike the book regardless of its story

(For more, see the Pros And Cons Of Writing In First Person.)

An added disadvantage of second person over first person is that it is uncommon enough that it may initially be distracting to the reader.

All the same, if it’s a type of writing that seems compelling to you, give it a try. Most readers forget about the “you” after a few lines.

Until next Friday, when I’ll talk about third person, both limited and shifting—

L.M. Lilly

Pros And Cons Of Writing In First Person (Point Of View Post No. 1)

Writing in first person can be both fun and extremely challenging.

The reader sees directly through the eyes of a single character, usually the protagonist. But there are drawbacks too.

Point Of View Options

You probably remember the differences between third, second, and first person from your high school literature class. Third person POV uses the pronouns “she” or “he” rather than “you” or “I” when telling the story:

John rushed into the room, afraid he’d make a poor first impression by being late.

Second person POV, which is rarely used in fiction, uses the pronoun “you,” as if you were writing about the reader as a character in the novel:

You rushed into the room, afraid you’d make a poor first impression by being late.

First person POV uses the pronoun “I”:

I rushed into the room, afraid I’d make a poor first impression by being late.

Drawbacks Of First Person POV

  • The Bomb Under The Table

If you write your novel in first person, it can’t include anything that the narrator doesn’t know.

That means if your narrator doesn’t know there’s a bomb under the table, you can’t tell the reader the bomb is there.

This limitation robs the author of a means of suspense. The reader who knows about the bomb worries for the unsuspecting narrator sitting at the table. That reader will remain engaged even if the conversation is less exciting or positively mundane (not that you should aim for dull dialogue).

  • What Are They Thinking/Subplot Scarcity

You also can’t directly state what any character other than the narrator is thinking or feeling. Your narrator can guess, as can the reader, based on other characters’ actions, facial expressions, or body language, but that’s all.

Further, the reader only knows what other characters do in the narrator’s presence or as told to the narrator.

Because you can’t get into the heads of other characters or see what they do outside the narrator’s knowledge, it’s more challenging to round out those characters and develop subplots about them.

I’ve been struggling with this after switching to first person in my new series after writing thrillers from multiple points of view. Nearly half of each of the second and fourth books in my Awakening series are devoted to subplots regarding other characters.

Book 2 deals in depth with protagonist Tara’s dad’s conflict between his deep religious faith and the challenge his non-believing daughter’s virgin pregnancy presents to it. Book 4 includes the struggles of a key figure in The Brotherhood of Andrew–the religious order that believes Tara will trigger an Apocalypse–to resolve his loyalty to the order given what he’s learned about Tara and his growing relationship with someone on her team.

Had either book been written in the first person I could have alluded to those conflicts only if Tara knew about them, and I couldn’t have made them key parts of the books.

  • Narrator Love/Hate

If your narrator’s way of speaking or personality rubs a reader the wrong way that reader will almost certainly dislike the book.

It’s like sitting in a room with someone who really gets on your nerves. That person might have valuable things to tell you, but it’ll take tremendous effort to get past the speaker’s manner and listen.

I discovered this point firsthand with a multi-paragraph review of The Worried Man where the reader disliked my first-person narrator. Other reviewers loved Q.C., and I’ve already had readers email to ask when the next book about her will be out. But the reader who disliked her pretty much disliked everything about her, which undermined any appreciation of book as a whole.

So why use first person narration at all?

Reasons To Write In First Person

  • Hold Me Close

First person creates greater intimacy between the narrator and the reader and between you and your narrator.

To write in first person, you need to immerse yourself in your narrator’s life, emotions, voice, and thoughts. You may come to know your narrator better than you know yourself.

The reader in turn hears firsthand the narrator’s thoughts and experiences. The narrator shares directly with the reader physical sensations, smells, sounds, tastes, and emotions.

If the reader enjoys the narrator’s voice and perspective, it’s like hanging out with a friend. Especially one who tells great stories.

Because of that, the reader also is likely to come back for book after book.

As I wrote about in Why I Love V.I. on my author blog, I read every one of Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski  private eye novels as soon as they come out because I want to hang out with V.I. again. The plot is secondary to me.

More recently, I read all six of Jana DeLeon’s Shaye Archer series within two months for the same reason.

  • Mechanically Speaking

First person is the simplest point of view to write from a nuts and bolts perspective.

That’s so because there are fewer decisions to make. You know from whose point of view each scene will be told from page one: your narrator’s. You also know exactly what you can and can’t share with the reader: only what the narrator knows.

  • Creativity Abounds

The limits first-person narration presents can spark creativity and heighten your writing skills.

For example, because you can’t have a supporting character share thoughts, feelings, and backstory directly with the reader you need to find other ways to do so.

Some options include:

  1. Conflict between the narrator and supporting character that reveals that character’s emotions or personal story
  2. Letters, emails, social media posts, or other types of written communication from the supporting character that the narrator discovers or receives
  3. Gestures, facial expressions, and actions of the supporting character that show thoughts and feelings

You can and likely will use all these options and others to some extent no matter what point of view you use.

But first person requires you to try out those options rather than putting the reader in the supporting character’s head. It pushes you to expand your toolbox.

That’s all for this week.

Until next Friday, when I’ll talk about the rarely-used-in-fiction second-person point of view—

L.M. Lilly

P.S. For more on which character’s point of view to use for each scene, you may want to check out Learning About Point Of View From Donald Trump And James Comey.