NaNoWriMo and Edits

I'll be very quiet here for a bit as I'm working on editing A Cornish Affair...the good news my editor loved it- the bad news/good news it needs work, which I knew....

I have blogged at The Heroine Addicts about NaNo...here. Are you doing NaNo this year...I hope to if I can finish my edits!

First Person or Third Person Point of View - Which Provides A More Emotional Read

Having submitted dreaded book two, A Cornish Affair, I’m filled with worry. Not because I don’t like the story, I do. But worry because it is a very different story. A Cornish Affair is an adventure/romantic suspense type story and therefore very different from The Cornish House. This I am told by some is not a bad thing….I’m not so sure.

It has had me wondering about something though…the story is not as ‘emotional’. And I’m wondering if this is because it is written in first person. Now bear with me because this seems counter intuitive. I've always thought if a book was in first person I would ‘feel’ more - after all we are in one character’s head. We feel their emotions.

But strangely I am beginning to thing it does the opposite…I recently finished The Girl I Left Behind by JoJo Moyes and I loved it. The book had me from page one…I was gripped by the story, which as it opens is told in first person and is set in 1916 occupied France. The second half of the book in set in ‘modern’ time and is told in third person. Now here’s the interesting bit…although gripped by the story in the first half I wasn’t as emotionally connected as I was in the second…and I don’t think this was because of the time difference. The actual facts of the story in set 1916 were on the face much more tear provoking…

This set me wondering…did this happen with all first person stories I had read and did it apply to the one I’d just written. This week I also read the wonderful debut of Liz Harris, The Road Back…told in third person. I was moved to tears at points.

So I’m wondering if first person in a way sets up a strange distance. It’s like the wall the character puts up to protect themselves applies to the reader and isn’t there in third person. Or maybe it’s just me.

What do you think? It’s not that I haven’t loved stories told in first person, I have but thinking of them I haven’t been quite as emotionally caught up. (Note: I'm reading When God Was A Rabbit at the moment and loving it...pages effortlessly turning but I'm not getting the emotional kick i should be considering some of the stuff I'm reading) What is your favourite first person story and did it leave you weeping or dry-eyed?

A New Book Trailer for The Cornish House

Well, DD had done so well putting together the book trailer for A Cornish Affair she had a go with The Cornish House. And well she did a far better job than I did. What impresses me is that a 13 year old has such a firm idea of how the music should fit the theme...

What do you think? Maybe I should hire her out...she'll do book trailer in return for iTunes vouchers... What is your opinion of book trailers? Do you look at them? Have you done one?

Mea Culpa and Yay!

I have been a very bad blogger...very bad. But the reason for this was very sound. I had a deadline to meet on the dreaded book two....which I met.

However so many things have happened that I can't even begin to remember. The key one though is book two isn't August Rock anymore it A CORNISH AFFAIR. I love the new title. I can't tell you about the rewrite 27 at the moment as I'm still WAY too close to the process....

But my lovely DD this weekend took my photos from the summer and made a book trailer and clever thing that she is...put the music together too......

She has captured perfectly the suspense of this book with the music...and her diligent work kept me focused so that I finished the read through and sent it to my editor on Saturday so that I could enjoy what was left of the weekend with my family!

To celebrate delivering A Cornish Affair I'm giving away a signed copy of The Cornish House on my Facebook page for the best caption for a picture I took on a walk at the end of the summer with DS1.