Say I Boo: Point of View?
The other day I was listening to a writing podcast (The Shit No One Tells You About Writing—you might’ve heard me talk about it once or twice… or a dozen times… seriously, if you’re a writer who hasn’t listened to it, you’re missing out! Their advice has been invaluable! Anyway…). They were diving into the topic of point of view, and it reminded me just how messy my own POV journey was when I first started writing Say I Boo.
When I sat down to write the first page, I started in first person. I was barely into the second chapter when I realized it wasn’t working. Abby’s voice was there, but I wanted her to be this cool mysterious ‘larger than life’ figure like Sherlock Holmes or Shawn Spencer and first person wasn’t giving that.
So I scrapped it.
I switched to third person and started again—but this time, I didn’t just follow Abby. I gave point-of-view chapters to Lucas and Michelle, too. Why? Because I was still figuring out their storylines and I wasn’t sure how important they were yet. Lucas is kind of the grounding Watson to Abby’s paranormal Sherlock (or the Gus to her Shawn) — through his point of view, I was able to show her as this unpredictable resourceful genius. Being in his head made it easier to write her as larger than life.
But the more I wrote, the more I realized that Abby didn’t need to be mysterious and she wasn’t a genius. She was relatable and funny and trying her best — and it actually worked better to be close to her. To let the reader see her doubts and heart and messy thoughts.
As for Michelle… well, I thought it was interesting to show the story through the eyes of someone who didn’t believe in ghosts. It definitely raised the tension. But in the end, she was a little too far removed from the emotional arc of the story. We didn’t really need her perspective. The tension worked better when she clashed with Abby from the outside, and she became a less important character than she was originally.
All this is to say that sometimes you need to write the wrong version before you find the right one.
If you’re stuck trying to decide which POV to use — or whether you need that second or third character’s voice — just know it’s okay to experiment. Even if you cut those chapters later, they’re never wasted. I have a much better understanding of Lucas and Michelle as characters from those early drafts!
And hey, they got me closer to the story I wanted to tell!
