Wednesday, March 6, 2019

IWSG: Whose Perspective - Hero or Villain?

The purpose of the Insecure Writers' Support Group is to "share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!"

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com


This Month's Question: "Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?"

My Answer: Since I write for the young adult audience, my novels are written from the perspective of the protagonist. However, during the drafting and revision phases, I will often write passages from the antagonist's perspective in order to better understand that character and his or her motivations. These passages don't make it into the finished manuscript, but bits and pieces and the essence of the writing filter through to the story.


How about you? Whose perspective do you like to write from?


8 comments:

  1. Antagonists are a treat to dive into and doing so does make them come to life that much more.

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  2. Hi, Margo! It's amazing how much goes into drafting a novel that doesn't make it into the final version. I enjoyed hearing about your take on protagonist/antagonist. Have a happy IWSG Day!

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  3. I like your idea of writing from the antagonist VP during drafting. Clever.

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  4. That's a great idea! I've heard of people interviewing their main characters to understand them better, but I hadn't thought of writing draft versions from the antagonist's POV. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. That's a good idea. Another trick I learned was to write down what each character thought of the other characters. It helped me both understand them and see how others would see them.

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  6. My writing are stand-alone, but I love hearing what all perspectives.

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  7. I've written a few scene from the antagonist's POV before, meaning scenes I don't intend to end up in a final draft of the book, but rather just as an exercise to help me get a better handle on a particular character and/or situation. I've found it to be a very useful technique.

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  8. Interesting. I haven't tried writing from the antagonist's POV just for the insight. I might try that. I do like writing short stories from the villain's POV. Sometimes it's fun to be the bad guy. Right up to the "uh oh" moment when he's caught or about to be killed.

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