I attended a “Writing Day Workshop in Tampa, Florida,” in April, bringing together agents and editors with writers across many genres. I’ve mentioned previously that seminars and workshops provide so much information to a writer that I make it a point to register when one is offered close to home. Also provided were one-on-one sessions to review/critique the first ten pages of my latest manuscript and to pitch my project to an agent.

This one-day session included seminars covering a wide range of topics, but for this blog, I’d like to highlight one in particular – Hate to Edit? Write a Better First Draft. The topic focused on Point of View (POV) or, as I learned, Deep POV. Jamie Engle is an accomplished writer and presenter, and her session helped me understand POV at the next level. Deep POV removes any redundant problems in your first draft, hence less editing time.

Writing in Deep POV allows the reader to experience the story alongside your character. Remember “show” rather than “tell” in writing? You want the reader to live inside the character’s head and feel what the character feels. Words like felt, knew, or thought begin to drop out of the sentences. They are replaced with words that “show” emotion. What is the character doing to show emotion? Here’s a tip: Did you know a reference book is available? “The Emotion Thesaurus: The Writer’s Guide to Character Expression,”  by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, lists 130 emotions and suggests ways to show emotions.

Research had started for the next novel. I’ll tell you more in the next blog post.