Maybe I should call this post “duel chapter” instead.

 

This is something I’ve not done before : usually once I’m done with a viewpoint character, I change the chapter number. I’ve done that 22 times – one chapter – one viewpoint character.

However here, I am stuck with a problem : I need to show Listeria’s viewpoint before Ciera. I need the reader to see all the planning she went through to indispose her sister (and that word is VERY mild for what she intends to do). I could have done an entire chapter in her viewpoint, however, I didn’t think I could produce enough material for an entire chapter there.

Second point : I need to move the action forward and the action is with the character that is in the most pain – Obviously, this is Ciera here. So, I need to dedicate a good part of this chapter with Ciera. I didn’t think I could depict how she felt seen through her sister’s eyes. This means I have to switch viewpoints halfway through the chapter.

I didn’t do that before, because I believe that it’s difficult for a reader to put himself into a new mindset once you change viewpoints. Jordan is a master of that and he can switch five times inside the same chapter and you won’t have trouble following him. Erikson does that too and sometimes, it feels like I have to read twice the first two sentences to determine which viewpoint I’m on. Suffice it to say I’m not Jordan (or Erikson either) and I decided early on I would stick with one viewpoint per chapter.

My plot has forced me to view that (I’ll try to use it to show everything that separates the two sisters). Of course, I could just accept to have a small chapter with one viewpoint before the next. Maybe it will be like that in the end, I don’t know.

Sanderson did a chapter with less than thirty words in Warbreaker – and it was an important chapter to boot. Maybe I shouldn’t be concerned with chapter sizes, but I’ve got the feeling here that the two viewpoints are two sides of the same coin.

 

It’s monday, so new podcast. This week was not as interesting as usual, because the topic “agents” is far from my mind now. I don’t know if I’ll finish that novel, I don’t know that I will send it to a publisher or not. Getting published is far, far away, so talking about negociating my contracts seem like science fiction to me.

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