WD Revision lesson #6 and #7

Points #6 and #7 in Jordan Rosenfeld's Writer's Digest article, Novel Revision for the Faint of Heart (February 2008) are adjusting point of view and make a plot promise.

First, point of view (POV). Point of view relate to who tells the story and how they tell it. Most writer's have a POV they are most comfortable with, some are afraid to try something different. Regardless, through the revision process make sure that you're telling the story the best way you can, that you're taking advantage of the strengths for whatever POV you've chosen. Some books are stronger in first person, some need third person and some (though few, in my opinion) work best with omniscient. It might be too late to change your POV at this point, but it's certainly not too late to strengthen it. Also, make sure your POV isn't changing between characters without a clear transition, usually a chapter break. Because we know all our characters, it's easy to pop in and out of their heads as we write, but the reader needs to have a clear focus of whose POV they are reading from.

The second tip is make a plot promise, basically this means that you are going to stay true to the plot. You might surprise your reader, throw in twists and turns, but you are going to fulfill the contract you made with your reader when they picked up the book. Essentially, this is very similar to some of the other lessons--make sure you only have scenes that support plot, that you don't have unfinished plot threads dangling, and that any plot holes are filled. If you've followed the other tips thus far, this should be fairly easy to do.