Let’s pretend that the basics of writing compelling fiction are all tucked inside this pinata. I am the one with the blindfold on. I’m bashing away and trying to get to the good stuff. Lately I’ve been crashing up against Point of View. I’ve looked at it from all sides. I’m making progress, but am still in the dark much of the time.

Last night I gamely took my first chapter of Prema’s Journey to Randy Ingermanson’s critique group. There I sat in the rarefied air of those in the know and plunked down five pages of writing. I had been ruthless in editing out omniscient point of view. In so doing I quickly rewrote some paragraphs and BOING! I bounced right up against cause and effect problems. I’ve read about those. They don’t scare me quite as much as point of view did. But wait…

I also have a tragic flaw in my overall story. My main character is merely a victim at this point and doesn’t have a goal large enough to hold reader’s interest. The illustration given was the shapely misses vying for the Miss America banner and tiara (which never sit straight and always make her look drunk, but that is another matter). Miss America hopefuls always say they want “world peace”– a lofty, but unmeasurable and vague goal. My character wants to find the meaning of life and hopes there’s some good stuff in there somewhere. Bummer.

But, and here’s the important point for today, I’m really thankful to be in a critique group where there are knowledgable people willing to help me with my writing learning curve. I have a lot to learn. How better to learn these elements of strong fiction than to bump into them and wrestle with each one until I can master them?

Yes, I’m stumbling a bit and whacking away with my pinata stick without hitting paydirt yet, but honestly, I’m beginning to peek through the blindfold and–don’t tell anyone, but I can actually see a little bit.