Problems

I haven't been writing lately. I published a book near the end of last year and then one in January of this year. I thought that would take the (self-impossed) pressure off, since I already had one done so early this year, but I really thought I would complete another or two. But here we are near the end of the year and I'm not sure I'll be able to complete another this year. I've got a non-fiction book well under way, but it needs a lot of work. I have a novel started, but after having let it set, I've decided that my approach is all wrong. I love the concept and the one sentence description is one that would make me want to pick it up and read it, but I've struggled with it for a number of reasons.

One reason may be that I've attempted to make the wrong person the point of view character. Making the events that occur problematic for the character I chose may make him unlikeable. It might look like he is choosing his job over his daughter. I believe I can correct that by having a point of view character who observes and examines the events from some distance. This character would be free to observe the evils of the world without stooping to the level of it.

Another reason is that I don't want to hurt my characters. In this case, I don't want to turn my main character's daughter into the villain, nor do I want the main character to be the villain. But I think changing the point of view character will help with that too. Once I do that, I can distance myself from the villains and I don't have to explain the motives so completely. Who is to say why some people do what they do? But we know people do strange things, even if we wouldn't do it ourselves.

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