Writing a novel is an intense expenditure of time, effort, and imagination. Writers become so wrapped up in the story and the creative process that they fail to recognize the mistakes they make along the way. Once a first draft is finished, it is essential that the writer carefully look for areas in the manuscript that need further work.
Serious errors can occur at any stage of a novel and must be revised. These include switching point of view and flat character development. Once writers become aware of these errors, they can rewrite to eliminate them.
Problems With Point of View
All novels are told from the perpective of a narrative voice. The book is usually written from the point of view of one or more main characters. The most common points of view are first and third person. Some brave writers have used omniscient point of view successfully, but it's not suggested for a new novelist as it's very difficult to control.
For example, a writer has chosen first person point of view, and the character we see the story through is named Sam. For the last several chapters, the reader has followed Sam through the action, seeing what he sees and knowing what he thinks.
When the action heats up and an argument ensues with Sam's wife, Mary, the reader suddenly knows exactly what Mary is thinking. The writer has switched point of view and is in Mary's head instead of Sam's. Unless the point of view of the novel is omniscient, the writer must stay with the same point of view character until the scene is finished.
At that point, the writer can switch to a different narrator. Many third person novels are written from the point of view of two, three, or even more people, although a writer is wise to limit this number. It's common to switch narrators at natural breaks such as chapters or long scenes. Read the manuscript carefully for this type of error, as it's easy to miss.
The Many Problems of Characters
The list of errors that can occur when dealing with characters is long and varied. A few of the more serious problems have to do with flat or undeveloped characters and inconsistent behavior.
A flat character has only one dimension. We learn that Sam is blond, blue eyed, drinks beer and likes football. Real people have many sides to them and present themselves differently as the circumstances change. They react to situations with emotion and yell, get angry, laugh and cry. They have faults. Maybe Sam drinks from the juice carton or belches a lot. He may cheat on his taxes and scratch himself in public. That kind of stuff makes Sam real.
An undeveloped character will take some major work to bring to life. One of the reasons this happens is because the writer doesn't know who this character is and what they feel. If the writer doesn't know, the reader sure won't.
When this happens, the writer should stop and seriously think about why this character inhabits the novel in the first place. What is their role? Are they crucial to the story? If the problem is with the main character, there's trouble.
In that case, the writer needs to step back and rethink the entire novel. Four hundred pages devoted to a dull character no one will care about may be a signal that the story doesn't fit the character, or the character doesn't fit the story. Maybe the story belongs to the cop instead of the victim. Maybe it should be told by the wife instead of the husband.
Flesh out a character by learning the details of their lives. Write out Sam's history, including where he grew up, what he likes to eat, who his parents are, what his bad habits are-in other words, get to know who Sam is before trying to write him.
Character consistency is another problem. If a wife has been written as faithful, loving and true for half the book, it's a suspension of belief when she starts flirting with the minister in Chapter 10. The reader won't believe it without a good reason.
Sam should grow and change over the course of the novel. If he doesn't, he's stagnant. There should be some revelation, some change, some slight readjustment to his way of thinking after the events of the novel have occurred. It would happen to a real person, so it should happen to a character.
Characters that show up and disappear are another problem. Novice writers will spend two pages describing the bartender at the local pub, then move on to something else and the reader never sees the bartender again. Every book has incidental characters-the check out girl, the air conditioning guy-but these people are in the novel to add detail to a scene. Unless they will be important later, write only enough about them to set the scene.
Final Thoughts
It's very difficult to write a character into existence. It takes trial and error, and a lot of deleting and rewriting. Recognizing errors in development and point of view will enable any writer to edit his own work and improve it. The most important aspect of writing is rewriting. Revise until it's right.
