Got You Under My Skin

 

Skin to Skin

A large part of being successful when writing fiction is the ability to slip into character. Ideally, we should become each viewpoint character. Sometimes writers make the mistake of being more like a camera looking at the characters. Or they pop into everyone's head and tell you things about every character (omniscient viewpoint). There are times when these tactics can work well.

However, 98 percent of the time, writers do their best work when they "become" the viewpoint character and stick with one character per scene. This means that they feel, see, taste, smell, think, and know only what that character feels, sees, tastes, smells, thinks, and knows. In this way, the reader is immersed completely in the story. Ping pong viewpoint -- switching from head to head -- can be jarring and keep the reader off balance. Sometimes the reader has to backtrack to figure out who's who and what's what. It can be that confusing.

Writing in first person helps writers stay in one viewpoint and not slip in and out of a character's head. It's a good device for that and it's a popular viewpoint for many romance novels (ala Fifty Shades of Grey). Third person viewpoint is trickier, but I like it because it seems more like a novel rather than a diary to me.

Whatever viewpoint is chosen, the objective should be to use it to make your readers live along with your characters. I like to think that I can pull them in so far that, should a doorbell chime or a phone ring or someone speaks to them, they startle. They're so deeply into that fictive world that they forget everything around them. I know that as a reader I love books that suck me right in so that I'm oblivious to time passing and what's going on around me.

The same thing happens when I'm writing. Once I get inside my character and surrounded by the scene transpiring, I have no idea of the time. Often, I come up for air, so to speak, and I'm shocked that two or three hours have gone by. That's when I know I've been on a roll.

When I was learning the profession of novel writing, viewpoint was the thing I tackled first and it wasn't without struggle. Slipping into someone's skin -- even someone you've created -- is no easy feat! But it's so worth it. 

Memories That Last Like Horehound Candy By Deborah Camp

Will the youngsters I know today have rich, heart-tugging memories of their Christmases past? I wonder.

Personally, the holiday memory clearest in my mind is when my parents illustrated that asking for a wristwatch at Christmas was a bit extravagant on my part. “Watches are expensive,” they told me, numerous times.

On Christmas I could hardly wait to open a long, rectangle box, knowing that it would be my very first wristwatch. Inside was a watch band. No watch. Just the band. Mother explained, “Maybe we can afford the watch next year. For now, we got you a band.”

Being a brave soldier, I held back tears, nodded, and told them I understood. Suddenly, Daddy said, “Okay, we’ve teased her enough.” Then he presented another wrapped gift. Inside this one was the watch that went with the band. I broke out in happy sobs. It was their way of teasing and teaching. They were making sure I treasured that watch because it was more money than they’d anticipated spending. I had that watch for years and years; lesson learned.

My parents told me of their treasured gifts as children, so vastly different from mine. An orange or apple along with a few pecans and a stick of horehound candy stuck into a sock – this was what delighted them and fueled their Christmas memories.

So, what memories will the youngsters I know have on which to reflect? Ski trips to luxury resorts where the room service was sub-standard? Only a dozen presents under the tree this year when last year they counted 15? When they had to spend the entire Christmas Day with their family instead of at the movies or mall with their friends?

A couple of years ago, I helped dish out turkey and dressing to the homeless on Thanksgiving Day and I had my eyes opened to how many children wander the streets with their moms and dads. Their Christmas memories align more closely with those of my parents. I saw their eyes light up when I mounded food onto their plates and I wondered if that same expression of wonder and gratitude could be witnessed on other children’s faces when they opened the tenth or eleventh gift on Christmas? I doubt it. Seriously, doubt it. Most of those gifts would be appreciated briefly and quickly forgotten.

Not like that stick of horehound candy received by my mother and father way back when. That stick cost a whole penny and it lasted for days – weeks! A penny well earned, well spent, and well appreciated. Plus, a memory to be passed down like a family heirloom that grows more valuable with time.

Deborah’s latest western romance is SOLITARY HORSEMAN, available on Amazon. You can find a complete list of her novels on her website, www.deborah-camp.com.

***Solitary Horseman is available for purchase at Amazon:

www.amazon.com/dp/B01HFCC2UQ

Survivors’ Malaise by Deborah Camp

A documentary I watched about the Civil War mentioned that soldiers arrived home physically and mentally scarred. That made me wonder how those soldiers were treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Only in the past 20 years has PTSD been fully acknowledged and various treatments have been used with measured success.

From what I gathered, doctors acknowledged that some of the soldiers couldn’t handle the rigors of war. They referred to the condition as “soldier fever,” “survivor malaise.” or “home fever.” Of course, we now know it went much deeper than “homesickness.” But that’s how it was initially treated, which means that, for the most part, it was ignored.

Symptoms of PTSD are noted in survivors of historic wars and private battles. Think of the women who became mentally unbalanced when left alone on the prairie to fend for themselves and children while their men went hunting or fur trading. Armed with a rifle and an ax, they were scared out of their wits as they waited to be preyed on by everything from bears to immoral men and Indian raids. Those women were walking nervous breakdowns, living on the knife’s edge.

PTSD was a big problem after the Civil War, evidenced by the erection of large mental institutions. Obviously, no one knew what to do with the men and women who had not recovered and were dangers to themselves and others. So, they were warehoused. When in doubt, put them behind walls.

Today PTSD sufferers have psychiatrists, psychologists, and pharmacies to help them with their nightmares, psychotic episodes, visions, nervousness, and other fallout from war and extreme trauma. The Civil War survivors weren’t so fortunate. They had to find their own way through the hellholes while their families and friends looked on helplessly.

In my novel, Solitary Horseman, I delve into the subject. The hero, Callum Latimer, served gallantly in the Civil War for the South, but he feels like he’s been hallowed out and he finds little to appreciate in his life after the war. My heroine’s brother, Hollis, returned from the war a broken man. A gentle soul, Hollis did his duty as a soldier, but the price he paid was steep. He is tortured with horrific memories and bone-rattling nightmares. Some people should never be thrown into battle and Hollis was one of them.

Controversial subjects interest me and I include them in almost all of my romances. One of my books, My Wild Rose, received the first Janet Dailey Award for a book that best addressed a social issue. That novel featured Carrie Nation as one of the characters. Carrie opened the first home in the U.S. for battered wives and children of alcoholics.

As we have been told, what is not learned from history is bound to be repeated. So, I am compelled to shed light on problems so that we can see how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.

Purchase Solitary Horseman here:

https://www.amazon.com/Solitary-Horseman-Deborah-Camp-ebook/dp/B01HFCC2UQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1471716623&sr=1-1&keywords=solitary+horseman+by+deborah+camp

You can get a complete list of Deborah’s novels on her website. www.deborah-camp.com