Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Third Person Limited POV, Sometimes tricky

Fiction writing today, more than ever before is supposed to be written in third person limited POV. I've always liked third person. But I had been accustomed to third person omniscient, which is what authors used historically. But in today's fiction, it's third person limited. And it took some getting used to. The thing that makes third person limited different is that each scene is to be written in the perspective of only one character. And only what that character knows is what the reader knows in that scene. So you wouldn't describe that character's face, meaning you wouldn't write, "...his face twisted..." or "...his eyes turned wild..." because, unless that character is looking in a mirror at that moment, he wouldn't be seeing his own face twisting, or his own eyes turning wild.

You can say, however, what he was feeling or what facial movements he might be making, like, "...he was shocked..." or "...he narrowed his eyes..." which doesn't stray from the third person limited standard. But just as importantly, you wouldn't write what another character in that scene is feeling, because your character would have to be a mind reader for that. But you can write how another character's face is moving, because your POV character can see that other person's face moving, e.g.: "...his face twisted..." or "...his eyes turned wild..."

Nor can you use any kind of info dump for a character who is not the POV character. If you want to do that, then you must change the scene and establish the other character as your POV character, and then you're ready to roll in that regard. It took me a while to really get a handle on all of that, and there's a lot more to it, too. But I've got a full understanding of it now. And my writing is tons better as a result.

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