Hi everyone. I have a question about an early scene from my novel. The novel second draft is almost complete, but there’s this one scene that I'm not really sure about… It goes like this. The scene happens in a bookstore where my female lead character goes to have her book signed by her favorite author, (the author is an attractive man that has a large, large female fan base) and where he also was going to be doing a reading from his book. Half way through the reading, the author stops, and asks for a voluntary from the audience to come to the stage and help him with the female dialogue from the scene he was at. And of course, of all the women who raised their hands, he chooses my lead female character. I'm not sure how viable is this. I don’t know if in reality something like this could even happen. I’d never gone to an author's reading. And the thing about this scene is that is important because is where my lead character meets her love interest. I would greatly appreciate your help with this.Thank you in advance.
Sounds realistic to me, especially if the author really likes to get involved with his fans. Don't overthink this too much :3
The concept is meaningless. Whether it is credible depends on whether you MAKE it credible. That is writing, not concept.
I agree he could just be really interactive with his fans or he could just be trying something different to see what his fans liked
I think it's perfectly believable. Especially if you make it something that the author is known for doing. If it's what you need to do to make your plot work, then do it.
So, he wants one of his fans to get up there and help him out with the reading? That's perfectly fine. It's a nice scene, very realistic. I'm sure there are plenty of authors in real life who do just that.
I think it's a lovely idea! Brownie points for good imagination, I say go for it, it's just the kind of scene readers would enjoy
Sure. That can work just fine. Now, you may want to plant a little something before that scene which makes it feel completely natural that the author would choose her instead of all the other volunteers. Maybe an exchange of glances or some other reason for him to notice her. That's completely optional, and it's your story, but it can be a useful trick for making coincidences seem slightly less coincidental.
Thanks a lot guys, you have been great. It's a relief to know that this scene can really work. Now, there’s something else that worries me about this novel, so I guess I better ask about it and get it out of the way. I first started this project in the third person POV, because I knew that I was going to need to see events from the perspective of more than one character. But after finishing the first draft, and starting with the second, I realized I hated third person POV. So I changed it to first. And I think I made a good choice because I fell in love immediately with the voice of the lead character. Now, the problem was that I needed the scenes in third person by the other characters. So I kept them. That left me with a novel of combined POV's: female lead character in 1rst person, others characters in 3rd (only two, actually). Nothing I haven’t seen before, because James Patterson has done this with a lot of his novels. But what worries me is that I've never seen it done in Urban Fantasy. All UF I’ve read has been either 1st person or 3rd, using only one character, and no POV combinations. I’m worried that it might not sell because of this. What do you guys think about this?
Base you POV decision on what works best for your novel. Just because you haven't seen it in Urban Fantasy doesn't rule it out for that genre.
I think the genre is irrelevant to the style of writing. Story is a story, usually about people (or sentient beings - animals, aliens etc) and as a writer, you choose how to tell it. Mixing first and third POV, especially when there's only one character with 1st person pov, can be incredibly effective for all sorts of reasons. Some stories (not all!) are better for being told in that way.
What's the difference between urban fantasy and contemporary fantasy? Is harry potter urban fantasy? Does urban fantasy have to take place in a city?
