My first guest Lindsay Downs

Thank you Lindsay Downs for being the first guest on my blog.

The 4^th POV

Yes viewers, there is another POV but I’ll get to that in a few seconds, if you’re a fast reader.

Many of us are familiar with the 1^st POV. This is where we, the author puts you, the reader, inside the heroine or heroes head. By writing this way the reader becomes immersed into the character that will lead them through the story.

Middle Grade (MD) and Young Adult (YA) are frequently writing in this view. A few authors have used it in adult fiction.

The disadvantage to this is you are in the heroine or heroes mind the whole time. And unless told by that individual you don’t know the other half of the story.

Writing in the 3^rd POV is the most frequently used, accepted and possible the most difficult. Here the reader stands outside the body of the main character in the scene and sees what they see, experience and feel. The problem with this is having to have scene changes within a chapter when you want someone to show the reader what another character is going through. One way to avoid this is to write the entire chapter in from one person’s view then in the next chapter show another point.

Personally, I find having scene changes in a chapter the best, however, that’s not to say I won’t go for the single POV chapter in future books.

Now we get to the other POV.

As I was writing the Emily Dahill series I came to find out that there was yet another point of view to write in, the 4^th which I prefer to call the Collie POV.

You, the reader, are seeing and feeling what the collie, in my case mostly Dakota, the hero in the Emily Dahill Series, does but more on a first hand basis, somewhat similar to 1^st POV. You are directly involved in what is going on. You see through the his eyes, hear what he does. Don’t forget though, many of the words someone will say to him, he doesn’t understand but can pick out select ones.

For example, he knows what a motorcycle is but can’t understand the word “sidecar”. He knows what a “car” is but can’t relate the word to where he sits. He know what a truck and humvee are because the words are used frequently around him. But that black thing the vehicles drive on, no clue. To him it’s a black ribbon that vehicles ride on, not as we humans know is a road.

If he was to, say, open the refrigerator you watch through his eyes as he can overcome the problem.

When the collie has to force someone to the ground you are taken through the necessary steps, lowering his hind end for greater push, the leap and the impact. All within his mind without the use of him thinking what he’s doing.

When  writing a scene with humans in it we can take a lot for granted, but it’s not that easy when I’m writing from the collie point of view. I have to put myself into their mind. How do they see something, a barn fire for instance or a firemen. We know what they are but if Sasha, the heroine in my Christmas story, hasn’t seen either what does it look like to her. I have to show the reader what she is seeing through her eyes. Not only that but in terms she would know and understand.

As you can see writing from this point of view can be hard, having to put myself into the collie’s mind. However, I find it to be interesting and at times the most fun and exciting.

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Emily Dahill, CID Part 1

Final Mission-After being seriously wounded in a copter crash in Iraq Sgt. Emily Dahill meets her new partner as she embarks on her new Army career as a CID agent. Who could this new partner be?

A Body in the Snow- Emily and her partner, Dakota, cross bullets with their most determined foe. Who will survive?

Right Place, Wrong Day-On leave to hang with friends Emily gets the surprise of her life.

Dog on Fishing-When it comes to knowing how to fish, and catch the big ones, never underestimate your partner. He might surprise you.

Astraea Press

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Bookstrand

A Dog Gone Christmas

When a call for paws goes out, five friends bring their collies without question to a friend’s house. They learn the collies are needed to help seven children with the grief of losing a parent in Iraq or Afghanistan. Now, with seven friends, four collie yearlings and their mother, they set out to help the children

Not far away a mother hopefully leads her seven puppies to safety from a man intent on selling them for illicit purposes.

By a miracle of fate the two mother collies find each other right before the man sells the puppies.

That Christmas morning will be one the children will remember all their lives and they are united with the puppies.

Astraea Press

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

All Romance

A Body in the Attic

Special Agent Emily Dahill, Dakota along with her team of technicians are sent to Master Sergeant Annabelle Carlyle’s Victorian style house for what they think is a simple break-in. What they find however, turns out to be even more ominous and far reaching.

A secret passageway leads to a mysterious gunshot. When the prime suspect is cleared they still have no clue who the shooter is, or why. Could the shooter be the same individual who took a shot at Dakota?

Add into the mix the FBI and their unexpected involvement in the case.

Soon they learn the break-in had been a cover-up for a more nefarious crime. One that involves Emily’s nemesis, the brown-haired man, and millions of dollars being sent to terrorists.

Will they solve the case before the money disappears forever and more bodies turn up? Not even the inestimable Dakota is sure.

Machines of darkness Pt 4

Part 4

“One month down, and what excitement" thought Wayde sarcastically. He was just finishing up another uneventful shift at Universal Tech and thinking back on his days here. He couldn't complain this is what he wanted, safe, steady, good pay. This was the best his family had been financially in over a year. Jahy was doing good, the company insurance paid 90% of his medicine cost, probably because U.T.C. was the leading manufacturer of it, along with weapons, space and communications technology. They had all the major markets covered, so to speak. With all this good fortune, Wayde had to admit he was bored and craving something more.

His entire month had consisted of making rounds through the endless halls and passages of this enormous building. He escorted former employees and their possessions off company property. The most action was while working the front desk one day last week. A group of anti-weapons demonstrators came into the lobby, lined up, and proceeded to strip off their clothing. They were all painted rainbow colors and had letterers that spelled out "peace" and "love". After a scan showed nothing dangerous hidden within their body's, and the only threat was getting body paint on security officers suits, the authorities were called. The offenders were removed easily and things went back to normal.

This is what Wayde disappointingly expected every day to be like as he went to the security office to sign out and go home. He was stopped in the hall by Jorge Monaco, his supervisor.

“Wayde, you’re in trouble or something good is about to happen,” said Jorge.

“Oh, What’s going on?” asked wayde.

“Head of security wants to see you in his office before you leave, like I said, it could be good or bad, I don't have a clue. Good luck Wayde,” said Jorge and walked away.

 Wayde ran through in his mind, everything he could have screwed up or done to get called in. He had never met the man, and had heard that few ever did just his supervisors and personal staff. "Well, this will be something different anyway," he thought as he reached his destination.

 “May I help you?” Asked the personal assistant as Wayde approached.

 The older lady sitting behind the desk looked and sounded like she was being disturbed and had better things to do.

“I was told to come here before leaving today, my name is Wayde Haytch.” She looked briefly at a screen mounted in the desk.

“Yes, you are expected Mr. Hyatch. She typed something then said, “Go right in, and Mr. Haytch, don't waste time, he has another appointment in five minutes.”

 Armon Silva sat behind a modest sized and well organized desk. He was an impressive sized man in his middle years with salt and pepper hair that was dark brown at one time. He had dark green eyes that looked right into and through a person. Wayde could tell he was being sized up and evaluated instantly by this man who looked him dead in the eye. He did this for about half a minute, and then lowered his gaze to something on his desk.

“Are you satisfied with your job Mr. Hatch?” 

Yes sir, I am” answered Wayde, feeling like it wasn't quite the truth.

“ I've studied your records and believe you have more potential and can be better used elsewhere in the company. I will be a man short on Mr. Clayton's personal security detail,” Silva paused, looked Wayde in the eye once more, and then asked, “do you want the job?”

 Wayde was taken aback and ask, is this Richard Clayton the CEO of Universal Tech?  Silva simply answered "yes".

 Wayde thought for a few seconds and said, “I would love to take the job.”

 Armon Silva then reached out to Wayde, and with a vice like grip shook his hand. Before letting Wayde go, Silva said in an almost threatening tone, “Don't disappoint me Mr. Haytch, I'll be watching you.”  With that the meeting was over, and Wayde’s job was going to be much more interesting.