Megan Hart

SPAM is totally getting really creative these days. I have no idea how WordPress figures out it’s spam, but whoo, boy howdy, it’s catching some good stuff!

SPAM BE GONE!

M

I’d just like to formally and officially thank everyone who supports the arts community by purchasing not only my books, but also the books of my friends, and even people I don’t like. I’d like to thank you for purchasing the books of people I’d rather see fall in a mud puddle than have a conversation with. I want to thank you for buying books, buying music, buying movies. Because you are the reason why we’re all able to continue doing what we do, which is also, at least in my case, what we love.

Thank you to everyone who buys or legally borrows my books.

Because I don’t care if you get it new, or from a used bookstore, or borrow from a friend or the library, or pick up a copy someone tossed in the trash.

I do care, however, that lots and lots and lots of people think it’s okay to upload the digital files of my work and “share” them illegally with thousands of people. And I do care that “fans” post on forums with topics like “can you please send me Megan Hart’s Everything Changes” or “thanks for uploading the entire Megan Hart collection” or “can you please send me the ebook for Megan Hart’s new release.” Please love me a little less, okay? Thanks.

I want things I can’t afford all the time. I just don’t steal them to get them.

M

I love writing in first person. I guess I love reading first person, too, since I like to write it so often. I don’t write solely in first person, but even when I write in third, much of the time I’m in pretty deep third person POV, often only one. To complicate matters, I guess, for readers who crave knowing ahead of time what they’re getting from an author, I do also write in multiple third person POV (haven’t yet tackled multiple first person) — which is NOT head hopping, btw. Head hopping is jumping to multiple points of view without any delineation between them — chapter by chapter, for example, or section by section. Head hopping is jumping from the head of one character into another without any discernable break to let you know to expect it. I try hard not to do *that* at least!

Maybe this post isn’t about first person POV but about POV in general…hmmm…

No, I’ll stick to first person.

Here’s what any reader should know about first person POV. If written correctly, in first person POV, you will NEVER understand or feel what any character feels EXCEPT the main character in whose head you are positioned. NEVER. Even if another character says “I feel sad” — you can only believe them because they said it. You can’t KNOW FOR SURE that character feels sad, because your first person POV character cannot know what anyone else feels for sure. Just like you or I can’t know, for sure, what anyone feels or thinks about anything (even if they tell us, because people can lie, and even if we THINK they feel sad, we just never really know, right?)

Human emotion is a complex range that really can’t be put into words. FEELING can’t be completely relayed with words. My sad is not your sad. You know?

So when reading a first person POV book, what we need to remember is that we are viewing the world through one person’s eyes. One person’s feelings. And that what that person thinks/feels/understands about another character might not be what that character his/herself feels/thinks/understands. So that the hero who thinks he’s the shit might not really think so — but because we’re only in the heroine’s head, and SHE thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips, we SEE HIM as all that, plus a side of hashed browns and a chocolate shake.

See where I’m going with this?

When reading first person POV it’s really helpful to remind ourselves that just because the character in whose head we are living thinks someone is acting or thinking or feeling in a certain way, that doesn’t mean that’s the truth. It means that we are viewing that other character through a skewed perspective, colored by whatever the POV character is thinking and feeling. It means we can only view that world as that character sees it, and since nobody can ever really know what another person is thinking or feeling, neither can that character, or us. Just because our POV character thinks someone is happy, that doesn’t mean they are. Just because our POV character thinks someone is an asshole, that doesn’t mean THEY think they are!

That doesn’t mean that you can’t understand other characters through the perspective of your POV character. You can. We all learn about other people based on how they act. People don’t lie all the time. We learn about others by what they say and how they act, and we can often create an understanding of that person based on that — but it’s still our perception. It might be vastly different from the truth or how that other person sees themselves.

So, as an author who writes in first person, the challenge to me is to make the reader get so deep in the head of the main character you feel as though you understand that person. That you understand the people in her/his life through his/her eyes, so you understand their relationships and choices…but we can never forget that just because the POV person is viewing someone a certain way, that doesn’t mean that OTHER person does. Or that if our POV character sees someone behaving in a certain way that the appearance of what is going on is actually what is happening underneath.

Many people don’t like first person POV because they want to be inside the heads of the other characters, too, to get more than one perspective. And I like that too. But I also really like writing and reading about one person’s perspective, understanding their world, their lives and how they react to the characters and events in their story.

We just have to remember that if you’re in one person’s head, that’s going to color everything else, and it’s not necessarily going to be accurate. It’s going to be perception and opinion. And that, my doves, is what makes first person POV (for me) such a complex and rewarding point of view to write/read in.

M

Ok, so after much trauma, I was finally able to see the first and second ep of True Blood.

Umm, hello homoerotic Bill/Sam dreams? I am not alone in wanting to see THAT scene again, amirite?

True Blood’s the only tv show I watch right now — I watch movies and Netflixed stuff but TB is my only “must see” show on during the summer. And I think it’s fab. I like the books, too, but the show is something totally different.

And here’s what I think about that — if someone wanted to make one of my books into a movie or TV show (not likely for that, but a movie, sure!) I wouldn’t be upset if they made it into something else. Visual is different than reading. What is necessary for film is different than for reading. And frankly, if someone wanted to turn my book into a movie or something and paid me to do it, I’d just be glad to take the money and enjoy the show.

Because nothing anyone can do can “ruin” or change my work. I made it. I wrote it. It’s there on the shelf or in your computer to enjoy, and a filmed adaptation of it isn’t going to change that.

Charlaine Harris is living a dream for many writers. Not only does she get her books (which are fab on their own, btw, and entirely successful) made into a hit tv show, but they let her COME TO THE SET! I mean…OMG. It’s like…well, ok, say what you want about Stephanie Myer, but she also had a lot of input or at least participation in parts of her books being made into movies.

Mostly, writers don’t get that, you know?

I’d be happy to have someone make a movie out of my books, and yes, sure, I’d like to be invited to the set. To the premiere. Whatever. Even if they “changed” it.

Hey. It could totally happen, right?

M

I suppose I should’ve thought of this when I decided to call the book NAKED, but the fact is, now searches are coming up and hitting my blog with “Megan Hart Naked” and…

wow.

Really. That is NOT something any of you want to see. I promise you that!

M

Pre order Exit Light here!

Tovah Connelly would rather be asleep than awake. Since her accident, she’s become a shaper in the dream world, the Ephemeros, where she can manipulate places and people with just a thought. Tovah’s friends there, Ben and Spider, encourage Tovah to develop her skills, but the one ability she doesn’t want is to control the dreams of others—it’s a power she’s wary of, and a responsibility she’s not ready for.

Nobody can sleep all the time, though—not if they want a waking life that bears a semblance of normalcy. And Tovah’s waking life is vastly different from her dream life: she’s rebuilding and regaining her sanity after nearly losing it in the accident’s aftermath.

But when nightmares begin rocking the Ephemeros, Tovah’s two worlds begin to collide. As those she cares about are threatened, Tovah may discover that the one responsibility she doesn’t want is the only defense she has.