I finished Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News. I’m
impressed with how well she handled all the interconnected story lines. More
than the story lines, she fully fleshed out the characters—warts and all.
Rereading it made me realize
(again) that I did the right thing by limiting my novel to one main POV. I had
given each of my four POV characters a good beginning, but having two of them
suddenly become quiet after a pivotal scene had been a mistake. Atkinson had her
three main POV characters speaking to the reader till the very end. They were
allowed plenty of room to wrap up their subplots—for the most part. Some loose
threads lingered. A few mysteries remained. Quite enough for her next work in
the series.
Her attitude about the lingering
mysteries of life:
“Everywhere you looked, there was unfinished business
and unanswered questions…
…Everything would remain a mystery. Which meant, if
you thought about it, that you should try and clear everything up as much as
you could while you were still alive. Find the answers, solve the mysteries, be
a good detective. Be a crusader.”
I think “try” is the
operative word here. So, if I try this again, having multiple POVs, I’ll have a
great example to fall back on. Another case where a writer doesn’t have to play
by the strict rules of a genre to succeed.
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