Before I continue with the series, I'd like to correct a mistake I made in the last installment, "More on the Third Person Limited." When I listed Orson Scott Card's three types of third person limited point of view--light penetration, deep penetration, and cinematic--I erroneously used the word "narrator" when I should have said "viewpoint character." The section should have read:

• Light penetration. We see what the viewpoint character sees and get inside his mind, but we don't experience the action through his eyes.
• Deep penetration. We see what the viewpoint character sees and experience the action through his eyes.
• Cinematic. We see what the viewpoint character sees and never see inside his head or anyone else's.

I'm sorry for any confusion my mistake might have caused.

Now, let's continue. In the last three installments of our point of view series, we looked at the most common types of narration in fiction: first person, third person omniscient, and third person limited. But how do you decide which point of view to use in your story?

According to novelist Orson Scott Card in Characters and Viewpoint: How to invent, construct, and animate vivid, credible characters and choose the best eyes through which to view the events of your short story or novel, weigh these points:

• If you want the story to be short and passages brief, you may want to use the omniscient narrator, which takes up the least space on the page. Third person limited point of view requires the greatest number of words and moves the most slowly of all the options.
• If you want to cover large time spans or spaces, consider going omniscient.
• The first person feels more factual for eyewitness accounts.
• The limited third person is more forgiving of the writer's style than other points of view. You don't have to write elegantly, just cleanly and unobtrusively. Card says that with this pov your writing is more likely to be ignored than with the others, and the story becomes paramount.
• If you want to digress, you may want to use third person omniscient.
• The third person limited is the hottest, most engaging option. It makes us feel like we're living the events along with the viewpoint character.
• The third person omniscient keeps the characters furthest removed from the reader and is the coolest, most distant option. In this case, we're on the outside looking in. We have a strong feeling that the story is over and we're being told about it later.
• The first person is distant and close at the same time. We're being told the story in retrospect, so even though the character may have had strong feelings at the time of the events, he may or may not still have them, and we know that. In addition, in the look-back approach, the narrator is being much more selective in what he tells us and how than in third person limited, where he's experiencing the action at the same time we are.
• First person and third person omniscient narrators are more noticeable as storytellers and wielders of devices than third person limited narrators. Both can provide commentary and humor because they have the benefit of perspective.

  For example, look at this passage from Jan Evan Whitford's Mystic Island:

  Trudie Upton, the campground gossip, had witnessed Manny and Eulalee's tryst. She'd seen Eulalee going into Manny's trailer. She had stood on tiptoe at a side window and checked out the situation. Smirking with the rush of fresh gossip and more than a little weak in the knees from her voyeurism, Trudie jogged back toward her own trailer.

  This omniscient narrator has a sense of humor. He/she is making fun of Trudie by calling her a "gossip;" using the words "check out" to describe her spying; noting her "smirking;" and describing that she's "weak in the knees" as a result of watching the couple's sexual encounter. A narrator who wasn't quite so funny might have described the scene like this:

  Trudie Upton had witnessed Manny and Eulalee's tryst. She'd seen Eulalee going into Manny's trailer. She had stood on tiptoe at a side window and watched, then smirking with the rush of fresh gossip, Trudie jogged back toward her own trailer.

  Do you see the difference? I left the smirking in because it implies that Trudie feels superior, but I left out "weak in the knees" because I didn't want to make fun of her by showing what a hypocrite she is. My characterization is almost nonexistent, and the humor is gone. But Jan's narrator has a quick and comic eye and a sharp wit.

Creating and practicing a ritual will help you get started writing when you're feeling sluggish. Used consistently, your ritual will make your work both a habit and a pleasure.

For example, I was recently reading some great interviews with creative people on cecilvortex.com. A watercolor painter named James Warren Perry said that he's developed a ritual he always follows when cleaning his bucket. He drops a bit of water on the ground as a way of giving back and saying thank you.

Rituals can be both beautiful and useful. Spending a moment thanking the muse, scribbling in colored ink, lighting a candle, preparing our desk-whatever it is-helps us structure our day and prepares us, both consciously and unconsciously, for work. Some rituals can function like a stimulus to Pavlov's dog. They become associated with a response so that every time we experience them, we respond the same way. A school bell rings and we're ready to settle down and learn. We clip our badge on in the morning and we know we're on the way to work. (It took me years after leaving a job where I wore a badge to get over that habit.) We pick up a coffee at the local coffee bar, and we're ready to go.

What's your writing ritual? If you don't have one, you may want to consider creating one and practicing it. You might come up with a new one, like addressing your muse (who is your muse anyway?), or you might adapt an existing one, like booting up your computer with attention to what that means. When I say "with attention," I mean don't just flip on the switch. I mean flip on the switch and think, "Now I am going to write." Eventually you will automatically connect booting up your computer with the idea of writing, and it will be easier for you to get started.

My father used to have his own writing rituals. Okay, I'll admit that they weren't connected with creative writing, but with the notes he made to himself about his business. He had little colored pens, which he'd use to write different kinds of notes. Only once he'd laid out the pens on his desk would he be ready to work.

I've heard some people say that they leave their writing each day with a question for next time. The question provides a starting point for the day's work and allows them to focus immediately, rather than flailing around. The question might be something like "How can I show rather than tell that Maizie feels regret over the way she treated her sister?" or "Describe Lord Eldridge's study so we get a feeling for his isolation."

Other rituals might include:

• Sending yourself an email or a text message so you'll receive it in the morning
• Putting on a special piece of music
• Adding paper to your printer
• Dusting your desk
• Making a blog entry (careful, though, that it doesn't drain your brain)
• Picking flowers
• Closing or opening blinds or drapes
• Closing your door
• Picking out a tune on the piano or guitar
• Turning off your phone
• Petting your dog or cat
• Walking
• Eating a muffin
• Stretching.

It doesn't matter whether your ritual is making a Z for Zorro in the air, lip synching to "Stairway to Heaven," or preparing a cup of tea. What matters is that you're consistent and that the ritual mean something to you.

With this issue we initiate a new series on capitalization. Most people who write in English capitalize too many words, so let's review the rules and see if we can cut down on capricious capitalization.

In general, you should capitalize titles and offices only when they precede a person's name and are part of the name, as in:

• President Washington
• Professor Moriarty
• Chief Justice Earl Warren.

If the title is not part of the name, do not capitalize it, as in:

• Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty (but do say "Mayor Sam Yorty")
• American president Abraham Lincoln (but do say "President Abraham Lincoln").

When titles follow a person's name, they are generally not capitalized, as in:

• George Washington, president of the United States
• James Moriarty, professor of Mathematics
• Earl Warren, chief justice of the United States.

Do capitalize titles when addressing a person directly, even if you don't use his name, as in:

• "Excuse me, Professor. I didn't know you were in your office."
• "I understand that, Rabbi, but I still have questions."

Do not capitalize titles when no person's name is associated with them (except when addressing the titled person directly, as above), as in:

• The representative from California
• The mayor of New York
• The queen of England.

These rules can be confusing. Most titles represent honors, so it's tempting to capitalize them out of respect. But that's not always correct.

Source: The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition.

The Writing Show is looking for two holiday-themed short stories to feature on our Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/winter solstice show this year. The stories will be read by the authors or readers of the authors' choosing in December. Here are the submission criteria:

• The December holidays must play a significant role in the story. The story doesn't have to be about the holidays per se, but there must be some connection with them. Having one character say "Jeeminy Christmas" somewhere in the story is not a significant connection, but featuring a department store Santa Claus as a major character is.
• The story must be no longer than 4000 words. Remember, you'll be reading it aloud, so it shouldn't be too long.
• The story must be in English.
• Please make the spelling, grammar, and punctuation as clean as possible. I will be taking this kind of stuff into account when I select the stories. The fewer errors in your manuscript, the better your chances of being selected.
• You must hold the audio rights to your story. If the story has never been published and you haven't signed a contract to publish it, you own all the rights. If the story has been published but you haven't given away the audio rights, you own them. If you've given away all rights, you shouldn't have, but if you did, you cannot enter the story.
• You must submit your story no later than October 15th. Send it as an email attachment to paula@writingshow.com. Please use a standard format like .doc, .rtf, or .pdf. Please do not send me stories written in Final Draft format.

I will select two stories for the show. Any genre is okay. Your ability to tell a compelling story is the most important criterion I'll be using.

If you don't want to read your own story on the show, you can select someone else, or you can let me select a reader for you. If I pick your story and you want to do your own mp3 recording, that's fine. Otherwise, we'll do the recording the way I do interviews: over the phone or Skype. Don't worry if you're outside North America. I can reach anywhere in the world.

There is no payment for these stories, but you do get the opportunity to celebrate the holidays with our wonderful community!

The deadline has just been extended to October 15th, 2007, and the place to send your story is to me, Paula B., at paula@writingshow.com.

Upcoming shows:

September 9, 2007. Solo show with Paula B. "How Two Famous Fantasy Authors Introduce Their Worlds."

On the drawing board: Libel tourism, writing white papers, playwrights, poets, screenwriters, and more.

Our next writing weekend will take place October 6th and 7th! Mark your calendar.

Have a question or topic you'd like covered on the show or in the newsletter? Want to write for us or be a guest host? See mistakes in my writing? Let me know.

--Paula B.

Last month we asked:

Which famous author was sentenced to death and rescued from a firing squad at the last minute?

The answer is Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, and other works.

This month's trivia question: What blockbuster comedy film of the 1970s was almost named "Anhedonia" (the inability to feel pleasure)?

Answer next month.