Change Your Point of View

I'm currently writing a gothic horror short story and, although I love reading the genre, I found it really quite difficult to write. For some reason I just kept hitting block after block, sometimes only managing a couple of sentences in an hour. Something was going horribly wrong, and I couldn't figure out what.

Then this morning I was lying in bed and I had a brainwave. I ran upstairs and grabbed all my gothic horror novels and flicked through them. 1st person point of view. Mine; 3rd person.

It's amazing what a change it's made; my fingers are on fire now and I've made fantastic progress. It's fascinating what a difference you can make by just changing your point of view.

I think this is also a poignant thing to think about on New Year's Eve. A lot of people have been writing some fab and inspiring posts about moving into 2012, so I feel I should touch on it too. 2011 has been rather a bad year for me. I have loads to be grateful for, but it's generally been a struggle. I'm looking forward to making a lot of changes in 2012, including changing my point of view.

I really do believe that you only get out of life what you put into it and that you make your own luck. Sometimes it might feel like the world's conspiring against you, but instead of running away, try changing your point of view, turning around, and staring it in the face.