As I work like a mad woman on finishing this book, I'm faced with choices that sometimes stop me in my tracks. Which POV to write the scene in? Which way to take the scene? Sometimes I highlight all the wrong things; I summarize what should be explored and explore what could be summarized. I don't know why I do this. This may only be my second contracted book, but it's not the second book I've written.

They (the anonymous they) say you should write about a million words before you're ready to publish a book. I imagine that's pretty close to correct. My first novel was more than 150k, and that doesn't include all the rewriting I did. I probably wrote close to half a million on that sucker alone.

But I digress. Which is typical for me, LOL.

In SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE (Presents, August 2009), I specifically wrote one scene from the heroine's POV that is now, in the final version that will be in print (ahem, Aug 2009), in the hero's POV. I'm not sure why I decided it would work better that way. My editor didn't tell me to do it (not that she hasn't told me to do other things), but somehow in the rewrite that's what happened. And I liked it far better.

What I want to know, however, is HOW to figure out which POV to write the scene in in the first place. Common wisdom says to write it in the POV of the character with the most to lose; I've also written it in the POV of the character observing high emotion. Sometimes it's easier to show anguish through another's eyes than to live in the pivotal POV at that moment.

But man, I wish it was easier to figure out. Right now, I'm working on a scene that could be in either POV just as easily. It's highly charged emotionally no matter which character I'm with. So, I'm thinking about it. And I'll probably end up with two versions as I try them both. I hate doing that because it's writing the same thing twice. *sigh*

Thoughts?