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HIs day in the sun upon landing in Salem was nothing shy of lonely. He ventured across the harbor alleys like a boy in the jungle. There were more boats than birds in the sky. There were more sailors and vendors than at any British port he had ever been to in his youth. The shops were quaint, the people stern. His first thing he though he lacked was a horse as he wish to gallop away into green pastures. So he rested  in front of a pub that he had no intentions of entering to look for his letters. He found one and opened it.  The address up top on the page had remained legible so he gasped.   Sam waited a few hours before stepping up to the house Gallaguer had sent him. "I am Mr. Gallaguer's emissary," he said  All that was said that morning became William Sanford's creed  and by it, he had to abide. The men did not know each other until they did. Time was on his side and he became his right hand.

Before he entered the chapel and trembled, he beamed with a joy uncommon to many men his age. In his tender mind, he had never thought of  finding a treasure as magnificent as Salem with the Sanfords.

At the ship's cabin at night when   his nerves plucked the daylights out of him, he weeped at the unknown. He had wanted so much to leave England and now he was afraid of being punished.  His pride, he thought, could be the culprit. Though he also knew that being alone had to hurt. In the same breathe, he knew he was forever in debt with his father. It was time to show him strength of character.

He needed land to begin producing something. Salem, Massachussets was the place to start if a person there welcomed him with a heart and a soul unmistakenly American.  Gallaguer traveled to and from Salem twice a year so he had a  good thing for him to read at his boat's cabin.

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
JOHN WINTHROP:

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For the very young couple, life with Mary Sanford in Milford was a dream waiting to happen.  It was different for both of them. She wanted to have a little girl.  Sam wished for boys to help in the farm. It was tenderness all around, day and night. Mary had her first baby boy on Christmas day in 1799 and the following year a girl in the summer.  Two years later Samuel travelled away with his business partner Frederick Smith. To Mary, the days went by so slowly she did not even realize another one was on the way. Samuel returned a month later to find her visibly in waiting. Stephen, the youngest one took his father's name. The first one's name was Charles and girl was named after Mary's aunt Harriet Sanford. 

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For the very young couple, life with Mary Sanford in Milford was a dream waiting to happen.  It was different for both of them. She wanted to have a little girl.  Sam wished for boys to help in the farm. It was tenderness all around, day and night. Mary had her first baby boy on Christmas day in 1799 and the following year a girl in the summer.  Two years later Samuel travelled away with his business partner Frederick Smith. To Mary, the days went by so slowly she did not even realize another one was on the way. Samuel returned a month later to find her visibly in waiting. Stephen, the youngest one took his father's name. The first one's name was Charles and girl was named after Mary's aunt Harriet Sanford. 

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Paragraph Samuel  1812 Davenport addressing his children upon the death of their mother Mary.

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Paragraph Samuel  1812 Davenport addressing his children upon the death of their mother Mary.

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Samuel leaned on his shaky hand and body to wave at his children but it was a hard to hold on at such burdensome stubbing in the heart. The doctor went out to bring the children into the room. Samuel said it was useless to say she was dead. She was still warm so he told the children she not getting well anymore. The children kissed her and went on about to fetch their sweets. Charles was 10. Harriet eight and Stephen, the baby almost four.

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1803 continued.       Samuel's son Charles had been born on Christmas day 1800 and his second child was one the way. The good people who quickly settled in Samuel's property lived by  faith and had already formed assemblies according age, city of origin  and trade. The motion the ministers demanded of the indians who sought employment was baptism. They would be allowed to go back and forth from the reservations but Samuel did not want a lose arrangement. It was the age of contracts so he wrote enough letters that the answers came right back. He was introduced to a female follower of Rev. Samson Occom's sister in Norwich. Her influence as an educator convinced him that  it was a great idea to bring in a few good indian family's to live at the Milford Manor.    

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1803 continued.       Samuel's son Charles had been born on Christmas day 1800 and his second child was one the way. The good people who quickly settled in Samuel's property lived by  faith and had already formed assemblies according age, city of origin  and trade. The motion the ministers demanded of the indians who sought employment was baptism. They would be allowed to go back and forth from the reservations but Samuel did not want a lose arrangement. It was the age of contracts so he wrote enough letters that the answers came right back. He was introduced to a female follower of Rev. Samson Occom's sister in Norwich. Her influence as an educator convinced him that  it was a great idea to bring in a few good indian family's to live at the Milford Manor.    

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Rev Samson Occom (1723-1792) - Find A Grave...

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Samson Occom (also spelled Occum) Native American Religious Leader A member of the Mohegan tribe and a descendant of its great chief, Uncas, Samson Occom was the first Native American to publish documents in English. He studied theology at Eleazar Wheelock's Latin School, where he was exposed to the teachings of The...

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Samuel Davenport surveyed his new land which at first seemed more the indians' than his own.  Further north stood the reserve and it had come to his attention that the experts capable of improving his own judgment as a farmer, were there. Times were changing and some of the indians were already on their way out of State but he wanted to keep a few good men at the Milford manor.   Letters from friends in Salem warned him that the anger does not always manifested immediately and his trust may annoyed them later.  The newspapers cautioned the struggle of the men from Tennessee whose fear of retaliation from the  Chickasaws and Cherokees kept them on guard night and day. The banks of the Ohio expropriation had made the indians despair as it their passage to salvation had been covered with mud. It was similar in the State of Georgia
Samuel's feeling were patriotic on one hand and different at night. His wife always wondered the reason for his expression of panic as nightmares happened more often than not that summer.

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On this new reference to amicable discussion we were reposing in confidence, when on the 22nd day of June last by a formal order from a British admiral the frigate Chesapeake, leaving her port for a distant service, was attacked by one of those vessels which had been lying in our harbors under the indulgences of hospitality, was disabled from proceeding, had several of her crew killed and four taken away. On this outrage no commentaries are necessary. Its character has been pronounced by the indignant voices of our citizens with an emphasis and unanimity never exceeded.

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An 1897 drawing of the HMS Leopard firing upon the USS Chesapeake, by Fred S. Cozzens
U.S. Navy

As his Royal Navy vessel patrolled off the coast of Virginia, Londoner and former tailor Jenkin Ratford and four other crewmen decided to steal a boat and desert to the shores of Norfolk. Ratford later boasted of his escape to the "land of liberty" in Norfolk's streets, where his contempt incurred the ire of British authorities. They vowed to make an example of the brazen Englishman, who joined the crew of an American frigate, the USS Chesapeake.

In June 1807, the Chesapeake set sail from Norfolk for the Mediterranean. Its decks scattered with cargo and its guns unwisely stowed, the vessel made an appealing target for the crew of a British vessel, the HMS Leopard , who intercepted it off the coast of Norfolk and aimed to take revenge.

When the British commander requested permission to search the ship for deserters, the American commodore James Barron refused to muster his crew for inspection. Moments later, the captain of the Leopard responded with a barrage of broadsides, killing three Americans and wounding eighteen. British officers then proceeded to board the crippled Chesapeake and seized what they had come for: a handful of suspected deserters, including Jenkin Ratford.

The humiliating exchange infuriated the American public. War fever raged up and down the coast of the United States. President Thomas Jefferson maintained that the country was more exasperated than at any time since the 1775 battle at Lexington Green that touched off the War of Independence, "and even that did not produce such unanimity." With Republicans and Federalists -normally bitterly divided political factions-both clamoring for action, war between Britain and the U.S. seemed imminent.

In reality, however, there was little President Jefferson could do militarily to respond to the British transgression. America's small navy was already deployed in the Mediterranean checking the Barbary pirates. America's army had been long since been gutted by Republicans anxious to reduce government spending. As Jefferson bided his time and war fever subsided, he instead pursued economic coercion as an alternative to war. That economic pressure began a few months later with the passage of the Embargo Act.

The exchange between the Chesapeake and the Leopard had other consequences for its participants, however. Commodore Barron was later court martialed; found guilty of "neglecting on the probability of an engagement, to clear his ship for action," he was suspended from the navy for five years without pay.

And on August 31, 1807, the Royal Navy got its revenge on the tailor who had deserted his vessel. Tried by court-martial for mutiny, desertion and contempt toward a British naval officer, and sentenced to death, Jenkin Ratford met his end-hanged from the fore yardarm of his former vessel, the HMS Halifax .

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Summer 1807: The British attack the USS Chesapeake and remove American sailors (U.S. National Park Service)

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As his Royal Navy vessel patrolled off the coast of Virginia, Londoner and former tailor Jenkin Ratford and four other crewmen decided to steal a boat and desert to the shores of Norfolk. Ratford later boasted of his escape to the "land of liberty" in Norfolk's streets, where his contempt incurred the ire of British authorities.

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I immediately, by proclamation, interdicted our harbors and waters to all British armed vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and uncertain how far hostilities were intended, and the town of Norfolk, indeed, being threatened with immediate attack, a sufficient force was ordered for the protection of that place, and such other preparations commenced and pursued as the prospect rendered proper. An armed vessel of the United States was dispatched with instructions to our ministers at London to call on that Government for the satisfaction and security required by the outrage. A very short interval ought now to bring the answer, which shall be communicated to you as soon as received; then also, or as soon after as the public interests shall be found to admit, the unratified treaty and proceedings relative to it shall be made known to you.

T

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June 22, 1807 page 3      The aggression thus begun has been continued on the part of the British commanders by remaining within our waters in defiance of the authority of the country, by habitual violations of its jurisdiction, and at length by putting to death one of the persons whom they had forcibly taken from on board the Chesapeake.  These aggravations necessarily lead to the policy either of never admitting an armed vessel into our harbors or of maintaining in every harbor such an armed force as may constrain obedience to the laws and protect the lives and property of our citizens against their armed guests; but the expense of such a standing force and its inconsistence with our principles dispense with those courtesies which would necessarily call for it, and leave us equally free to exclude the navy, as we are the army, of a foreign power from entering our limits. 

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June 22, 1807 page 3      The aggression thus begun has been continued on the part of the British commanders by remaining within our waters in defiance of the authority of the country, by habitual violations of its jurisdiction, and at length by putting to death one of the persons whom they had forcibly taken from on board the Chesapeake.  These aggravations necessarily lead to the policy either of never admitting an armed vessel into our harbors or of maintaining in every harbor such an armed force as may constrain obedience to the laws and protect the lives and property of our citizens against their armed guests; but the expense of such a standing force and its inconsistence with our principles dispense with those courtesies which would necessarily call for it, and leave us equally free to exclude the navy, as we are the army, of a foreign power from entering our limits. 

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African-Americans at the Yale University School of ... - EliScholar

elischolar.library.yale.edu › cgi › viewcontent

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1807 - 1808     Paragraph by Frederick Smith upon arrival from Liverpool, a moment that sets the stage for a six vessel enterprise from that point on until 1845. His children are toddlers, his wife unwell. His partner industrious and popular. 

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1807 - 1808     Paragraph by Frederick Smith upon arrival from Liverpool, a moment that sets the stage for a six vessel enterprise from that point on until 1845. His children are toddlers, his wife unwell. His partner industrious and popular. 

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Alfred at Yale's convesation with a proctor.

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The Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 9, 1841, freeing the remaining thirty-five survivors of the Amistad mutiny. Although seven of the nine justices on the court hailed from Southern states, only one dissented from Justice Joseph Story's majority opinion. Private donations ensured the Africans' safe return to Sierra Leone in January 1842.

Brothers, we have done that which we proposed...I am resolved it is better to die than be a white man's slave.
Joseph Cinqué, leader of the Amistad mutiny, quoted in the New York Sun, 1839.

Joseph Cinquez, the Brave Congolese Chief... [Drawn by James or Isaac Sheffield]; Moses Yale Beach, lith.; Boston: Joseph A. Arnold, c1839. Print commissioned by publisher of New York Sun; advertised for sale in the August 31, 1839 issue. Popular Graphic Arts. Prints & Photographs Division

The events leading up to the decision began on July 2, 1839, when Joseph Cinqué led fifty-two fellow captive Africans, recently abducted from the British protectorate of Sierra Leone by Portuguese slave traders, in a revolt aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad. The ship's navigator, who was spared in order to direct the ship back to western Africa, managed, instead, to steer it northward. When the Amistad was discovered off the coast of Long Island, New York, it was hauled into New London, Connecticut by the U.S. Navy.

President Martin Van Buren, guided in part by his desire to woo pro-slavery votes in his upcoming bid for reelection, wanted the prisoners returned to Spanish authorities in Cuba to stand trial for mutiny. A Connecticut judge, however, issued a ruling recognizing the defendants' rights as free citizens and ordering the U.S. government to escort them back to Africa.

J.Q. Adams. G.P.A. Healy, artist; J.C. Tichenor, c1898. Chronological List of Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents of the United States. Prints & Photographs Division

The U.S. government eventually appealed the case to the Supreme Court. Former president John Quincy Adams, who represented the Amistad Africans in the Supreme Court case, argued in his defense that it was the illegally enslaved Africans, rather than the Cubans, who "were entitled to all the kindness and good offices due from a humane and Christian nation." Adams's victory in the Amistad case was a significant success for the abolition movement.

The Amistad survivors were aided, in their defense, by the American Missionary Association, an organization affiliated with the effort to colonize freed slaves overseas. The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture includes information about the history of the colonization movement, the colonization of slaves in Liberia, and personal stories of former slaves who chose to move overseas.

Learn More

The online exhibition The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship features more information on the history of slavery and abolition in the United States, as well as the experience of free blacks in the antebellum period.

Slaves did not accept their fate willingly and there were many rebellions, mutinies and insurrections in the course of American history.

Maps of Liberia, 1830 to 1870 includes twenty examples from another organization, the American Colonization Society (ACS), organized in 1817 to resettle free black Americans in West Africa. These maps show early settlements in Liberia, indigenous political subdivisions, and some of the building lots that were assigned to settlers.

To read and hear stories of what the lives of the Amistad mutineers might have been like had they remained in the U.S. as slaves, see the Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 collection which contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery. Hear interviews of ex-slaves in the Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories collection with almost seven hours of recorded interviews presented that took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine Southern states. Also, search all digital collections on the term slave narratives. Items such as the Narrative of Sojourner Truth and Wonderful Eventful Life of Rev. Thomas James are available.

Search using keywords mutiny, mutinies, colonization and Amistad in the Slaves and the Courts, 1740 to 1860 collection for more information and related topics. This collection contains over a hundred pamphlets and books (published between 1772 and 1889) concerning the difficult and troubling experiences of African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and the United States.

Sketches of the Amistad captives were made by William H. Townsend, a resident of New Haven, Connecticut, at the time of their trial. Yale University Library has provided access to these through the World Digital Library.

Visit The Amistad Case from the National Archives and Records Administration for access to more primary documents as well as teaching activities related to the case. Also, see the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law's Web site Famous Trials External for more information on judicial events including the . Finally, visit the Amistad Research Center External at Tulane University for a detailed narrative account.

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The Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 9, 1841, freeing the remaining thirty-five survivors of the Amistad mutiny. Although seven of the nine justices on the court hailed from Southern states, only one dissented from Justice Joseph Story's majority opinion. Private donations ensured the Africans' safe return to Sierra Leone in January 1842.

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Paragraph Charles 1814 welcoming their tutor at age fourteen( his sister Harriet's age 13 and both Smith boys ages 10, 13 and 14.) 

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Paragraph Charles 1814 welcoming their tutor at age fourteen( his sister Harriet's age 13 and both Smith boys ages 10, 13 and 14.) 

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1817 paragraph by Frederick James Smith addressing his children as they sail across the Atlantic to meet their corporation contributors  in Liverpool.

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1817 paragraph by Frederick James Smith addressing his children as they sail across the Atlantic to meet their corporation contributors  in Liverpool.

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the day Sarah is born 1823

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Paragraph Charles 1821, month and a half before the wedding.

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Paragraph Charles 1821, month and a half before the wedding.

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https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/major-alfred-little-the-unsung-melodeonist/

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caring for Abigail 1852

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Thomas and friends 1840

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A romance to crown

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Definition

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Historical fiction is a type of story or literature told in a variety of media. Stories which are based on real life historical events and set in historical time and place. However, some characters may have never existed along with their actions which that are insignificant historically, but may be included to tell a better story. For example: there may not be specific record of actual dialogue, food eaten, clothes worn, routes traveled so the author will insert information that is thought to be historically accurate for the period.

A quality piece of historical fiction tells a compelling story that balances authentic and accurate information with fiction and may included the quality characteristics listed below. It can further be characterized by looking at the story elements (Characters, plot, setting, theme, style, tone, and point of view) and how they are often characterized in historical fiction pieces.

Quality Characteristics of historical fiction

There is a mixture of real and fictional events. Significant historical events are historically accurate, but minor events and/or characters may be added or modified.

Characters are involved in a conflict or problem that is real (or mirrors life) for that time period

Uses descriptive writing that digs into characters making them interesting and are easy to identify with.

Intriguing plot that creates some sort of suspense.

Plot makes sense and has a solution.

Historically authentic setting that sets the tone for the story.

Is in a real place and a definite period of time in history that the reader wants to know more about.

Story Element descriptions for historical fiction

Characterization

Characters are ordinary real people who did or could have lived in the historical setting.

Characters are usually shaped by the setting.

Characters usually change as a result of the problem and must to be able to resolve it.

Setting

Place is a particular historical geographical location.

Time is a particular historical period.

Plot

Must be plausible and believable.

Usually problem or puzzling event is a result of the time or place in history for characters to resolve.

Reader/listener usually feel that the story really happened or could have happened.

Theme

Themes usually fit with a historical context or can have conflicting contexts between historically different views.

Themes are related to life, people, social, political events as well as good versus bad/evil and other universal timeless themes.

Style

Author usually uses foreshadowing or clues to tease the reader/listener's curiosity.

Some events include historical events, dialogue, period thoughts, historical accurate, but not all information is authentic. Characters and dialog if made up needs to fit the historical aspects.

Dialog, artifacts, feelings, are from the real world and described accurately for the time period and other essential elements of the story.

The story must be told with significant detail to place the reader/listener in the historical setting

Tone

Feel that it really happened. Children will often ask if it was real and be disappointed when told, no.

The reader/listener feels he or she experienced the historical setting and situation.

Reflects the values and spirit of the time and culture.

Relates information without distortion of know events, attitudes, to include different points of view represented during the historical time.

Point of View

Could be any. Often third person narrative.

Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes
homeofbob.com & schoolofbob.com

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description of story elements and quality characteristics in historical fiction

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Historical Fiction - Defined and described with quality examples for its story elements

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Historical fiction is a type of story or literature told in a variety of media. Stories which are based on real life historical events and set in historical time and place. However, some characters may have never existed along with their actions which that are insignificant historically, but may be included to tell a better story.

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1845
Sarah will talk to herself at 23, when she realized she must bring the ghost of Alfred back from the small village's harrasing nighmare. The people were all making demands of him and he was going straight from Yale' Divinity College to NYU. .

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Haunted? A ghostly undercurrent in my novel Concerto - Hannah Fielding

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'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy... Is the shore at Lake Como haunted, and if so, by whom? And why: what tragic secret has been buried there?'

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Interesting. I must make my point of view, Sarah's in the beginning and Alfred's at the end.

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I love playing with point of view. It's one of the fun bits of writing a romance novel!

Firstly, what is point of view? It's the eyes you use to tell the story. It's the person you filter the events of the novel through.

Novels like the classics often use omniscient point of view which I like to think of as the "God" format. This is where the author sees all and knows all and can pop into everyone's head to give the reader a quick idea of what's going on in a character's thoughts.

The benefit of this is you get that whole world effect that someone like Dickens achieves. The downside is you run the risk of not developing a particular emotional intimacy with any character as you're always dashing off to see the world through another set of eyes.

Omniscient point of view is still used these days but sparingly. I think of it as a wide-panning camera shot that sets up the scene and then of course, you can zoom in to get the close-up. Used sparingly, it can be a highly effective way to begin a chapter or a scene. Used too much, it can make your book seem old-fashioned and lacking in emotional punch.

Still popular is first-person point of view, "I" books. Chick lit and women's fiction have a great fondness for first-person point of view although I've read many romances, especially gothics, that also use this technique.

With first person point of view, you can play games with things like unreliable narrator that keep the reader guessing. Wuthering Heights, for example, is a sequence of first person narratives and every single one of those narrators doesn't understand the full story. All of this adds very effectively to the story's unsettling, dark atmosphere.

The principal benefit of first-person point of view is you develop extreme emotional intimacy with the person telling the story. One downside is readers can become tired of that one character's voice unless that character is very engaging. Another downside is you view all the other characters from the outside. You don't go into anyone else's head.

The majority of romances, in fact most books these days, are written in third-person point of view (he/she). The writer picks one character or a couple of characters through whom to tell the story. With most romances, including mine, the viewpoint characters are the hero and the heroine. Sometimes the villain or a major secondary character will become the point of view character. Unlike omniscient point of view, the narrators in third-person point of view can only know what that character knows at that stage of the story. So unreliable narrator games also come into the equation.

Most romances take third-person point of view one step further and are written in what I'd term very close focus point of view. This can also be called deep point of view. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this close focus point of view is one of the reasons romances are popular across the world.

This technique brings you really close to the character, concentrating on their reactions, their emotions. If it's done well, the reader feels like there's no filter between them and the character's actions and feelings in the story. You get that intense intimacy you experience with first-person point of view combined with the ability to move into other viewpoints that you get in third-person. The reading experience becomes intense, vivid, as though the reader were experiencing the events of the story with the viewpoint character. It's an amazingly powerful technique.

Most aspiring writers have heard the term "head-hopping" and the general consensus is it's a bad thing. Head-hopping is when the point of view character alternates quickly or across a large number of characters - omniscient point of view often uses head-hopping but as I said, the effect can be rather old-fashioned.

I've judged contest entries where the point of view character changes from paragraph to paragraph, even from line to line. Sometimes the problem is that the reader becomes confused about whose eyes they're viewing events through. But that's not the greatest danger. The greatest danger is that with lots of viewpoint characters or this whiplash effect of changing viewpoint characters, the reader never develops that intimate relationship with the lead characters and never gains that intense experience of living through the story with them. So you've missed your chance to create a page-turning, compelling romance that delivers a huge emotional wallop. The story may be great, the characters may be interesting, but the reader will experience the whole thing from a distance.

My advice for anyone wanting to use deep point of view in a romance is to limit how many characters tell your story. I'd strongly recommend just hero and heroine, maybe villain if that's the only way you can get essential information across or you think this builds suspense. I'd also recommend staying in each viewpoint for an extended period. Some people say for the whole scene. I don't necessarily subscribe to that, but stay in one head long enough for the reader to feel they are intimate with the character.

Whose point of view should you use for a particular moment? The general consensus is that the point of view character should be the person with the most at stake. Another technique is to pick the character who gets the surprise when the information conveyed in the scene is revealed, especially if it's information the reader doesn't yet have. This puts the reader and the character on the same footing and builds intimacy.

Often in my books, the characters have equal stakes in a particular scene. What do you do then? In that case, I'd go for the most dramatic option or for the option that gives the reader the most new information. In a love scene, I may choose a point of view character who hasn't yet had the chance to express their feelings/reactions in a similar moment. So the first love scene may be in the hero's point of view. The reader wants to know how the heroine feels so the next love scene will be in her point of view.

What techniques can you use to achieve close focus point of view? One is to concentrate very much on the character's sensations, thoughts and emotions. How does that character react to something that's been said or done? How does that character feel in any given moment? Use the senses - ALL of them, not just the visual. Use memory. Give us a strong impression of what it's like to be inside that person's skin.

Another technique is to limit filter words like 'he thought' or 'she felt'. Close point of view reflection is presented as dialogue with the flavour of speech. So if the character curses, the patterns of his thoughts should include cursing. Use other techniques you'd use with speech, like fragments or colloquialisms.

Effective internal monologues use words the character would in speech:

He thought she was beautiful. This puts the reader at a distance.

By all that was holy, she was lovely. The reader instantly hears the cadence of the character's speech.

Yet another trick is to use imagery that relates specifically to him or her. To give you an example, in Untouched, Matthew, the Marquess of Sheene, is a botanist so he uses a lot of plant and horticultural language. The more specific you can make a character's internal dialogue, the more the reader will feel they're inhabiting their head.

Use point of view to play games with your reader. This is when it becomes really fun! Your reader is in the box seat when it comes to knowing what's going on with the story. The hero may be going through agonies because he thinks the heroine doesn't love him. The reader knows better. The heroine may completely misunderstand something the hero does. The reader knows better.

You can also use point of view to keep your reader turning the page in a fever to find out what happens next. When your hero, in his point of view, declares his love at the end of a chapter, the reader will immediately rush to read the next page because of course, your reader wants to know how the heroine reacts to this important moment in the story.

Skilful use of point of view is a really powerful technique for drawing out suspense and creating a compelling story that will keep your reader sitting up past midnight to finish the story. And isn't that just what we want?

Come on! Use point of view to get us really intimate with the men and women in your stories! Your readers will be clamoring for more!
This article first appeared (in German) in Love Letter Magazine in February, 2009, then was reprinted in Heart to Heart, the newsletter of Romance Writers of New Zealand, in March, 2009

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I love playing with point of view. It's one of the fun bits of writing a romance novel! Firstly, what is point of view? It's the eyes you use to tell the story. It's the person you filter the events of the novel through.