Post by jomariem on Oct 9, 2011 1:35:25 GMT -5
:DHi everyone! I'm starting a new YA novel, and I had a question regarding the POV I should use. If anybody can give me some pointers on this, I'd appreciate it.
Basically, the plot for my new novel is this: Just before WWII breaks out in Poland, a young Jewish girl named Maya gets a beautiful china doll for Hanukkah. She immediately cherishes the doll, and, determined to make sure that it will be returned to her if it ever gets lost, she writes a note with her name and address on it and stuffs it down the back of the doll's dress (which is very snug and tight-fitting). When the Germans invade Poland and Maya and her family are forced to move to the Warsaw Ghetto, a German officer steals Maya's doll and takes it home to his own daughter in Germany, a little girl named Gretchen who is about Maya's age.
Gretchen eagerly accepts the doll; she has no idea where it came from and sees it only as a gift from the man she knows as a loving father. But unknown to her or her mother, Gretchen's father is actually a high-ranking SS officer who is responsible for rounding up thousands of Jews and sending them to the death camps. When the war ends, he is captured by the Allies and exectued as a war criminal; however, Gretchen's mother, in order to spare her daughter the anguish, simply tells her that her father died in battle. Gretchen, however, discovers the truth for herself later on, and she is devastated that the father she loved could have committed so many atrocities toward innocent people. She wants to do what she can to help the surviving Jews whose lives have been forever shattered by people like her father, but she doesn't quite know what to do.
She keeps the doll for many years, still unable to bring herself to get rid of it even after learning the truth about her father. One day, when she is grown up with a granddaughter of her own, the little girl asks if she can play with the doll. Gretchen agrees, and the child discovers the note stuck in the back of the doll's dress. Gretchen reads it and realizes that the doll was stolen from someone, not bought, as she has always imagined.
Deciding to return the doll to its rightful owner if at all possible, she travels to Warsaw, where the address on the note is listed. There she runs into Anna, a gentile woman who lived next door to Maya while they were growing up, and who was best friends with her. For years, Anna has pondered the fate of her friend, and together the two women began an intensive research into the records of holocaust victims and survivors. They discover that Maya's parents and younger brother perished in the camps, but there is no record of Maya's fate. Is she still alive, and if so, can they find her and return the doll to her?
I'm wondering what might be the best POV to do this story with. I'm doing it as third person for now, but I've also considered doing it from the doll's perspective. I thought this sounded like a really neat idea, since I've read another book called "Hitty: Her First Hundred Years", also written from a doll's perspective, and really enjoyed it. However, I'm also afraid that this POV might turn off older readers. I would also have to make sure that, in every chapter, the doll is somehow around to "overhear" every key conversation that goes on in this book.
I've also considered doing first from Maya's POV, and then, when the focus shifts over to Gretchen, Gretchen's POV. What do YOU all think would be best?
Thanks for any replies!
Basically, the plot for my new novel is this: Just before WWII breaks out in Poland, a young Jewish girl named Maya gets a beautiful china doll for Hanukkah. She immediately cherishes the doll, and, determined to make sure that it will be returned to her if it ever gets lost, she writes a note with her name and address on it and stuffs it down the back of the doll's dress (which is very snug and tight-fitting). When the Germans invade Poland and Maya and her family are forced to move to the Warsaw Ghetto, a German officer steals Maya's doll and takes it home to his own daughter in Germany, a little girl named Gretchen who is about Maya's age.
Gretchen eagerly accepts the doll; she has no idea where it came from and sees it only as a gift from the man she knows as a loving father. But unknown to her or her mother, Gretchen's father is actually a high-ranking SS officer who is responsible for rounding up thousands of Jews and sending them to the death camps. When the war ends, he is captured by the Allies and exectued as a war criminal; however, Gretchen's mother, in order to spare her daughter the anguish, simply tells her that her father died in battle. Gretchen, however, discovers the truth for herself later on, and she is devastated that the father she loved could have committed so many atrocities toward innocent people. She wants to do what she can to help the surviving Jews whose lives have been forever shattered by people like her father, but she doesn't quite know what to do.
She keeps the doll for many years, still unable to bring herself to get rid of it even after learning the truth about her father. One day, when she is grown up with a granddaughter of her own, the little girl asks if she can play with the doll. Gretchen agrees, and the child discovers the note stuck in the back of the doll's dress. Gretchen reads it and realizes that the doll was stolen from someone, not bought, as she has always imagined.
Deciding to return the doll to its rightful owner if at all possible, she travels to Warsaw, where the address on the note is listed. There she runs into Anna, a gentile woman who lived next door to Maya while they were growing up, and who was best friends with her. For years, Anna has pondered the fate of her friend, and together the two women began an intensive research into the records of holocaust victims and survivors. They discover that Maya's parents and younger brother perished in the camps, but there is no record of Maya's fate. Is she still alive, and if so, can they find her and return the doll to her?
I'm wondering what might be the best POV to do this story with. I'm doing it as third person for now, but I've also considered doing it from the doll's perspective. I thought this sounded like a really neat idea, since I've read another book called "Hitty: Her First Hundred Years", also written from a doll's perspective, and really enjoyed it. However, I'm also afraid that this POV might turn off older readers. I would also have to make sure that, in every chapter, the doll is somehow around to "overhear" every key conversation that goes on in this book.
I've also considered doing first from Maya's POV, and then, when the focus shifts over to Gretchen, Gretchen's POV. What do YOU all think would be best?
Thanks for any replies!