Telling the story from a secondary POV

bsolah · Dec 15, 2008

I’ve had this story idea in my head for perhaps a year, but really been thinking about it the last couple of months. I’d rather avoid going into specifics, but I just worked out a way it could work but am not sure about it being viable.

See, I don’t want to tell the story from the perspective of the antagonist, the person the main actions happens to as this character later turns into someone I don’t want the audience to identify with. So I was thinking of telling the story from the perspective of his friend as he turns into this ‘monster’.

My main concern is that the action is then removed from the person telling the story so the action might seem distant; but there is a point where after the guts of the story is told, the action is turned on this friend.

Can I get away with it?

moblues · Dec 15, 2008

It can be done bsolah, but it can get tricky. If you are going to use 2nd POV, the narrator has to be in the scene with the antag quite a bit. This will help you describe the antag's descent into madness or becoming a monster, but you have to be careful. Subtle.

Your narrator can't be with the antag every scene, right? This is where 3rd omni helps. Try not to use it too much. Also only try to use it with the start of a new scene without the 2nd POV character.

This is how the antag briefly takes over as narrator.

I sense from what you posted, you already know what to do.

As an aside: Jazz musicians (I studied theory years ago) learn the rules so they can break them.

Good luck on this.

Mike

ReneC · Dec 16, 2008

I wrote a story entirely in the 2nd POV and it's great, or so I believe. It is tricky and a bit risky because it's an unfamiliar POV but, like everything else, when it's done correctly it works very well. I have an early draft of it posted in SYW if you want to see how it can be done.

The Raider

Spiral Stairs · Dec 16, 2008

I am a little confused. Are you proposing using the second person point of view (like in ReneC's example), or are you proposing using a third person point of view from the perspective of someone other than the protagonist? (Or, for that matter, a first person point of view from someone other than the protagonist, as in the Great Gatsby?)

Also, you refer to the antagonist in your story. Do you mean protagonist? (You can't have an antagonist, in the literary sense, without a protagonist.)

It sounds like you are considering a third person point of view from the point of view of someone other than the protagonist, but I may have misconstrued things. I agree with others that it is doable but tough to pull off. Have you considered an omniscient point of view?

NicoleMD · Dec 16, 2008

bsolah said:
Can I get away with it?

Oh, most definitely! One of my favorite books is written from a secondary character's perspective, and it's just perfect for the holidays:

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

This type of perspective probably works well for novels where the primary character is larger than life. Sounds like you've got a real bad baddie, so I'm sure it could work for you.

Nicole

bsolah · Dec 16, 2008

Spiral Stairs said:
I am a little confused. Are you proposing using the second person point of view (like in ReneC's example), or are you proposing using a third person point of view from the perspective of someone other than the protagonist? (Or, for that matter, a first person point of view from someone other than the protagonist, as in the Great Gatsby?)

Also, you refer to the antagonist in your story. Do you mean protagonist? (You can't have an antagonist, in the literary sense, without a protagonist.)

It sounds like you are considering a third person point of view from the point of view of someone other than the protagonist, but I may have misconstrued things. I agree with others that it is doable but tough to pull off. Have you considered an omniscient point of view?

I'm proposing that I want to write a story from the first-person perspective of a secondary character, telling the story of what happened to his friend as he witnessed it. His friend is the protagonist, and then there's the antagonist too.

kuwisdelu · Dec 16, 2008

bsolah said:
I'm proposing that I want to write a story from the first-person perspective of a secondary character, telling the story of what happened to his friend as he witnessed it. His friend is the protagonist, and then there's the antagonist too.

That's not very uncommon.

Like mentioned already, The Great Gatsby is a prime example of this.

I do it all the time.

Go for it. If you've never read anything written this way, I'd suggesting doing so first, though, so you have an idea of how to handle it.

ReneC · Dec 17, 2008

I must apologise, I misunderstood the nature of the question. Insomnia strikes again.

There's some good advice posted by others here, I hope it helps.

Maryn · Dec 17, 2008

Absolutely all right, Ben, so long as the sidekick character is complete enough to ring true and is present enough to know what's going on. BOLO (Be On the LookOut) for head-hopping. He can know only what he sees and hears, and deduces, from the hero and others. It's possible to use that limitation to your advantage, and your narrator misunderstands or misinterprets something the hero says or does and later comes to understand the truth.

There are plentiful examples of fiction written from the POV of someone other than the hero/protagonist, in both first and third person. When you finish your story, there'll be one more, right?

Maryn, who's done this but not well--yet.

Telling the story from a secondary POV

bsolah

AW's Resident Commie

moblues

ReneC

Relapsed insomniac :(

Spiral Stairs

NicoleMD

Onomatopotamus

bsolah

AW's Resident Commie

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

ReneC

Relapsed insomniac :(

Maryn

I Tried