Too jarring?

What happens with the sister that is necessary for the readers to see? Can you tone down the MC's injury so he's not out for multiple chapters, but instead is frustrated and fuming for a bit about being useless? Can he direct other people what to do, and have them report back? This gets old quickly for more than a few chapters, but a break down the line with your MC taking it slow and recuperating - while other stuff happens around him - could work for some extra character-building.

Happily, the magic computer makes rewrites a lot easier than the old typewriter/paper method!

Figure out if the sister can have a couple scenes from her pov of view earlier in the story and insert them seamlessly into the narrative.

Otherwise, your MC has to be thoroughly out of it.

I do a lot of first person POV and when the MC is out of action, I work it into the narrative.

Easyrider77 said:

My problem is this: My MC gets shot and incapacitated for a couple of chapters, and so I think I may need to switch the perspective to that of his sister. She'll be going through some character-building moments while her brother is out of it. Trouble is, I'm seven chapters in with nothing to lead into this viewpoint switch. The first six chapters all follow the MC.

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I assume the sister has entered the novel in some way prior to this. If not, you'll probably need to include her earlier so the reader knows who she is and a bit about her.
An easy way to switch might be to have the sister visit her brother in the hospital and assuming he's only out of action but not unconcious, their conversation could propel her into her part of the action. It would then seem quite reasonable to switch to her point of view.

No, not too jarring.

Agreed, not too jarring. In fact, if I've built up some empathy for the sister it's cool and dramatic to be seeing things from her perspective I think.

Easyrider77 said:

Okay, so I'm on a new WIP, about 20k in, writing in 3rd person limited. I had originally planned to write the entire book from the MC's perspective, but it wound up proving a little too restrictive.

My problem is this: My MC gets shot and incapacitated for a couple of chapters, and so I think I may need to switch the perspective to that of his sister. She'll be going through some character-building moments while her brother is out of it. Trouble is, I'm seven chapters in with nothing to lead into this viewpoint switch. The first six chapters all follow the MC.

Do you think a sudden switch such as this would be too jarring for the reader? Should I just stick with the MC waking up a couple days later? I'm thinking I might have to do a switch again with another supporting character further down the road, but I have little problem with keeping the whole thing centered around the MC, if it will make the story flow better.

Any advice is much appreciated.

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What do you do when you switch scenes *** and your MC is off on some tangent adventure? Someone has to run the show.

The MC getting shot and taken out of the picture (temporarily) ought to be jarring. The reader ought to be wondering if he's going to recover. Switching to another POV at this point wouldn't bother me as long as the new POV character carries the story forward, and as long as she doesn't just disappear after the MC recovers. I'd expect more scenes from her perspective later in the novel, too.

Try it and see if it works.

In architecture every site limitation is an opportunity for good design. In novel writing every problem you think is a problem is an opportunity to make the novel better.

The little sister (young and beautiful, of course) is supportive of her brother, but timid; she never asserts herself. Now she faces a situation that is totally beyond her capabilities. The Hated Enemy is attacking (or launching a hostile takeover of the family business). Her brother, the Commander of the Army (CEO of the family business) is incapacitated. He puts her in charge, much to the outrage of the Generals (other members of the family)

She doubts herself, but doesn’t want to fail her injured brother who is the only one who believes in her. She issues the order to withdraw the army from the Pramaus Pass. The Generals think this is suicide, and refuse. All except one among them, (the youngest and handsomest, of course), who, although doubting the strategy, obeys her command. The other Generals follow his lead and withdraw.

When the army of the Hated Enemy streams triumphantly through the Pass of Pramous on the way to the Capital City, the young General leads his division through the Secret Pass Known To Only a Few to get behind the enemy and he catches the army of the Hated Enemy between his troops and main force and the army of the Hated Enemy is annihilated.

The Young General goes to the Leader’s Sister Who Has Been Left in Charge and professes his admiration for her and loyalty to her. She tells him to freak off, she doesn’t need his help and to get back to his command. She does this in spite of having fallen in love with him. Her nights are tormented by the deaths her actions have caused.

The Leader Who Was Incapacitated recovers and takes back command, but his sister has changed. She is a force to be reckoned with. The other Royal Family Members are pissed at being pushed aside. A new power (corporation) is rising in the East (North, South). The Young General is heartbroken and angry and is being wooed by the remnants of the Hated Enemy and the New Power Rising in the South (East, West).

Now what?

I had a similar problem. I was 40K into my 1st person story and hadn't developed my heroine character to my satisfaction. I went back and re-wrote from the beginning. She now has the POV in 14 out of 34 chapters.