First person and third person

It isn't a no-no to switch from first to third. However, just for one chapter seems to me as pure vanity on the author's part.

You need to make sure it's not jarring to the reader, otherwise I can't see why it wouldn't be better than a book written in multiple first person POVs. Better because you wouldn't have to use some clumsy artifice to orient the reader--such as chapter subheadings with the characters' names.

Does the reader need to know what happened, or do you just want to? If it comes off unnecessary, the reader might wonder the point. Also, if there's lots of stuff happening away from the MC, does your book maybe need to be in third? You said you don't want the subheadings or something, but if you do it in third, you don't need that.

A dude in my writing group just tried to do the exact same thing (third person scene in a first-person book). Consensus around the table was that no, it absolutely did not work.

Seaclusion said:

Does the reader need to know the details of what happens? No. Would knowing the details heighten the suspense, increase the stakes, and better show motivation? Yes. And that's why I want to include it.

Richard

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to me, it's not a good reason to break POV just to heighten the suspense (kind of like a camera shot of the shark going da dum dum). It works for movies because movies are mostly told from an omniscient POV anyway.

But if the story is mostly in 1st person, breaking POV when it's not "necessary" would confuse the readers. Whose story is it? If the readers have been following the narrator and getting attached to his/her voice, etc. and then you break to some character (unless that character is also a main character and you will be describing things from his/her POV again and often), it seems like a cop-out.

That's not to say you can't do it. You can always write it that way and see. But my gut feeling is that you're doing it for not a compelling reason or you've picked the wrong POV. There's a reason why we choose 1st person in the first place; so to me, 3rd person just to create suspense is artificial.

You may want to find another way to create suspense and motivation still using 1st person. There are MANY ways to do that. In fact, 1st person is a great way to create mystery and suspense. You may be surprised by what you can do instead of going for the "easy" way out by creating a 3rd person narrative.


JMO, of course.

Seaclusion said:

Does the reader need to know the details of what happens? No. Would knowing the details heighten the suspense, increase the stakes, and better show motivation? Yes. And that's why I want to include it.

Richard

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Rule of thumb I usually follow is whoever has the most to lose gets to do the talking. This seems contrary to that. (Which isn't to say you can't do it)

FWIW, I tried to do a prologue in 3rd, then the rest in 1st... didn't really work. I wound up switching to two 1st viewpoints. If you don't like subheadings, how about chapter titles that indicate viewpoint?

Alternatively, rework the heightened suspense as foreshadowing or something. Give it a little more thought and see if you can't figure out a way to give your POV character a glimpse of the stakes instead of the reader. Most of the fun of 1st POV is that the reader is figuring things out as the character is. Why ruin that? (Plus if your MC gets into jeopardy over something the reader already knows, you run the risk of entering TSTL territory)

just my .02. None of it might apply to your particular story, so if not, ignore me.

Not quite what you asked, but I recently read a book where two characters switched off chapters in relaying the story from a first-person POV.

If you decide to do multi-person first person, please make sure the character's voices sound different.

But if the switch is just for a chapter or two, be careful. Not to say it can't be done, just that's it hard to do well.

I join the consensus that saying if only one chapter is in third person, the transition is probably too jarring. Is it possible to build up the other person's POV? They don't have to become a co-lead, so to speak, but even if you had the other person commenting occasionally, the final book might read more smoothly.

I have a similiar issue. My MC has a multiple personality syndrome. As I have it written now there are a couple chapters that are from the perspective of the second personality. In order to distinquish between the MC and the other personality I switched to third POV since the MC has no idea what is taking place.

Has anyone read any books where this type of issue is handled? Or does anyone have any insights on how you (general you) might handle this type of situation?

Find another way of describing what happened if the MC wasn't there. For example, maybe he finds a video of it on YouTube? Or reads a blog post / news item? Something interesting like that. But don't switch to third person.

5bcarnies said:

I have a similiar issue. My MC has a multiple personality syndrome. As I have it written now there are a couple chapters that are from the perspective of the second personality. In order to distinquish between the MC and the other personality I switched to third POV since the MC has no idea what is taking place.

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In this case, this may work. At the same time, I wonder if you could just make the second personality a second 1st person narration with a totally different voice. That could be very interesting as well. There's nothing to tell us we can't have multiple first person, especially if the second personality is just as important as the first.

To the OP, another option is to make it 3rd limited. Use a close limited on the protagonist (which is almost like first person), but then use a loose 3rd limited on the other character. That would lessen the impact of the POV change (since it's still in 3rd limited) but let you do what you need to do.