Alternating POV

DavidZahir · Aug 15, 2009

Just got off the phone with a novelist friend of mine. In the midst of discussing a novel I am writing, she frankly began giving me grief about the POV involved.

For lack of a better term (and frankly, this isn't half bad) I call it Alternating POV.

To explain. There are two plotlines in the story, both taking place on the same island at the same time and involving the same mysterious events. Both plotlines intersect at several points, with ever-increasing frequency. Each plotline has a POV character, in whose eyes the reader sees things. But the reader, knowing more than either POV character (might as well call them Primary and Secondary Protagonists), perceives relationships neither Protagonist does. The reader more and more perceives how the two plotlines are on a collision course--a perception no character in the story has at all.

She says this seems incomprehensible, and suggests it cannot work, calls it an "experiment" that I probably shouldn't try. The lady in question is far from stupid or foolish, but frankly her reaction is spooking me a bit.

Maybe I'm just looking for reassurance, or for some feedback on some pitfalls I'm not seeing.

Thanks in advance...

katiemac · Aug 15, 2009

This is done pretty frequently. I wish I could give you an example, but I'm blanking.

As always: If it works, it works. But I see no reason from your description why it should inherently fail.

maestrowork · Aug 15, 2009

I can't see why it can't work. Two characters. Two POVs. Two intersecting plot lines...

Now, she might have read your manuscript and felt that something didn't work. But as far as how you described your POVs, I don't see any problems. Plenty of novels were/are written that way. Some classics offered multiple POVs of the same event (Rashomon, anyone?)

I kind of have to question her credibility. Was she published?

Maryn · Aug 15, 2009

Done well, it works well. Peter Abrahams is masterful at this. (How is the fertility clinic lady in New York going to intersect with the lost diver in the Bahamas? Uh, brilliantly!)

So maybe it's not that the structure can't work, but that it's not working for her, the one reader who's provided feedback.

If she's willing, ask her to mark specific places where she became confused, or became frustrated, or whatever else caused her to object to your 'experiment.' It's entirely possible you're too clever by half and need to be less subtle.

Maryn, rarely subtle

backslashbaby · Aug 15, 2009

If any of it is still discussion, she might not be able to visualize how you are going to do it. I just throw that out there because I get that a lot; at least one of my betas has to read it to believe it

It sounds fine to me, btw.

katiemac · Aug 15, 2009

It sounds to me like David hasn't yet finished said novel, or at the very least his friend hasn't read it. It was just a hypothetical discussion?

If that's the case, David, I have no doubt your friend is brilliant but I wouldn't continue to discuss my book with her. Write it, see how it's going, if it's not working then fix it. No need to put doubts in your head before the fact.

Ellefire · Aug 15, 2009

The novel I'm working on is alternating POV, and wholly in first person present tense. The two narrators don't even meet until about a third of the way through and only really come together for the climax. One is an urban explorer looking into the secrets of a derelict asylum and the other is the great-grandchild of the asylum owners. It's working really well for me and I don't think it's confusing - although I do have the narrator's name at the top of each chapter.
Jodi Picoult used it in 'My Sister's Keeper'. IIRC.

Libbie · Aug 15, 2009

Er. It sounds interesting to me. And I can think of lots of hugely successful novels that have done similar POV shifts to view the same set of events.

aadams73 · Aug 15, 2009

This is not an uncommon way of telling a story. Go for it, see if you can make it work.

Matera the Mad · Aug 15, 2009

It's done all the time. I use it, with two characters whose views of each other give an interesting contrast with their self-images. As long as the reader knows who's who right off in each scene, it shouldn't cause any problems. Perhaps the friend needs a little more experience, or at least some relaxing of attitude.

DavidZahir · Aug 15, 2009

Okay, I feel better now.

I'm in the outline stages now. Evidently my friend has something of a blind spot with what I was describing, or with the way I described it.

Just to clarify--the two Protagonists are mostly perceiving a different set of events, but ones that are interrelated. Until everything starts crashing together.

Darzian · Aug 15, 2009

DavidZahir said:
Okay, I feel better now.

I'm in the outline stages now. Evidently my friend has something of a blind spot with what I was describing, or with the way I described it.

Just to clarify--the two Protagonists are mostly perceiving a different set of events, but ones that are interrelated. Until everything starts crashing together.

Trust me, it's done quite often. I personally love such books, especially when I can see the plotlines coming together (often at the climax). Oh, the excitement!

Cyia · Aug 15, 2009

FWIW - after input from a few agents, I returned my on submission MS to an earlier draft which is an alternating POV with a long chapter from the female protag followed by a short chapter from the male protag. You get what she "thinks" is going on, and then the reality of it.

I think it works pretty well - whether or not anyone else does is yet to be seen.

maestrowork · Aug 15, 2009

DavidZahir said:
Okay, I feel better now.

I'm in the outline stages now. Evidently my friend has something of a blind spot with what I was describing, or with the way I described it.

Just to clarify--the two Protagonists are mostly perceiving a different set of events, but ones that are interrelated. Until everything starts crashing together.

A bit of advice: unless you're collaborating, or you're ready for beta readers... you probably shouldn't discuss so much in details of your project. Like someone else said, just write it.

Ellefire · Aug 16, 2009

DavidZahir said:
Okay, I feel better now.

I'm in the outline stages now. Evidently my friend has something of a blind spot with what I was describing, or with the way I described it.

Just to clarify--the two Protagonists are mostly perceiving a different set of events, but ones that are interrelated. Until everything starts crashing together.

That's exactly how I'm doing it. Two converging plot-lines. I didn't outline, I added the second narrator slightly later and rewrote to fit the beginning. One viewpoint was proving too narrow. It all makes better sense when the reader is getting more information than the main character. It's also proving really helpful at the climax, since one narrator is having a rather peculiar psychic experience and ends up unconscious.

RJK · Aug 16, 2009

I just finished the first draft of a first person novel with three alternating POV's The protagonist detective, his lover the heroine, and the antagonist all have first person parts and alternating chapters. The protag has the meat of the story, and his chapters are longer that the other two characters in most cases.

Juliette Wade · Aug 17, 2009

I agree with the people upthread who say, "go for it." If you write it and elements aren't working, then fix those when the time comes. I have a novel in which sometimes I have one chapter in one character's POV, and then he meets another character whose POV I also use in the story, and I break chapters to switch from one of them to the other halfway through the conversation - at a point where it's critical for me to change the kind of information the reader is getting. Good luck with it!

BriMaresh · Aug 17, 2009

Just wanted to chime in and say The Silver Kiss by Anette Curtis Klaus uses alternating viewpoints. She, too, labels the chapters for us, but her "voice" is different enough between the two that we don't entirely need it. It can work great, and you should take a chance and try it. If it doesn't work, you can find another way to do it in the edits.

Agonyzer · Aug 18, 2009

I love this POV technique, and find it a lot in fantasy and science fiction books, such as the one I'm writing. I have primary POV and three secondaries.

I find it important to accent any change between them with a visual break. Sometimes this is a chapter, and sometimes a section break.

privatepook · Aug 21, 2009

I'm wondering if your novelist friend was more worried about you switching POV within the same scene with little to no transition. Multiple POVs are perfectly fine as long as the writer makes it clear which filter you're seeing through at a given time.

I just read a very new novel -- "Everything Matters" by Ron Currie, Jr. -- it switches POVs all the time to great effect.

Alternating POV

Malkavian Primogen

Five by Five

Fear the Death Ray

I Tried

~~~~*~~~~

Five by Five

Citizen Of Planet Random

Worst song played on ugliest guitar

A Work in Progress

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Malkavian Primogen

To-to-to-ron-to

Rewriting My Destiny

Fear the Death Ray

Citizen Of Planet Random

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Interprets for aliens

New kid, be gentle!

Writer, enthusiast, semipope

Yes, I'm totally into that..

*