A little advice please . . .

Lifelongdagger said:

I am writing my first novel and am contemplating having one main character with several subsidiary ones. My question is regarding that most perennial of issues - Point of View.

I am thinking about structuring the story so that the first time a character is introduced, the whole of that particular chapter is from his/her point of view, even if they are interacting with the main character.

Other than this, the story would be exclusively from the main character's point of view.

Does anyone think this is workable or will I be heading for problems with this sort of outline?

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Sounds okay, to me. In my first novel, I used the POV of the two main characters. With my second novel, I had a single MC plus two other major characters and used them all for POV. That said, none of my novels is published.

The only thing I did differently from what you're planning is I'd sometimes use more than one POV in a chapter (mine ran about 3000-5000 words). I'd use a shift/switch marker to signal when the shift occured.

Good luck.

Bayou Bill

I personally don't think I would do it that way. First of all, introducing a new character adds some intrigue...what is this person like, are they friend or foe. If you go into their heads right away, it gives away all of the secrets. Secondly, it is easier to give a bit of physical description from someone else's point of view, rather than from the person you are trying to describe.

Like I said...just my opinion though, and I am humbly only a new author myself.


--Kristal

I usually write the scene from the viewpoint of the character most affected by (or in) it. Otherwise you have to experience their emotions through an onlooker or through dialog, which isn't as powerful.
It also depends how minor the character is, and whether they appear again in the book. You can mislead your readers if you introduce a character, give them a scene, share their thoughts and then drop them.

Don't introduce a new POV if you're never going to use it again. Also if you're in someone's thoughts you cannot hold back what that person knows. It's cheating. And if there's one thing that I despise in mysteries, which may be why I dont read them much, it's cheating. The killer will think about the crime and if the reader is in his head then the reader will know about that.

nevada said:

Don't introduce a new POV if you're never going to use it again. Also if you're in someone's thoughts you cannot hold back what that person knows. It's cheating. And if there's one thing that I despise in mysteries, which may be why I dont read them much, it's cheating. The killer will think about the crime and if the reader is in his head then the reader will know about that.

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But, he won't necessarily think over all the details of the crime. So, for example, he might just think about his secret coming out, rather than the fact that he slaughtered half a dozen people and fed them to his pigs.
To take a more mundane example, do you think to yourself, 'I have to go to Walmart, and buy some chicken, some potatoes...etc', or do you think 'I have to go food shopping later'?

actually, yes i do think i have to go to safeway and buy chicken, potatoes, etc. (walmart doesnt sell fresh food here). Seriously. If I dont go over the list constantly, i'll forget everything on it. lol

The character might not think about all the details, although I think that's highly unlikely. I know from myself, that if i do something wrong at work, i think about it a lot and I would think that if you slaughtered half a dozen people and fed them to the pigs that you'd relive that all the time in order to capture the thrill you felt. Nevertheless, the character is going to be thinking about it in some way. So as reader, if i'm in the character's head, I'm going to know about it. That's how it works if you're writing tight POV and you're in somebody's head. What that person knows, the reader knows. That's the contract you agree to with that POV. And if you break that contract, be prepared to lose the reader.

Like I said, it's the thing I despise the most in mysteries. When the POV character knows something but the reader is kept in the dark. Some might say that's the fun of mysteries, but it's not fun. It's annoying. Maybe people accept that, but that doesnt mean it's good writing. Of course, if you can get away with it, go for it, but I think it's lazy writing. But that's just my opinion. lol take what you need, and discard the rest. Everything is just people's opinion really.

Re your original post, Lifelong, I also don't see anything wrong with what you're planning at all, but I agree with the posters who mentioned that you will need to be very careful if you intend using another POV where the reader learns that that other character definitely knew 'something' but it was deliberately withheld solely to prolong the reader's ignorance of whatever it was.

Mind you, someone may have pulled it off - I don't know.

spacejock2 said:

It also depends how minor the character is, and whether they appear again in the book. You can mislead your readers if you introduce a character, give them a scene, share their thoughts and then drop them.

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I agree with spacejock2, if it is a minor character with little significance. I am writing my first novel and it is mostly written with the two main character’s viewpoints, but I do have a minor character’s viewpoint significant to one main character.

Bayou Bill said:

I'd use a shift/switch marker to signal when the shift occured.

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I would like to ask Bill about the shift/switch marker. I have read many books where I loved the change in font or in ALL CAPS to stress the character’s voice. But since I was told on another thread that this should not be done, I was curious as to how to do a shift/switch marker for POV. Do I need to come up with a design marker for POV? Thanks.

I think anything can work if you go about it the right way.

TrainofThought - Everything you always wanted to know about formatting!

A's POV

#

B's POV


http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26126

kpmcneil22 said:

Lifelongdagger, if this is your rough draft/first draft, I would just go for it. You can always switch it around when you edit.

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I agree - if you can write without constant self-editing (my own horrible vice) then do it, and edit later. It's much easier to fix what's already written.