A question on alternating viewpoints

I agree with KTC that once you start getting to know your characters really well, writing in each of their voices will just start coming naturally. Try it out and see how it works for you. If it doesn't, you still win, because it would be a great exercise in character development.

Arianne said:

Hmm. That might be the issue then. Both my POVs were male and of pretty much the same age so they tended to talk alike.

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Can you maybe zero in on one or two of their individual circumstances? Things like family environment, groups of friends, location, etc always have an impact on how we talk and express ourselves. A bookworm from the suburbs is never going to think or talk like a gamer from the inner city. There are always ways to distinguish voice--it all goes down to characterization.

Good luck!

breaking_burgundy said:

Absolutely.

I hate this myth that every book has to have the "heroine and hero" romantic duo. Why can't two best friends (or better yet, rivals or enemies) be the main characters?

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Why can't the main characters be a romantic duo who are also rivals or enemies as well as best friends?

Arianne said:

Hmm. That might be the issue then. Both my POVs were male and of pretty much the same age so they tended to talk alike.

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Seriously, read Will Grayson, Will Grayson. EXACT same situation, and the two voices are totally different.

kuwisdelu said:

Why can't the main characters be a romantic duo who are also rivals or enemies as well as best friends?

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That works too. I am getting sick of the whole "I love you and I will support you through anything" mentality all these lovers have.

breaking_burgundy said:

That works too. I am getting sick of the whole "I love you and I will support you through anything" mentality all these lovers have.

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I quite like reading about that mentality. What I don't like is writers who ignore the realistic consequences of it.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Seriously, read Will Grayson, Will Grayson. EXACT same situation, and the two voices are totally different.

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Helped by having two different authors, of course, but I agree that it's a great exercise in voice.

anna banks, of poseidon, had two alternating points of view (in a romantic context) - one in 1st person, one in 3rd person and, while I really enjoyed the multiple POV, I found the third person viewpoint kind of clunky. It would have been better for me if it had been in 1st person because there were just some awkward phrasings. So don't shy away form two 1st person POV (or two 3rd person POV) just because you want to alternate; I'm sure there is some way to really distinguish the characters - even if they are similar in age and gender, etc. Socioeconomically are they the same? But, I'm sure there are lots of great examples of alternating POV that work well and if you want to structure it like that, go for it. But don't feel like you have to alternate between 1st and 3rd person if you are alternating POV. It's really however and whatever you want it to be.

Write your story. If the two POVs don't end up together, then I guess it can be done, can't it?

Don't you worry, OP. My two protagonists are an eighteen-year-old girl and her forty-four-year-old godfather. It's told in third person limited, alternating between the two characters. It's not YA, but it's not as though it's the first multi-POV novel to have two MCs that are not romantically involved/don't get together.

I often have two protagonists who are not love interests; it still makes perfect sense. Cousins, friends, enemies. Whatever works for the story.

My WIP alternates 1st person POVs (male and female) and they will get romantically involved at some point, so.... just kidding! I don't think people expect that, especially if they know the book is not about romance.