Antagonist's POV-add or leave out?

miles · Mar 28, 2007

I'm debating whether or not to add the antagonist's POV to my current novel. In the past, I've always stuck with one POV in my writing, and have had nice success doing so. Yet lately I've been reading a couple thrillers that show the antagonist's POV as well, and I find it adds to the tension. Rose Madder by Stephen King is an example of this. It's ninety percent the protag's POV, but by occasionally adding the antagonist's plans to find his wife and make her suffer, it adds to the sympathy for her and I find myself hoping he won't find her even more.

I know this is a subjective question, and will probably be split depending on the readers' tastes. Yet I'm still curious about the benefits and downfalls of doing this. Assuming it's done well, are there any downfalls?

EDIT: Oh, and on a side note, how about opening a novel with the antagonist's POV? It's definitely a way to have a lot of conflict and start with action, but there aren't any stakes built up for the protag yet.

Toothpaste · Mar 28, 2007

Why not try and see? I mean Law and Order used to be all about the cops and lawyers, then Criminal Intent came about and we got the added POV of the criminal. It seems to be doing okay.

There are downsides to everything. I say give it a shot, see if it works, what's the worst that could happen?

TsukiRyoko · Mar 28, 2007

I find the benefit of adding the antag's POV into the story is overhelming. It adds to the suspense, it adds to the hate, the terror, the edge-of-your-seat atmosphere- if it's done right, that is.

PeeDee · Mar 28, 2007

Use it if it adds to the story, and if you have a story to tell with it. Don't just add it because other people have.

Stephen King used it to good effect in Rose Madder, and the Dead Zone. He didn't use it in Misery or Needful Things.

blacbird · Mar 28, 2007

Thomas Harris has done this to great success. Try it, see if you like it. There's certainly no "rule" against it.

caw

ccarver30 · Mar 29, 2007

Yes, I think you should.

I love crows, blacbird. /random

Andre_Laurent · Mar 29, 2007

Go for it. I use it, and I like the way it works.

Will Lavender · Mar 29, 2007

It's been done so much that I would be very careful.

Unless I'm really hooked by the characters, I'm a bit turned off when I see the antagonist get some time in the spotlight. The problem I usually have with it is this: the killer is revealed (or you at least get clues of who he is). I believe thrillers are best done when they employ mystery tropes. I like to see the hero working to solve the case, and at the end the antagonist is revealed in all his menacing badness.

On the other hand, a pretty good use of protagonist/antagonist POV switching is Peter Abrahams' The Fan. He gets the antagonist out of his own head (in that case, he has him calling into sports radio). And maybe that's another problem I have with it: often the antagonist's chapters are headtrips. They're too interior. If I were going to do it, I would make the antagonist do something exterior. Talk, act, move in the world. Cruel, murderous thoughts are not that interesting to me.

Prawn · Mar 29, 2007

I am all about doing this. I don't want evil shadowy bad guys. I want bad guys you understand. You may not agree with his actions, but you will understand his motivations.

maestrowork · Mar 29, 2007

If your antagonist has a great story to tell, and if his pov adds to the story, then why not?

Southern_girl29 · Mar 29, 2007

I haven't done it in my WIP, because I don't want the reader to know anything about him at all. I'm writing strictly from one POV in the book, so I want the reader to find things out as my MC finds it out.

However, I have read books where it is used. King did a good job with it in Rose Madder. Koontz did it well in Intensity. I think if it adds to the story, go for it. If it doesn't work, you can always take it out.

PeeDee · Mar 29, 2007

maestrowork said:
If your antagonist has a great story to tell, and if his pov adds to the story, then why not?

But the inverse is also true. If you're not doing it for a great story to tell, you're doing it for the Wrong Reason.

maestrowork · Mar 29, 2007

Absolutely, PD. It goes without saying.

Antagonist's POV-add or leave out?

miles

agent at The Knight Agency

Toothpaste

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

TsukiRyoko

Forced into cell phone life

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

blacbird

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

Andre_Laurent

Will Lavender

Everything is what it seems.

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Southern_girl29

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray