Character POV Confusion

Sarah G said:

So, I have this book that’s in re writes but the main character has always been the girl, lately I’ve been wondering if the main character should be someone else in the book. I’ve been reading it back and it seems more likely to be this other character. But everything I wrote was obviously from the girl’s pov. Can I still get away with it being in her point of view or will I have to completely re do?

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If you want another character to be the MC, yes, you'll have to rewrite the book. Even if you keep the same POV, but make her merely an observer of the main character (a la The Great Gatsby), you'll still have to rewrite.

You'll probably have to rewrite unless it's already apparent that the main character is the other character. Stories have been told from a POV character who was not the MC.

You can use whatever POV you choose but if the main character is now not the present POV character a rewrite will still be necessary to switch/make sure the focus is now consistently on the real MC.

Sarah G said:

So, I have this book that’s in re writes but the main character has always been the girl, lately I’ve been wondering if the main character should be someone else in the book. I’ve been reading it back and it seems more likely to be this other character. But everything I wrote was obviously from the girl’s pov. Can I still get away with it being in her point of view or will I have to completely re do?

Thanks for any help

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This is one of those classic questions that gets an 'it depends' answer.

A book with a narrator who is not the MC can work. The most famous example is usually Sherlock Holmes stories, which were narrated by Dr Watson but in which Sherlock is obviously the MC, as he goes around solving the crimes. There are probably more recent examples.

However, the Holmes stories were written like that from the first. If you want to have a narrator who isn't the MC, you'll need to look at the novel with that idea in mind and see if it works. Is it apparent to the reader from the start that the narrator is telling someone else's story? Or does it read as if the author hadn't appreciated at that point who was the MC?

Either way, I think you're going to have some rewriting to do.

There's going to need to be some rewrites whichever option you choose.