P.O.V. question

txgrl · Jul 7, 2008

Does switching back and forth between P.O.V.s hurt or help?

Right now I just have my MC's vantage point. But I was toying with the thought of giving another character some voice in what's going on. How much does that take away from my MC?

Then the other problem I see with it is that my MC may be making the actions, but she doesn't truly know the whole back story of why she's doing it, while the other knows the history, but not necessarily what's happening at the moment. Does knowing both take away the mystery element? Or does it help the reader understand why each acts and reacts the way they do, and just understand in general?

Thank you for the help, it is greatly appreciated!

kuwisdelu · Jul 7, 2008

What's the POV right now? How big is this other character's role in the story?

If you're writing in first person or a close, limited third person, then the other character should be fairly important to become a secondary POV character. I don't think it would work to switch to this character's POV for just one or two scenes, since it would feel too much of an out-of-place departure from the MC. But if the character has an important role--like a Han Solo to your MC's Luke--then it can add a lot to your story and his or her character development to follow this character's POV throughout the story.

If you're writing a more distant omniscient or objective third person, then I'd say you can get away with such a POV shift for just a few scenes more easily without it feeling out of place. This can happen a lot in omniscient or objective POV novels. The question is how deeply seeded you are in the MC's head. If it's too much, any change in POV must be another major character you'll follow through most of the novel, too. If it's very loose and distant, you have more room to float around, but you can lose some immediacy.

txgrl · Jul 7, 2008

It's first person right now.
He's a huge character, he kinda makes the decisions on the other end, I guess you could call him the leader of sorts, but doesn't really know whats going on with her, or what she's doing.

kuwisdelu · Jul 7, 2008

If he's that important, then he can certainly work as another POV character. Multiple POV's certainly aren't as common with first person as third, but they certainly exist. Good ones too. Some even mix it up with a first person POV for the main character, and a third person POV for important secondary character(s). It can work either way you want, but I'd definitely say make sure you follow him through a significant portion of the novel, rather than just a scene or two. Otherwise it'll seem out of place.

Danger Jane · Jul 7, 2008

Multiple POVs is fine. I love writing two first person MCs. It can give a story a lot of depth when executed well.

The tough part is distinguishing the two POVs. Your characters have to think differently. It's hard, trust me. But if you really think your story would be stronger with the other character's side, by all means add it. I do like to give my MCs equal playing time, though--alternating chapters throughout. They're equally important and equally interesting, so why upset the balance?

kuwisdelu · Jul 7, 2008

Danger Jane said:
The tough part is distinguishing the two POVs. Your characters have to think differently. It's hard, trust me. But if you really think your story would be stronger with the other character's side, by all means add it. I do like to give my MCs equal playing time, though--alternating chapters throughout. They're equally important and equally interesting, so why upset the balance?

Good point here, too. Once you introduce another POV, it's important to make sure the reader doesn't get confused about whose head they're in, whose narrating, where they are, etc. It's important to try to give the character's their own, unique voices. With good writing, you should be able to tell who's speaking in dialogue by the character's speech alone, without tags. And likewise, you should be able to tell who's narrating at any given point simply by how the character narrates.

Of course, sometimes it can still be confusing first beginning a scene, since the reader may not have enough information yet to tell by the voice which POV they're in. Some techniques to remedy this is to label the beginning of such chapters with the POV character (but this is no excuse to be lazy about giving them distinct voices). Personally, I don't like that, though, since it feels a bit contrived. In such situations, I prefer just making sure to begin the scene with a thought that only that POV character could think or notice, or using some other detail of setting, action, etc., that only that POV character would notice or do.

E.g., if one character smokes and another doesn't, starting a scene with the POV character lighting a cigarette makes it clear whose head we're in. If one character is young and the other old, a thought about stupid kids getting off the lawn or creaking bones does the work. If one character's in Arizona and the other in D.C., beginning with the character noticing a mountain in the distance and the dry heat can show us where we are. Et cetera.

txgrl · Jul 7, 2008

Thank you guys so much! you've helped me tons!

Danger Jane · Jul 7, 2008

kuwisdelu said:
Good point here, too. Once you introduce another POV, it's important to make sure the reader doesn't get confused about whose head they're in, whose narrating, where they are, etc. It's important to try to give the character's their own, unique voices. With good writing, you should be able to tell who's speaking in dialogue by the character's speech alone, without tags. And likewise, you should be able to tell who's narrating at any given point simply by how the character narrates.

Of course, sometimes it can still be confusing first beginning a scene, since the reader may not have enough information yet to tell by the voice which POV they're in. Some techniques to remedy this is to label the beginning of such chapters with the POV character (but this is no excuse to be lazy about giving them distinct voices). Personally, I don't like that, though, since it feels a bit contrived. In such situations, I prefer just making sure to begin the scene with a thought that only that POV character could think or notice, or using some other detail of setting, action, etc., that only that POV character would notice or do.

E.g., if one character smokes and another doesn't, starting a scene with the POV character lighting a cigarette makes it clear whose head we're in. If one character is young and the other old, a thought about stupid kids getting off the lawn or creaking bones does the work. If one character's in Arizona and the other in D.C., beginning with the character noticing a mountain in the distance and the dry heat can show us where we are. Et cetera.

All great suggestions, so QFT.

I'll put my relevant question in here. In this story, eventually one of the POV characters dies, and it's represented by a blank page or two followed by a chapter in the other POV. Unfortunately, this chapter comes after a middle section in omniscient third...so without their names as chapter titles, it'd be confusing and the effect of the blank pages would be lost. Still cheap to name the chapters according to which POV they contain?

kuwisdelu · Jul 7, 2008

Danger Jane said:
All great suggestions, so QFT.

I'll put my relevant question in here. In this story, eventually one of the POV characters dies, and it's represented by a blank page or two followed by a chapter in the other POV. Unfortunately, this chapter comes after a middle section in omniscient third...so without their names as chapter titles, it'd be confusing and the effect of the blank pages would be lost. Still cheap to name the chapters according to which POV they contain?

Took me a moment to figure out how your POV's were working there for a moment, but I think I've got it now. I'm not sure it's cheap necessarily, but I tend to prefer it when the author can make it obvious to the reader without needing them. If you do something cool with it like that, though, I think that would definitely be a stylistic technique interesting enough to win me over for the book despite it.

That sounds like it would work quite nicely. I say keep them.

I just tend to advise people to avoid using that crutch when they can, because I think it makes it easy to get lazy when it comes to developing distinct characters.

So just don't get lazy, and I approve

Danger Jane · Jul 7, 2008

kuwisdelu said:
Took me a moment to figure out how your POV's were working there for a moment, but I think I've got it now. I'm not sure it's cheap necessarily, but I tend to prefer it when the author can make it obvious to the reader without needing them. If you do something cool with it like that, though, I think that would definitely be a stylistic technique interesting enough to win me over for the book despite it. That sounds like it would work quite nicely. I say keep them.

I just tend to advise people to avoid using that crutch when they can, because I think it makes it easy to get lazy when it comes to developing distinct characters.

So just don't get lazy, and I approve

All right, that's what I was thinking. I'm working hard to make the two POVs as distinctive as possible, but I didn't want to lose the blank pages without some agents telling me to cut the pretentious bullshit, and chapter titles are just the best way to get it across. The pretentious bullshit, that is.

P.O.V. question

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