Fantasy Questions - Multiple POVs and longer timelines

Harry Potter took place over the academic year, per book. Like Fall to Spring for each book. They made two LEGO games of Harry Potter and named them Years 1-4 and 5-7 that had seven books in the series.

I couldn't imagine trying to write a novel like Ferris Bueller's Day Off (movie) that takes place in the course of one day.

Time is subjective though, and any time frame could be written well. Groundhog's Day, over a day as well, could be done into a novel I guess.

Character motivations and arcs change better over time, I think. Alliances/allegiances changing, wars developing, and so on. These all need time.

Some would say that "epic" fantasy = "big" by definition, which means lots of characters and often takes place over a long period of time over the course of many books. With that said, you can absolutely have second-world fantasy novels from a single POV (going through my goodreads: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Name of the Wind, Who Fears Death, as well as books by Mercedes Lackey and Carol Berg) or that cover a very short time span (Most of A Darker Shade of Magic takes place over 24-48 hours). YA fantasy also tends to be more limited in terms of POV characters and time period.

For the single POV query:

Lois McMaster Bujold - The World of the Five Gods. They stand alone, so you can just read one.

Robin Hobb's Fitz novels are another to take a look at.

There are advantages in staying with a single POV. It's a good way to naturally build suspense into the plot, because your reader and your character are both stuck with limited information about what's not immediately happening to them. I find it very difficult to execute, and am always impressed when it's done well.

EvilPenguin said:

I've been really into reading fantasy books the past couple of years and have been trying to write my own, but something always feels a little off. Just recently, I realized that nearly all of the fantasy books that I enjoy are in third person with multiple POvs, yet all the fantasy books I've tried to write are only from the main character's POV. Is there an industry standard for multiple POVs in fantasy? Does anyone have any examples of really good fantasy books that DON'T have multiple POVs?

Also, something else I struggle with is writing a fantasy books that takes place over the course of many weeks or months. An entire novel for me usually only happens over the course of 4-5 days, but I'm starting to realize that this doesn't seem like a lot of time for a character to go through a good arc. And again, a lot of the good fantasy books I've read take place over many weeks or months or sometimes even years. Is it better for a fantasy novel to span a longer timeline? Or can it be done well in the course of just a few days?

I do want to note that I am mostly referring to high/epic fantasy, as I know things are a little different for urban fantasy.

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I've read plenty of fantasy novels that are from first-person pov, most often a single viewpoint, but sometimes rotating. Rotating limited third is certainly popular in fantasy, especially modern epic fantasy, as is omniscient third, but I don't think there's an industry standard. I think it's more a matter of what comes naturally to the writer and of what works best for the story. Some stories are better told via multiple viewpoints, while others are more personal and it creates a better sense of reader investment, not to mention tension, when the reader knows no more than a single protagonist does.

I've noticed that YA fantasy is especially likely to be written from first person or a close limited third viewpoint with one (or just a few) povs, as are many urban fantasies, but I've run across plenty of adult and traditional epic-style fantasy that is too. An example would be some of Jacqueline Cary's books, or some of NK Jemisin's works, Glen Cook's Black Company books, Mark Lawrence's books, or Robin Hobb's Fitz and Fool books (the latest trilogy adds a second first-person viewpoint, but the earlier ones are all from one pov). Going even further back in time would be Roger Zelazney's Amber series. This is just scratching the surface. I'd say it's more common in fantasy written in the past 15 years or so, but there are definitely examples from further back.

As for the time frame, I think you are correct that most novels, especially epic fantasy novels, take place over longer periods of time than a few days. The question is whether or not the stakes feel high enough in a shorter story and whether or not the protagonist's arc feels complete. Note that not all fantasy is of the epic persuasion, even when one is looking at (edit) third-person stories. I have the opposite problem: I can't write short stories very well, because I have trouble envisioning stories with satisfying (but very self-contained) arcs that take place over a much shorter period of time and aren't insipidly linear.

My current WIP is high fantasy and takes place over a week. The characters don't travel, they're defending their home temple so they pretty much stay in one place. It's more uncommon, but fantasy stories like that are out there. I'm also reading the Alex Verus series right now. Although it's a series, one of the books takes place over the course of about two weeks or so. It's uncommon in fantasy, but short timelines happen.

I know this advice gets kicked around a lot but write the timeline that your story needs. Because these are madeup worlds a lot of fantasy stories feature travel. If traveling to new/unknown lands, cities, and kingdoms isn't a plot point for your story arc, then why include it? Write what your story needs.

I would think that having a shorter time span would make it easier to create a real sense of urgency. Sometimes in longer novels with longer time spans, even though they are dealing with potentially world breaking stuff, the characters don't act like it.

EvilPenguin said:

I've been really into reading fantasy books the past couple of years and have been trying to write my own, but something always feels a little off. Just recently, I realized that nearly all of the fantasy books that I enjoy are in third person with multiple POvs, yet all the fantasy books I've tried to write are only from the main character's POV. Is there an industry standard for multiple POVs in fantasy? Does anyone have any examples of really good fantasy books that DON'T have multiple POVs?

Also, something else I struggle with is writing a fantasy books that takes place over the course of many weeks or months. An entire novel for me usually only happens over the course of 4-5 days, but I'm starting to realize that this doesn't seem like a lot of time for a character to go through a good arc. And again, a lot of the good fantasy books I've read take place over many weeks or months or sometimes even years. Is it better for a fantasy novel to span a longer timeline? Or can it be done well in the course of just a few days?

I do want to note that I am mostly referring to high/epic fantasy, as I know things are a little different for urban fantasy.

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Here is the fun part of writing. You get to play God. Usually doesn't matter. If you want to write from only one POV, you can do that. If you want to have five POV characters, you can do that too. Your story can take place over the course of a few hours or many centuries.

Have you finished any of your books? Have you gotten feedback from readers? Sometimes we are just worrying over nothing. Best to check it out.

Good luck to you.

If all of the characters are equally important to the story and there isn’t just one main character then you should be fine. Some of my favorite books have been from multiple POV’s. I haven’t read high epic fantasy much but it’s really all about the writer. One thing that you could do to make it work is have different story lines for each point of view, obviously they would match with the main storyline but you could have one character see a different character act a different way and then have that other character’s POV e-gift reason for it. As for length of stories, I think that a good book could happen over the course of a week, especially if there is a deadline or something. I don’t think something should be made longer just for the sake of making it longer but you could also note that days have passed without explains them in detail if there needs to be a waiting period or something, that would make it more spread out. But this is all just me and I might not be your ideal audience but I do hope that this helps get your gears turning.

Urban fantasy is often written in first person and often takes place over days, not years. It sounds like that's not what you're reading, and not what you're trying to write, but you might check some out just to see what other authors do with it.

I loved Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series, short as it was, and I think that was largely in first person. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books are a lot of fun, although I find his series always get better a few books in, rather than right from the start.

Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire books are all first person IIRC

The thing that makes something "epic fantasy" isn't really about the point of view characters; it's more about the high stakes at stake and the grueling path to victory. Whatever victory means.

And, it doesn't really matter if your work is epic fantasy, or more historical fantasy, or more some other sub-genre. All that really matters, particularly at the point of creation, is making it the best version of whatever it turns out to be, in the end.

As fas as the timeline goes, Greek Drama goes through wild and crazy arcs, and they all seem to fall over a day or two in narrative. Part of what makes the arcs so impressive and dramatic is the compression in time between the moment of perceived stability in the opening of act i, to the breakdown of order and instability and ultimate tragedy hours later. In other words, it sounds like a great way to develop narrative arcs, and it's something that happens. I've read at least one book recently, by Celine Keirnan, with a compressed timeline over a few days. It can work really well, done well, like anything.

Best of luck!