ETA: I've gotten some good answers to this question & am asking a new, related one in post #14: So how do you make POV decisions in romance, given the way many romance scenes will be equally crucial to both characters?
So... how "done" is it, in a romance, to include multiple POVs, specifically the love-interest's POV?
I'm writing my first romance, and I've been working on the (male in a M/F) love-interest's backstory. And I just hit paydirt--a piece of family-of-origin conflict that will play so deeply into the main conflict of the novel & give him a real cathartic awakening when the climax plays out, and... now it almost feels a pity that so much of it will happen offscreen. I am just slightly toying with the idea of giving him a POV.
I'm not asking "am I allowed?" I am, I know, but what I wonder is what do most romance readers want? It's not only about what they want (another factor is, if I give him a lot of screentime the novel will probably be too long) but I care a lot what they want. Specifically I'm looking to not do anything that the usual market for sweet historical romance/romantic suspense isn't into. Beyond the couple things I'm already doing that're kind of inescapable. It's a long story.
Is a love-interest's POV considered a liability b/c it could ruin the suspense about the prospects for their relationship? Or will the reader go "hey, this guy sounds interesting, why didn't she tell his story?" Or is it fifty-fifty??
So... how "done" is it, in a romance, to include multiple POVs, specifically the love-interest's POV?
I'm writing my first romance, and I've been working on the (male in a M/F) love-interest's backstory. And I just hit paydirt--a piece of family-of-origin conflict that will play so deeply into the main conflict of the novel & give him a real cathartic awakening when the climax plays out, and... now it almost feels a pity that so much of it will happen offscreen. I am just slightly toying with the idea of giving him a POV.
I'm not asking "am I allowed?" I am, I know, but what I wonder is what do most romance readers want? It's not only about what they want (another factor is, if I give him a lot of screentime the novel will probably be too long) but I care a lot what they want. Specifically I'm looking to not do anything that the usual market for sweet historical romance/romantic suspense isn't into. Beyond the couple things I'm already doing that're kind of inescapable. It's a long story.
Is a love-interest's POV considered a liability b/c it could ruin the suspense about the prospects for their relationship? Or will the reader go "hey, this guy sounds interesting, why didn't she tell his story?" Or is it fifty-fifty??
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