Uneven Points of View?

Gwenzilla · Oct 12, 2006

My current project has a main character from whose point of view most of the story is told. Point of view shifts to the antagonist and to a secondary character from time to time, and throughout the story there have been small insights into other characters' points of view, as well.

Am I under some obligation to give each of the characters whose points of view I visit "equal time" somehow? I don't think I'm breaking a cardinal rule: there haven't been any major point of view shifts within a single scene. My worry is that while I may want to give a glimpse of the story from someone else's point of view from time to time, it might make the character whose point of view I'm visiting for this or that little scene seem more somehow central, if that makes any sense. Should I go back and attempt to give the same insights from a point of view completely filtred through my main characters, or is there an argument for keeping the additional points of view in the story?

LeeFlower · Oct 12, 2006

I don't think you're under any obligation to give your different points of view equal time. Be wary, though, of whether or not all of your extra POVs are really serving the story. If you're just switching it up to switch it up, it might be better not to.

blacbird · Oct 12, 2006

Start with asking yourself, Why do I need to dip into these lesser characters' points-of-view? and Can I convey what I need to about them in another way without so much POV shifting? There's no cut-and-dried way to answer the questions you ask short of critiquing the manuscript itself, and even then, you'll likely get a variety of opinions. But I'm leery of too many POV shifts myself, and from what I've seen of discussions here, I'm probably in the majority.

caw.

JanDarby · Oct 12, 2006

Definitely not equal time. In third person POV, most time is spent in the protagonist's point of view, b/c, after all, he/she is the character we care the most about.

If you have other POVs, it's a good idea to be consistent with them. For example, know early on which secondary characters will have a POV, and whether the antagonist will have a POV. Then, sprinkle them sort of evenly through the book, and introduce them within the first 1/4 or 1/3 (certainly within the first half) of the manuscript. It's very jarring to have a new POV on, say, page 300 of a 350-page book. Generally, you'll have a secondary character's POV when there's a subplot, or when there's action going on that the main character isn't aware of, but you'll want that character to have a few scenes, not just one.

JD

Simon Woodhouse · Oct 12, 2006

When I have a novel in the planning stage, I write a brief summary of each chapter and colour code them according to which POV they're told from. When this is complete, it's easy to see which characters are getting the most overall 'page time'. Because POV changes only take place when there's a new chapter, and that's the way I plan the story to be told, I don't have to worry about head-hopping, or any of those sorts of problems. The main character usually gets about a third more 'page time' than whoever's next in line.

ChaosTitan · Oct 12, 2006

The novel I am querying uses seven different points of view in the course of the story. Three are main and four are secondary, but all are important in the telling. About eighty percent of the scenes are told from one of the three main's POV, but it is necessary to follow other characters that are apart from the main's every once in a while.

As long as the minor POV's serve the story, use them, and the reader will follow along.

Uneven Points of View?

Gwenzilla

Rarely a leaf on the wind

LeeFlower

Lurker Extraordinaire

blacbird

JanDarby

Simon Woodhouse

ChaosTitan

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