I know that it's posted here somewhere, but can I do it? I will post my first thirteen of a new 'idea' in Fragments and Feedback. But I need to know if it's ok.
Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :
Some people say it is; some people say its not.
I think this falls under the category of: if you can make it work then it works.
In the rules of writing the absolutes only mean that few people have managed to break those rules yet. But they can pretty much all be broken if you do it well.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
According to OSC, the first paragraph is free. That doesn't mean it can be garbage, just that you can get away with breaking rules there. Just be sure you understand what you are doing and why, because even though it's free, it still has to work as a hook.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Yes, but usually you'll signal it by using a POV that couldn't easily be sustained long anyway. One good example is the dialog vignette opening, another is the character-about-to-die short prologue, there are other examples, but many of them tend to be less easy to work, a popular one is the omniscient opening (which tends to get used even when it doesn't work at all).
The problem is that you always have to justify both your use of the POV and your reason for abandoning it during a POV segment. That doesn't change just because you decided to make it only one paragraph long. If you have a definite reason for changing, that will come out on its own. The same is true of having a definite reason to use that POV in the first place.
In other words, if you really need to do it that way, it'll work.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
Survivor, I will often start in an omniscient POV and move quickly and easily into first or third. Changing from one character to another is a little trickier, and I agree with your statements those cases, as well as changing from first to third or third to first.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
It works as long as you have a clear reason for starting in omniscient and a clear reason for abandoning it (usually a character who would look more interesting from the inside is sufficient). The problem is that writing omniscient openings for no particular reason can (and does) rapidly become a bad habit, and it is a habit that many editors will have seen in many unpublishable writers. There is nothing inherently wrong with doing something that many novice writers do...most of the things novice writers do are obvious (and therefore valid) ways to tell a story. You just need to know why you're doing it.
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
I agree completely. changing POV after the first paragraph is something that isn't going to happen all that often anyway, so doing so should have a good reason. It should have probably more thought put into that choice than even the overall selection of tense and POV for the rest of the story. In fact, any time you decide to stray from the well-trodden path (first/limited third past), the author should have a reason for it, even if that reason is nothing more than wanting to try something different.