posted
Although I always have more than one POV character in a novel (so far), I try to keep to only one in a short story. However, the start of a short story came to me a couple of days ago. I'm still working out exactly what it wants to be. But it seems like it needs to POV characters.
Any advice on this from more experienced writers of short stories? Should I try to force it to one POV? Go ahead and write it however it wants to come and then try to make it a single POV? Just live with two POV characters?
posted
Go ahead and write the story however it wants to come and then try to cut all but one of the POVs. I wrote one short story with four POVs, successfully cut one, and occasionally look for ways to cut another. (One of these days I'll workshop the story.)
If in the end, your story needs both POVs to survive, then submit it that way. Multi-POV short stories are harder to pull off, but I have read and enjoyed some in anthologies.
posted
I'm with aspirit. One POV is the "rule of thumb" but really it seems that quite a lot of stories go around thumbless on various levels. Write it, let it be what it wants to be unless you have some very specific idea of what you want it to be (I don't think you do) and then see what happens.
Posts: 2626 | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
There is no actual rule about multiple POVs, but like Merlion said, it is the rule of thumb. What might be the most difficult part of multiple POVs is the space each one takes. The underlying idea to the limited POV, especially in short stories, is that there is only so much space you can allot to each character to get the reader to sympathize and bond with said character. In a novel, you've got all that space to play in, but a short story doesn't.
I understand the pull of multiple POVs. I have a story with two very strong, important characters and the thing keeps rambling on. It is either going to end up a novel, or I need to decide whose story it is and just tell that one.
posted
Well, I guess the first thing is to get it out and see what it turns into. Nearly anything can be fixed in revisions, at least if you're willing to be brutal about it.
The character I want to make the POV character does not understand anything that's going on, and may never understand some of it, which makes it difficult to let the reader in on much. Plus, she's nonverbal.
Just get it down and figure out for sure where it's going. I think I know, but it could surprise me, yet. That's the first order of business.
posted
I just finished a story with two POVs. Though I don't know if 11,000 words could be called a short story. But it really needed to be told the way it was told. I don't see any problem with two POVs if it's necessary to the story. Write it the way you want.
Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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posted
How many characters do you have? I think the "rule of thumb" applies as inversely proportional to the number of viewpoint characters you have. I could very well see a short story being executed well from two main viewpoint characters (especially if they have a relationship - romance, agonist/antagonist, etc - it would allow readers to see how the different characters view each other in those roles...) But each new viewpoint character would make the telling of the story more difficult.
posted
Right now there are four characters. There might be five, but probably not more.
At the moment, POV kind of bounces back and forth between two of them. Then again, I'm only on the third scene. After the story gets started, I may not need the second POV character (as a POV character, anyway). Between them, they understand most of what's happening, but neither one of them understands all of it. And they can't really communicate to explain it to each other.
It's kind of a weird idea that just came to me the other day--at least the beginning did. When I feel a little more solid about it, I'll post the first thirteen.
I think I'll just get the story down first, then worry about how to handle the POV issues. Maybe I'll be able to see a way to trim it down to one once it's done. That would be my preference.
posted
I've sold short stories with more than one POV, and seen plenty. Mine fall into two main groups: 1). Stories with an intro in one POV, usually of someone who gets killed, followed by the main story in the POV of the investigator of the death 2). Stories with two POV characters whose input is roughly balanced with one another.
As with any technique, if you do it well, it won't be a problem, but if (for instance) you are going to take my option 1 you need to flag it up prettty quickly - I usually run this style (they're Yi Qin stories) in "mini-chapters" and if chapter 1 is titled "The Unfortunate Death Of Gong Li" and starts in Gong Li's POV, the reader isn't going to feel cheated by a POV change...
Posts: 1469 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Don't forget you also have omnicient point of view available to you as a storytelling device. While it's not a particularly popular method of writing right now, it has been extremely popular in the past.
In 3rd person omni POV, the POV is more like a camera mounted on the ceiling (rather than on one character's shoulder/in their head.) Usually in omni the POV dips a little into each character's thoughts, but only at a superficial level, and the majority of the storytelling is action-oriented.
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