In a novel I'm writing, the POV is, I believe, limited third. It follows one character, an older man for about the first seven chapters. Then, in chapter 8, I wanted to take and have the POV switch to another character (who is constantly present with the first POV character from almost the begining) and do the POV from her for a chapter or two... So would this be acceptable you think? I am curious about that, because I've thought about it before, but didn't switch, just wanted to.
posted
do you have a reason for the POV change? if so, go ahead and do it. As long as you can keep it clear and un-confusing (wc), there's no problem imo
Posts: 27 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
sure there's a reason... relevant stuff happens to a character that is not the POV character of the first seven chapters, and also, that character is not present when said stuff happens. That qualifies, right? I'd rather show what happens to this character than have her merely repeat it to the other character, but I suppose I could...
posted
I don't have a problem with a POV change except for one tiny little reservation...consistency. There are some authors who use half a dozen POV's effectively, trading them in and out every or almost every chapter. When this pattern is established from the start, I find it can work well. Others have two or three POV's, one that is dominant, the others coming and going throughout the story as needed. Finally, some have one POV throughout.
Once I've read 7 chapters, it will probably surprise me to find myself in another character's head. I would probably have assumed you were sticking with the same POV throughout by that point. Assuming the change is useful and necessary, I will read through it, but I will then expect this new POV character to be important in some way, possibly contributing more POV chapters throughout the course of the novel. I don't like to be in a character's head for one or two chapters in the middle of a novel and no more.
Now, assuming that the novel is good and that the POV change seems relevant and necessary, this method won't be unforgivable to me, just something that will annoy me. I like patterns and symetry.
posted
Personally, I do one small POV switch to the Ch 8 POC-Char just to set it up. Maybe a couple of tiny scenes in Chapter 2. Nothing much. That's set the reader up and he/she hasn't got the notion this is only Person 1's story. Otherwise it might be a matter of "what's he/she doing telling this story?" .
Do you intend to keep it at the second char's pov after that? If so it's probably fine to simply do 1-7 as pov-char-1 then switch. Just handle the switch well, and make sure the reader knows that this char is important to the story in 1-7.
posted
I did this in one of my novels. After three chapters of the main character I switch POV to an outside character, then I switch POV again to the secondary character just before he meets the main character. It went well, I think and held to the rhythm of the rest of the book. But I got three rejections stating that was the reason they didn't accept it. None of those editors could understand why I'd done that. They wanted me to stay with character #1.
I sat and talked to two of them about it and they both said--"Pick a character and run with him. Your writing is great, but you need to stay focused."
Now this may not apply to your work and I am writing in a genre that doesn't take "different" well. But just something to think about: Make sure it's not in the first 50pgs.
posted
I don't see why you can't do it. I think of Treasure Island, where the whole story is told from Jim Hawkins until about the middle, where Dr. Livesy takes over for two or three chapters, and the rest remains in Jim's POV. I didn't find anything problematic with it, since Livesy was the only person who could tell that part of the story. He didn't even have to give his POV later because Treasure Island is Jim's story; those chapters are something that just needed explaining before other events took place.
Now, what would annoy me is being in one character's head and then switching to someone that hadn't already been introduced. I wouldn't drop the book, but I would be thinking "what-the-crap."
posted
Great input guys, thanks. Yeah, the character that its switched to is a main character, and she will remain in the thick of things through the rest of the story, and she certainly is important, but the POV will switch back shortly after her taking the POV... but it will continue to do this through out the story (I'm pretty sure.) So it'd be kind of a pattern.... few chapters from this guy... then a one or two from the girl... always noted by a chapter break, and it would be obvious everytime. What I gathered from all of your opinions this would be okay... It's fantasy, so it's not like... rigid guidelines.
posted
Yeah, now that I'm addicted to Robert Jordan (though I was all prepared to hate his series), everything seems to relate to him, lately.
Basically, the first half of the Eye of The World is from Rand's point of view, until the group is split three ways. It did take some getting used to after all that time in one character's head. Then by the time of the third book, Rand was hardly present at all, and rarely if ever as a viewpoint character. Then I got used to Perrin as a viewpoint character until Book 5, he wasn't present at all. Now, I'm over halfway through book 8, wondering where Matt is, probably captive, on his way by boat to meet the Seanchan Empress he's destined to marry.
Anyway, it has its cost if the reader gets more involved in one viewpoint character than the other. But it seems like you have a handle on it with how you described it.
I've noticed that RJ seems to have certain overall method. Though there are expections, usually, one or two hundred pages tend to revolve around one major viewpoint character or alternating viewpoint chapters for groups of major characters, transitioned by a chapter or so for an antagonist or minor characters, then for another one or two hundred pages, goes to another viewpoint character or group, usually seperated geographically.
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