Alternating between point of views

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Morgan Jones
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Re: Alternating between point of views

Post by Morgan Jones »

If I am writing in first person I would prefer sticking to one POV otherwise it just gets confusing to know who is who and the flow of he story is interrupted. Third person is the best option if you want to write many POVs because it doesn't disrupt the flow and also allows you flexibility to talk through many POVs.
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Post by MedleyLORE »

Switching between pov’s every chapter has help many authors in the past. Although I could never really get he hang or switching the personality as quickly and not have the two meld together but to each their own, you know?
I usually stick to third person if I was not be controlling more than one characters thought process. Ive given broken adaptive characters the best POV but got lost once it got to explaining the scene. I’m just a little messy with my explications. As you can see^
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Post by Moray_001 »

Switching perspectives can be tricky if you don’t do it right. I’m a writer and some of my readers gave me feedback on it. Some preferred not to even have the perspectives indicated at the start and let them figure it out on their own.

Others like it stated because they want to see what’s going on with the other characters.

But personally, I don’t like perspectives that just repeat the same event that happened previously. Not unless there’s something important included there.
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Post by H0LD0Nthere »

All good comments here.

Susan Howatch's Church of England series features about five or six novels. Each is written in first-person POV. However, each book in the series is narrated by a different character. So, first you have a book "written" by Charles Ashworth. Then you have one "written" by Ashworth's arch-rival. Then you have one "written" by Ashworth's spiritual director. And so on. It's fascinating to see different characters describe the same people, sometimes even the same situations, and see them completely differently. However, of course they don't just rehash all the exact same events. Each novel gives a generous glimpse into the narrator's backstory, as well as developing the ongoing story that is happening in all of their lives.

In some of her earlier novels (not the CofE series), she has different subsections of the book narrated in the first person by different characters, introduced with the name of the character narrating. Usually just when you start to get interested in or curious about a "minor" character, it turns out they narrate the next subsection.

So, yeah, I'm a big fan of first person.

Agatha Christie has also done some awesome stuff with first person, usually as unreliable narrator. Check out "Endless Night."
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Post by jjmainor »

There are no set-in-stone rules when it comes to a writing style, but if you're going to do something unconventional like shifting between 1st and 3rd person narration, you have to be very careful. I did it once in a science fiction story where I opened most of the chapters with the captain's log in 1st person before switching to 3rd person outside the log. The log was differentiated with italics so the reader knew when they were reading the log and when they were reading the objective story.

The reason for the variation was because the captain suffered from a degenerative disease. I wanted 1st person to give the reader the glimpse inside in head as his condition worsened, but by the end of the story, his mind was too gone to effectively write the ending in 1st person. The idea of the 1st person "log" was the compromise.
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Post by H0LD0Nthere »

jjmainor wrote: 21 Aug 2018, 21:30 There are no set-in-stone rules when it comes to a writing style, but if you're going to do something unconventional like shifting between 1st and 3rd person narration, you have to be very careful. I did it once in a science fiction story where I opened most of the chapters with the captain's log in 1st person before switching to 3rd person outside the log. The log was differentiated with italics so the reader knew when they were reading the log and when they were reading the objective story.

The reason for the variation was because the captain suffered from a degenerative disease. I wanted 1st person to give the reader the glimpse inside in head as his condition worsened, but by the end of the story, his mind was too gone to effectively write the ending in 1st person. The idea of the 1st person "log" was the compromise.
Sounds interesting and poignant.
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Post by gswhyte »

There are ways that you can make the point of view switch work (like retelling the events from the other person's perspective in the next chapter, being sure to indicate that the perspective has shifted), but it can be jarring for the reader if you are constantly shifting around every few paragraphs. The safer bet would be to choose a point of view and stick with it. If you are telling the story from character A's perspective (either first person or limited 3rd person), don't interject the unspoken thoughts of characters B, C, and D in the same scene, unless character A somehow knows their thoughts.
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Post by lisalynn »

Changing POV characters per chapter is popular. I don't like it as much though because just as I bond with a character, poof, we see someone else. Staying in only one character's head for the entire book, whether first person or third person close, is a much more difficult task.
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Post by Artizi »

I think it's a great way to advance the plot and give the reader interesting insight, as long as it's done well. Because when the voices of the different characters just seem too similar, it's really noticeable and can ruin a good book.
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Post by Nisha Ward »

I think if you're going to do that, you have to be very careful with how you do it as PoV switching tends to be confusing. Your characters should have clear distinctive voices that allow the reader to know exactly who's narrating.
"...while a book has got to be worthwhile from the point of view of the reader it's got to be worthwhile from the point of view of the writer as well." - Terry Pratchett on The Last Continent and his writing.
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Post by magnoparisi »

Well it depends. I tend to agree that, GENERALLY SPEAKING, it's a bad idea. But if you are a gifted and experienced writer the results could be amazing. American Psycho is a good example. Towards the end of the book the switching between narrative styles happens as the main character is completely losing his mind.
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Post by Lady-of-Literature »

It depends on the objective of the story and which POV assist the reader to better connect with the characters. I normally use third POV, more narrative, but I I change POV like first then it's usually for a letter, note, etc.
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Post by clint_csperry-org »

Done right, changing (POV) point of view is a great story telling tool. It gives the reader a different perspective to the story, how someone else views it. That can offer depth to the issues. Done wrong, it is disruptive hard to follow and is one of my pet peeves about authors. An abrupt change requires me to stop reading, go back and re evaluate what I just read. In other words it jerks me out of a story. The best method I have seen for accomplishing a change in POV is having a scene exclusively from one POV and then some sort of scene break. "* * *" then picking up a different POV. Or using separate chapters for each POV. When it happens in the middle of a scene I find it destructive to the flow and I have set aside stories that do this. Marking the author on to my do not bother reading list.
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Post by Inkroverts »

It's more of a personal preference. Personally I don't like stories who alter between POVs too many times, even if there are names on the page to tell me whose perspective I'm reading.
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Post by Juliet+1 »

I have seen authors skip merrily about between first and third POV, using various narrators for the third POVs and be quite successful. I only wish I had their skill. It's hard to know which character should be speaking when.
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