1st and 3rd person - Both?

OK, so for my story The Ringbearers, there is a girl narrating it to everyone, so obviously it is 3rd person. Which is working fine, and as I planned.

But I recently developed an... interesting character. Basically, he's mentally unsound. And I'm not sure I could capture his essence in 3rd person. Would it be too weird or unusual to, for just his POV, switch to 1st person? And is there any way that I could do this effectively?

I appreciate any help I might get.

loveness, ultraviolet

So long as you clearly separate these sections, I see no problem. It might be better to do it by chapter, where you alternate between the characters' points of view, than by scene, though. Doing it by scene risks confusing your readers.

I've alternated between persons by scene in a couple of my projects, and the main complaint was that it got confusing. When I started alternating by chapter, there weren't as many complaints about confusion, though there were a couple of people who just didn't like that I had a different person for different characters, which I think was just a matter of taste.

In any case, if you feel that's the best way to tell your story, go for it. :D

OK, I'll try it. I've just never seen that done, so I was wondering if there was any specific reason not to, or if people just thought it was an over all bad idea.

I see you already have an answer, but I think this is a very cool idea. I would be really interested in reading something like this, good luck to you!

How important is this new character? Is he important enough to require his own POV in the novel? Would his POV give new, important information to the reader besides his mentally unsoundness?

I'm sure there are ways you could present his mental unsoundness through the third person, it's just figuring out which tricks to use where. I don't know exactly what your character is like so I can't start to give you an example. Personally I'd be irked by a book that was in 3rd person then flopped to the 1st person of a different character. Point of View is something that should be consistent. You can change the point of view character, but changing your focus (close, or far away? first person or third, respectively) would be confusing in my mind.

The above questions I gave may help you figure out what to do with him. If the only reason you want him in first person is to show his mental issues, then I would advise against it. The first person is challenging, and it wouldn't be worth it, imo.

Well basically he has a split personality, where his other half is like a voice in his head that can take control of him at certain times. And this person is my main villain, though I want him to be a sympathetic villain.

Any other solutions would be fine, but I just couldn't think of anything.

In my story, I have two different charries narrating- one in 3rd and one in 1st. I just make it clear as to when they switch. Putting an asterisk (*) or changing the font works well.

Well basically he has a split personality, where his other half is like a voice in his head that can take control of him at certain times.

I can't help but jump in and let you know how that's pretty much psychologically inaccurate. I'm friends with a criminal psychology major (who is currently interning at the only mental hospital for the criminally insane in our state, no less), and that's not how things work, lol.

BUT, Fight Club pretty much failed at psychology too, and I love that book. So go for it! I just thought I'd let you know, it's not accurate in the least.