Just wondering... is there anyone who has experience in multiple POVs who would like to give their two cents in?
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
Try to change the POV in a sequence if it circulates between certain characters. It's extremely annoying if you enter one character's POV in a disjointed rythm. Try to change say every chapter, so the reader can get an update on what views character x has on what just happened. Try not to have too many POV (like a certain Robert Jordan). It slows down your story and it doesn't go anywhere while you inform the reader what the character has been up to.
Personally, while I change POV relatively often, I find that not using first person helps. That way I can start off with "Sharr looked around the room" instead of "I looked around the room" and the reader knows imediately what 's going on and whose POV they're seeing. Also, I always separate such POV jumps with a space or chapter break--that's a must!
"In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function...We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful." ~C.S. Lewis
I change POV every scene in my story; it's all in third person, but it is all in how the character views and reacts to things. What is beautiful to one character, is terrible to another. Still, avoiding summary is a must; if you summarize everything that has happened thus far in a different character's POV, it's going to drag badly.
I've never done multiple points of view. But I think the question is whether the author feels capable of doing it. It would not easy, that's for sure. You have to keep track of every character's thoughts and emotions during the proceedings, and then write them accordingly.
By switching back and forth, you're also going to be sacrificing the reader's connection with one main character. That is, you're going to be spreading things thin over many people.
And of course, in certain types of stories, it simply won't work.
I think that it's a useful tool if you can utilize it properly, and if your plot absolutely needs it to function, then you have no choice, do you? But otherwise, unless it's needed, it's just the author's choice.
I wrote a story with at least six different POV's. It was new and interesting to me, but later I thought it would confuse readers, so I switched to omnicient third person. Omnicient is a bit less personal, I think, and you have to get to know your characters by their actions, not by their thoughts. Knowing their thoughts is a big plus for character development, but if your readers are not the sharpest, they may have a hard time following it. I read a novel where the POV's changed, and it took me three chapters to figure it out. An author's note would have been helpful.
Anyhoo, that was my worthless two-cents.
"I hate the word 'Truce'. It means 'Fun's over'." ~My little sister
Multiple POV's is definitely a toss up for me. I like them in some books, but in others I think they distract from the storyline. Which is which? I have no idea. I just have to read it to figure it out I suppose.
In my own experience, when I write with multiple points of view, it is always brief. As in, I'll write most of the story from Carla's point of view, but briefly between chapters, I'll maybe put a few hundred words from David's point of view. This way, there are still other points of view, but it (hopefully) doesn't distract the reader too much.
And again, there's times it will work, and times when it won't. For example, I just read Jodi Piccoult's "My Sister's Keeper", which switches point of view every chapter. At first I was annoyed because I have never liked books in multiple points of view, but as I read, I realized that multiple points of view was the only way to really tell the whole story.
Last edited by Leja on Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I went nuts and started doing To Keep No Secrets in more than one POV. Not only that, it's in first. And then there is one chapter (and probably more to come) in third. XD I think I broke all the rules? Although they aren't really rules...
It wasn't that hard for me, because it was easy for you to tell which character I was with when I switched POVs, because my two characters that I'll be flopping back and forth with in first person are so different, and they perceive things differently. Plus I have the nasty habit of starting with dialog (It's easier) so it makes the POV change more obvious.
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.” ― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
I think that's the most important thing, Claudette, that your reader can tell within the first few paragraphs what character is speaking. Otherwise it is confusing and frustrating, and the reader will lose intrest in the story.
I think my readers get it, because when I changed the POV everyone said it worked out nicely.
Though with the one chapter that was in third person, I did get the comment that it seemed really out of place in context with everything else. But it makes sense to me, and the over all story, so It'll make sense eventually, lol.
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.” ― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
I think the only way to do multiple POV's effectively is to do them in first person. If it's in third person, you might as well stay in one POV and just have the narrator be omniscent. ..just my thoughts lol.
An author's note would have been helpful.
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