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POV Switches



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Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:33 am
Wolfdra says...



I'm in the middle of a book that has a first person POV throughout, but at the end, probably the epilouge, I thought of doing it from a different character's POV. Could I actually do that, or can I not? For the rest of the book, it's just from the main character's.
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"

"La shai'a waqi'on motlaq bal kollon momken."

"We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each of them lies an irreparable truth."

Rest in peace, Harry. <3
  





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Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:49 pm
Kale says...



There's no reason you can't. Sudden PoV changes are discouraged because they can confuse readers, but since you're planning yours for the epilogue, the epilogue is separate enough from the rest of the story that a change in PoV shouldn't be too confusing.
Secretly a Kyllorac, sometimes a Murtle.
There are no chickens in Hyrule.
Princessence: A LMS Project
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Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:56 pm
Rosendorn says...



Seconding Kyll. I'd also have some sort of clue early on in the epilogue that it's somebody different, just to make it even clearer. But that's me.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:35 pm
Wolfdra says...



Well, the reason for the change will probably be clue enough, but that is a good idea. Thanks guys.
"'Death happens,' as we like to say. 'And when I get paid for it, death happens more often.'"

"La shai'a waqi'on motlaq bal kollon momken."

"We are all books containing thousands of pages and within each of them lies an irreparable truth."

Rest in peace, Harry. <3
  





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Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:05 pm
WRITINGNEON says...



I know what pov means but does it stand for somthing?
we stitch these wounds
  





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Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:41 pm
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Rosendorn says...



WRITINGNEON wrote:I know what pov means but does it stand for somthing?


PoV stands for Point of View. Ie- the person you're using to write the story. Either first (I, me), second (you), or third (he/she/it). First and third being the most common.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:49 pm
Dynamo says...



You can write in any character's POV, so long as you do it correctly. As long as you make it clear which character you're writing for and make the transitions between one character's POV and another as seemless as possible, then it should work. The best thing I can think of is to never have a POV change in the middle of a chapter. If you want to change to another character's POV, finish the chapter you're working on now and start writing as the other character as soon as the next chapter picks up.

Also, try to keep the amount of characters you're doing POV's for to a minimum. If you have POV switches between more than two, possibly three, characters things can start getting confusiong. I don't read too much these days, but I remember reading the Eragon series when I was in high school. The second book in the series, I can't remember the name but I know the cover is red, did POV switches between Eragon and his brother and had them meet up at the end. Of course, the book ended up being almost twice the length of the first one because he was escentially telling two stories at once. Another reason why you want to be careful when switching POV, you don't want to break the flow of the story.

This is something I'm going to learn more about as well, because in my second book I'm going to have POV switches between the main character and his quest to retrieve a sword that was stolen from him, and his friend/brother figure's efforts to fortify his home village against an upcoming attack.
Chicken <-- Egg <-- Rocket Powered Fist
Take that, science!
  








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