Point of view
If you're reading a book with a single point-of-view character, would you rather be in the head of the most interesting person or the everyman/woman?
It's probably not either-or for most of us. Sometimes I want to see the world through Harry Potter's eyes. Sometimes I'd rather take the trip with Severus Snape.
I think that explains at least a quarter of the fanfiction -- for Harry Potter and every other fandom: We want to jump POVs. (OK, and 'ship characters, but POV is driving some of it, I swear.)
The thing is, sometimes an intriguing character is so very interesting precisely because we're not in their head. An element of mystery adds a lot.
So even though poor Harry isn't the most interesting character of his series, or even in the top five, I think we have his POV to thank for Snape's runaway popularity. Snape's more interesting than Harry, true, but he's more interesting still seen through Harry.
It's probably not either-or for most of us. Sometimes I want to see the world through Harry Potter's eyes. Sometimes I'd rather take the trip with Severus Snape.
I think that explains at least a quarter of the fanfiction -- for Harry Potter and every other fandom: We want to jump POVs. (OK, and 'ship characters, but POV is driving some of it, I swear.)
The thing is, sometimes an intriguing character is so very interesting precisely because we're not in their head. An element of mystery adds a lot.
So even though poor Harry isn't the most interesting character of his series, or even in the top five, I think we have his POV to thank for Snape's runaway popularity. Snape's more interesting than Harry, true, but he's more interesting still seen through Harry.
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Oh, I didn't think of that -- that the Harry POV helps explain not just Snape but why these characters all feel real and interesting.I love Austen too, as you know, and also enjoy Dickens, but I'm having trouble thinking of a modern novel in third person omniscient that I loved. There probably is one, maybe more than one, and it's just escaping me. But that POV does seem to have gone out of style, doesn't it?
Maybe it will come around again. Like mustaches and beards. (It just hit me a few months ago that, like, HALF the men suddenly have one or both. And not just for Movember.)
I had no idea that mustaches and beards were coming back! (I live in such a bubble.) You're right about third person omniscient going out of style, though I don't read much literary fiction (what is literary fiction anyway?), so perhaps third person omniscient is more prevalent in that genre?
I had to look back through some of the books I've read, and I noticed that Things Fall Apart and Burmese Days seem to fall into the category of third person omniscient (though the line between omniscient and limited seems blurry to me). They're not recent books, either, but at least they're from the 20th century. But again, they fall into the literary fiction category.
Ah, what about Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell? I'm not sure what category that book falls into, but at least it was published in the 21st century?
It makes sense that third person omniscient would be a useful tool for an author writing about big ideas or themes, just as a limited POV would be a good tool for a novelist focusing more on character. So, is it actually novels about big ideas that have gone out of style?
Oh, I hadn't thought of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell -- a good example of a modern book I liked a lot that has an omniscient narrator. (Of course, it had an omniscient narrator to sound authentically nineteenth century!)But I'd also momentarily forgotten about The Hitchhiker's Guide series, which I recall being omniscient, too. And I haven't gotten around to the Discworld series, but I hear those books are also omniscient, so maybe it's a POV that's either (a) books written before the twentieth century), (b) books written to sound like they were written before the twentieth century, (c) Important Books With Themes or (d) hilarious novels.
I think you're right that big themes lend themselves to omniscient and character-driven novels do not. That's part of what makes Jane Austen so amazing, because her themes and characters were both great.
I was about to write that I generally only like novels with one or two points of view, but then I also enjoyed Game of Thrones and the sequels (despite, or perhaps because of, the gruesome nature of the world). But even though Martin includes many points of view, each chapter keeps us firmly in the head of one character.
And I'm a big fan of Austen and Dickens, who use third person omniscient, so I suppose when it comes down to it, I can't define my views on POV as neatly as I like!