Multiple Points Of View

[Feliks]

Maybe the content didn't grab you; they are mostly manly stories. But its solid technique. He lets the dialog and a few asides, tell the tale.

[Justin]

I enjoy Elmore Leonard as well. Your right, he tends to let the story tell itself. Good quality writer right there.

[Feliks]

I think its strong because the characters' voice can be filled with all sorts of slang, tone, regionalism, inflection, and idiom which the 'omniscient narrator' can not resort to without losing objectivity and opacity. A hidden story underlying the surface is being conveyed simply by the way the character speaks.

If you've ever heard 'Gunsmoke' on radio you know that this is what makes the 'Chester' character work. We only know a smidgen of info about him, yet he is the most vivid character in the series.

[Harrison]

I do this in three ways and I don't think there is a right or wrong way.

1. Change of chapter.
2. Change at the end of a conversation and follow the new character.
3. Mid-sentence switch to a different viewpoint i.e. some other character overlooking others, and ultimately following them.

There may be other methods, but my favourite is number 2.

Harrison

[Humberto]

I alternate short chapters between male/female characters. This, I hope, brings different takes of the same, evolving, scene.

[Regina]

Harrison wrote: "I do this in three ways and I don't think there is a right or wrong way.

1. Change of chapter.
2. Change at the end of a conversation and follow the new character.
3. Mid-sentence switch to a diff..."

I can see how #1 would work easily, as that's how I do it myself.

2. I think what you're talking about here is more like third person omniscient? So that's not necessarily a different POV, if that's what you're doing.

3. I do not know how this could be made to work mid sentence. I would think this would be very confusing to a reader.

[Harrison]

If you do it right it shouldn't be confusing. I've yet to have anyone comment they find it confusing.

[Yzabel]

I guess it depends on how it's done. In omniscient narrative mode, it looks like it could work. If we're talking 3rd person limited, then switching mid-sentence is definitely confusing. (At least, it always makes me go "WTF? Hey, by the way, suspension of disbelief, come back here, you're still needed!")

[Philip]

The Waves by Virginia Woolf is a tale told from multiple points of view, written in her best poetic prose. She allows each of her characters to speak of their lives, from childhood to middle age, in her stream of consciousness style in a way that is always interesting, stimulating, and never confusing. A more recent example of a tale told from multiple points of view is The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric. Instead of chapters, her novel is divided into short passages. Each passage is headed by the name of one of the characters, who not only speak in their own voices, but their words are printed with their own type, from Bembo to Caxton to Perpetua to Guardi to Berling roman, which adds to the cleverness of the plot. I think if an author makes it clear who is speaking, the reader should never be confused or put off by a novel told from multiple points of view. It can in fact keep them stimulated, interested, on their toes, open to be surprised and challenged.

[Mary]

Harrison wrote: "I do this in three ways and I don't think there is a right or wrong way.

1. Change of chapter.
2. Change at the end of a conversation and follow the new character.
3. Mid-sentence switch to a diff..." I switch in a natural flow of story... I also change the timeline with the character, often going back over a scene already presented , but from a different character's viewpoint. I the best example I ever saw of that was the old book "The Collector" by John Fowles in which the novel was presented twice...once from the perpetrator's viewpoint and once from the victim's viewpoint.


Children of Stone: Voices in Crystal

[Demar]

Our brains are machines, and our brains like patterns.

How this ties into the question.

I think if you're book has multiple POV's it is good to establish a rhythm. For example, cycle through the 3 character you are working on in order. This adds to the satisfying feeling of the books flow.

Have any of you read the Wheel of Time? It was epic, but I was always ticked when the book would open with 3 straight chapter of Rand, the Main Protagonist, and then his POV wouldn't pop up until 1,000 pages later. Like every chapter I'd be thinking, "is it back to Rand yet?"

Nah, help your reader out, and establish a pattern, so when they finish a chapter they are excited to read the next about their favorite character who is in queue.

---Demar