Struggling Writers discussion
Stuck on Your Writing?
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Need your advice dearest writers :)
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While it can be done, switching from first to third person POV is something that could also backfire on you if not done skillfully. Before you make such a sweeping change, I would ask why you are considering it in the first place. Is your story stalled? Are you burnt out on the story? Is switching POVs just a way of avoiding dealing with the harder structural problems in your story (which will still be there after you do all that editing)?
I for one would advise against it, unless you are confident you can pull it off. I for one won't read a book written in the first person, it gets boring listening to just one persons voice all the way through. If the story has hit a dead end changing the POV won't help you need to figure out where you went wrong, by printing your story out and reading it through out loud to yourself. Good luck, and I hope it works out.
I have to agree with Sarah and say that unless you're positive that it's able to be pulled off, you should veer away from doing such a drastic POV switch. But if you're confident, I think there's nothing wrong with it. As a reader, the POV switch wouldn't confuse/bother me too much, as long as it's been executed well.
Sorry but your responses have confused me a little! By "switching povs" are you talking about if I change the whole story's POV or it I change it to first person and THEN switch to third when I include those scenes I was talking about?
In Marie Lu's Legend series and Veronica Roth's Allegiant, POVs are switched all the time from the female protagonist's to the male protagonist's. But it never changes from third person.
Sarah wrote: "In Marie Lu's Legend series and Veronica Roth's Allegiant, POVs are switched all the time from the female protagonist's to the male protagonist's. But it never changes from third person."I switch POV's all the time but always stay in third person, though your Characters thought should always be in first person. Why not try the two scenes as thought-in your POV's imagination. Sorry if we confused rather than helped though.
By switching POVs I meant switching just for that one part :)
^ Ah, I see. I'm leaning toward that. Just keeping it in third person, and then switching to the male character when his scene is ready. This I think I'll stay with for 3 reasons:1. I don't want to have to rewrite the entire book in first person. Lol.
2. It's easier to switch scenes that way I think.
3. I started writing some sentences in first person, just to experiment, but I think I would probably end up in third person anyway. For my writing, I always favor third person. I feel like my writing sounds a bit juvenile when I do first person.
I usually do first person, but that's just what I'm comfortable with. It all boils down to personal preference!
I wouldn't.It could be confusing to some people.You don't need to take my advice,I'm only 10
Read "A Discovery of Witches", Its written in first person, through Diana Bishop's POV, but where she's not present/involved, it's written in third person. Harkness does an excellent job of seamlessly combining the POV's. It's the only book(s) - "Shadow of Night". These are the only books I recall written in this manner. My next book series will be written this way.
BUT there are 2 scenes (at least) that I want to put in the novel concerning my main character's love interest. The problem is my main character cannot be there so I would have to suddenly switch viewpoints (either third person or first person from a different character's perspective). This scene would occur about 2/3 of the way through the novel, so it would probably feel quite sudden.
So I have 3 choices: I can change it to first person and delete those 2 scenes (which would be difficult because I do like them a lot).
I can keep third person and keep those scenes
I can change it to 1st person and switch viewpoints for that scene
I've seen novels change viewpoints enough to know that it's not foreign territory, but I wonder if it looks unprofessional/takes the reader out of the story.
Thoughts?