Support for Indie Authors discussion

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post. If not, I apologise.

I'm beginning work on my new story, a comedy drama set in an SEO company. Problem is, which POV should it be in? The main story arc follows the protagonist and her will they, won't they relationship with her colleague, so logic says it should be from her POV, but won't that be awkward in situations where she won't be present or the focus shifts to other characters? There's always third person but to my mind that wouldn't have the same comic or emotional impact.

I'd love to know what you all think!

It really is up to you. First person really allows you to get into the head of your MC and make that close connection with your reader. But I have had a lot of people tell me they don't like to read in the first person perspective.

You can still really get into your MC's head in third person, and that would allow you to switch to other characters when necessary. I think with third person, you have more freedom to do that. With first person, it would be very challenging.

I agree with Missy. It's definitely your call. Whatever feels more natural to you. However, a third person omniscient voice allows you to explore the relationships between everyone and express their feelings without having to limit yourself to only writing from one perspective.

I guess it all depends on what you really want your readers to know about side characters. If what they think/feel doesn't matter outside of what they say, there's no reason to speak from any perspective than the MC's.

Depending on how much you had to push the PoV to other characters, you could try doing them in 3rd person, with the main PoV in first person, using their names as the title of the chapter? Sort of like little forays off into the plot.

It's risky, but you never know.

OK, two-pennorth...

Firstly, it's always going to be up to you, but you might want to consider the following:

1. How much time do you need to spend on events where the MC won't be there - and can you do these another way?

2. How comfortable are you in writing first-person? If it's not really your thing, consider going third-person unless the story really needs first-person.

3. What does first-person (in general) bring to the story that third-person would not (even with some reworking if necessary)?

4. Does your MC's voice, uniquely, bring something to the story? (I'm thinking about Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series here: Harry's voice - slightly detective-noir, slightly self-amused - brings something to the stories above and beyond the fact that it's first person so we're in his head.

I think you can do comedy/emotional just as well in the third person as you can in the first - it's all in the delivery. A good third person narrative is likely to have more impact, for example, than an awkward first-person.

Of course, if push comes to shove, you could write the first few chapters in both third and first person, and see which you think works out the best.

Good luck! :-)

It sounds like you prefer 1st-person here, and if the focus is a "will they, won't they relationship" that takes primarily in the mental realm and 1st-person can add depth and connection there that 3rd-person can tend to dilute.

For events that take outside the narrator's direct experience, there are various ways to handle that. After all, all of us experience life as a 1st person POV. How is the 3rd-person perspective to possible to us? How to we learn such things? Your narrator will learn about them the same way.

Writing from two, of even three, 1st-person POVs can also be done, and I've seen done well. It's all what feels best to you. No one else's opinion really matters.

Unless you're writing a short (and it sounds like you are not)... there's no reason why you can't have more than one POV. Many stories have more than one POV. You do need to be careful that you don't exhaust your reader with all the bouncing around... and of course you need to make sure that you change at least scenes, if not chapters, for each POV change. But especially if you can have all the other stuff be from the POV of just one other character, that's really not a problem.

What Laurie said is true. My current WIP is in first person, with three different points of view. Everyone just gets his or her own chapter. :)

I think the important thing to consider whenever you're possibly going to do 1st person POV is whether the story is enhanced by limiting the amount of knowledge the reader has to what is known/experienced by just one character.

1st Person POV is excellent when you want to withhold information for effect, to surprise the reader just as the MC is surprised.

If you feel external POVs are required for the telling of the story, then 1st Person POV for the MC becomes a little less justifiable, IMO. I mean it can be a perfectly acceptable stylistic choice, but it will not be as necessary to the story as in a more knowledge-restricted story.

You can certainly have different POVs scattered around, just be careful not to confuse readers as you do. You could actually have two first person POVs going on. Trickier to pull off, I should think, but certainly possible.

So ... your choice, but you should really think as much or more about why you would use one POV over another, as you do which one to use.

Oh ... of course even in 3rd Person POV you can restrict how much knowledge you share with the reader. A very limited 3rd Person POV allows more narrative freedom at the cost of losing some reader/MC intimacy.

Personally I don't mind any perspective while reading. I do find it jarring however if it switches.

When a chapter that contains the main character is in first person, and the next chapter is in third person I just find it odd.

I think that for better flow either set up another character that can be a first person perspective while the MC is away, or have it set up in a limited third person. The narrative is still limited to what one character feels and knows, we can go in their head if we need to, but it is from outside of their eyes, so it talks about her and she, instead of I and me. :)

Even then, that can be jarring if when the next character is in control we don't know what is in their mind!

Saying that still, different perspective styles and shifts can be combined brilliantly if done right, but it is very tricky to pull off properly. It really all depends on what you want to try!

Thanks, guys! I'll try writing in 3rd person and see what happens. Though my preference is usually 1st, it might feel artificial in this set up. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm writing my 2nd book which is mostly 1st person but with short passages of 3rd where the narrator, as you say, is not present.
It doesn't seem odd to me but we'll see!
Best of luck.
Mike

Mike wrote: "I'm writing my 2nd book which is mostly 1st person but with short passages of 3rd where the narrator, as you say, is not present.
It doesn't seem odd to me but we'll see!
Best of luck.
Mike"
This is a really interesting concept to me. I'd like to see how it works out.

Rachael, I wonder if you'll have the same problem I'm having. After writing three books in first person, I'm switching to third person for a new project, and I keep slipping into first!

Missy wrote: "Mike wrote: "I'm writing my 2nd book which is mostly 1st person but with short passages of 3rd where the narrator, as you say, is not present.
It doesn't seem odd to me but we'll see!
Best of luck...."

Hello Missy,
Here's a short (first draft) sampler...

(Jo and I were trying to call the police to report a sighting of some evidence. We couldn't get through.)

‘Let’s go and have some tea,’ said Jo. ‘We can try again in the morning? That coat was miles away from any of those murder sites anyway.’
‘Hmm.’
We did as she suggested and, once sitting comfortably with steaming mugs, we connected Jo’s phone to the television to show Emily our pictures. Embarrassingly, there seemed to be more than I remembered of Jo and I behaving like idiots and only one or two of any sophistication. One showed the dilapidated framework and buildings of the tin mine.
‘Hold on,’ said Emily, sitting forward. ‘What’s that? Can you make the picture bigger?’
Jo sat up and stroked the screen on her phone and the picture on the television zoomed in.
‘Left a bit.’
The picture shifted.
‘That looks like a lorry!’
‘Yeah!’ I leaned in as well. ‘More to the point, it looks like the one from the pottery that followed us back this way.’
‘Bloody hell!’ said Jo. ‘How weird is that!’
‘Very!’ said Emily. ‘The place is condemned. I wonder if Abel knows.'
She glanced at the clock.
'Sorry guys I have to go do dinners.'
Emily leapt up and disappeared to ‘The Flying Pig’ to sort out suppers while we made ourselves a classy combination of cauliflower cheese and chips.
*****
At about this time, the suspicious coat itself was on the move. Its owner had shrugged it on for warmth and was sitting slumped against a tree, holding, beneath his folded arms, a large, black book: a bible that had been thumbed almost to the point of transparency. No corners remained on any of the pages.
A fish jumped and plopped in the nearby stream.
Was that a sign? he asked himself glumly. Should he leap into action, or keep his head down?
He lowered his shaggy head and sighed. Interpreting the Lord’s helpful messages had been so easy when they related to other people and he was cocooned in the comfort of his Chesterfield armchair by a cosy fire. You just had to remember that ‘God works in mysterious ways’, in case things went pear-shaped.
He cuddled the bible a little tighter and accidentally squeezed a horrendous gurgle from his empty stomach. It was clearly time to wander into town and, once again, throw himself on the mercy of the charitable.

I think first person could work fine. You can get around situations where she won't be present by having her finding out things by listening in, accidentally coming across emails she shouldn't be reading or other people telling her gossip. That way we get other people's part of the story coming across, but also there's the possibility of her misunderstanding things which could lead to some interesting situations.