Here we go, first post full of doubt and fear and all that stuff. I have a MC for my current WiP, a thriller with a touch of sci-fi set 15 or 20 years in the future. He's a character I'm totally in love with, probably my best creation to date, and I'm treating him very carefully. The thing is I have other 4 or 5 characters and, somehow, I wanted to tell my MC's story using the PoV of this little team of characters to enhance the mysterious and enchanting aura he has. Also, this guy plays an important part in the lives of these characters, and the whole story is wrapped around his actions and decisions. But I find it a little risky; I don't want to make him look flat or half baked if I don't use his PoV, which is doable, as I haven't find him alone in any chapter so far. Also, it could happen that the reader doesn't connect with the character and he could end up being some cold unreachable entity that affects the lives of the rest of the cast, but not the incredible driving force he is in my mind! I've tried to write from his point of view, and I feel the magic is lost somehow, clearly due to my lack of skills. So what do you guys think? Have you ever done this, not using your main's PoV? Should I try harder and work on it some more? I'm really lost with this one... Thanks in advance!
It's entirely possible - anything is, if you write it well enough. I'm tempted to mention Gatsby but the line isn't quite as clear cut there, as Nick is also quite a major character and Gatsby is obviously intended to be a fairly mysterious and unreachable character. But this really doesn't sound too implausible - infact, it seems like it could really help the reader form opinions not only of him but of your supporting characters, based on their opinions of him, and vice versa. Try it out - write a few chapters from both prospective viewpoints and see which you prefer. Yes, you'll inevitably be throwing away a few thousand words, but if you intend to write a whole book you'll be throwing away a whole lot more than that anyway.
Writing from the POV of someone other than the MC can work very well. My usual example is the Sherlock Holes stories, from the POV of Dr. Watson.
Try it out. See how it feels. You'll never know until you try. Better to get it out of you and know if it works or not than try to speculate beforehand. So what if you waste some words, at least you'll have learned something.
I've done this before and in my person experience it worked out really well. The readers connect with the MC if they've been in a situation where they had to take care of a person who couldn't take care of himself. Like, we all have those circumstances where our friend is really struggling with something and the problem is all theirs but you could easily tell their story through your perspective - such as the conversations you've had and how you've seen them struggle and experienced the backlash of the kind of toll whatever your friend is going through takes on them. So that's a good way to think of telling your MC's story through the POV of another character: it's the same thing if you were telling someone a story about something that happened to your friend. That's how I look at it, anyway.
*slaps her forehead* Damn, Sherlock Holmes! Can we share that award, Twelve? Thanks for the input, guys. You actually made me see the problem under a different light, and now I feel an idea is striving to hatch...
