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  1. kibekelo

    kibekelo New Member

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    Playing with Perspective

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by kibekelo, Jun 3, 2018.

    Not sure if this is the right category, but it seems to fit.
    I've been working on a story for a few months now, and of course, it has changed pretty drastically. I originally planned to swap narrators halfway through, and again to another character for an epilogue at the very end, but I feel like this now makes the story feel fractured. There are quite a few flashbacks, so for me, it felt like the plot was changing out the blue halfway through. So, I've been brainstorming new ideas for the way the story is written.
    1. Third omniscient. It sounds easy enough, but I'm concerned this would ruin the whole flash-back and memory aspect.
    2. Swapping first-person perspectives more often. The idea I like the most right now, but I'm not sure how to effectively do this.
    3. Of course, I could always have just one narrator, but I think there are parts of the story that have to be told by certain people.
    Which of the above might work best? Any other ideas are welcome!
     
  2. saxonslav

    saxonslav Member

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    If you have third person, flashbacks aren't really an option. Memories can be told through questioning, character dialogue, evidence that hints at memories, etc, but they can't be explicitly told.
    You could have first person, that then switches into third person when the main character recalls what other characters are doing. It depends on what your plot is like, really, because there's only so many ways you can twist perspective before it gets messy.

    One narrator could be good- if they're unreliable, then that could build on plot points since you mentioned memories being a huge thing (and people rarely have crystal clear thoughts), but it's up to you and your story.
     
  3. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    I think you could have flashbacks in third person - why wouldn't that work?

    OP, I think it may depend on your personal style/comfort/story, rather than being a question that can be answered by others. For myself, I keep trying to write third omniscient and keep abandoning it because I just can't make myself write naturally in that form, but for other authors it seems to come quite easily. So... who knows which kind you are?

    What is it you're uncertain about in terms of how to switch first person narration?
     
  4. kibekelo

    kibekelo New Member

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    The actual switching itself isn't so much an issue, I can write in different styles and what not. The issue for me is establishing who is talking in the beginning when the way characters speak can't readily be identified. Do I just write the narrator's name as part of the chapter title, or is that too basic?
     
  5. saxonslav

    saxonslav Member

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    GRRM does it, so I don't think people would mind.
     
  6. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    It can be that basic, yeah. Why make things more complicated than they need to be? :)
     
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  7. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Hello, @kibekelo , and welcome to the forum!

    I'd like to add that you could play around with telling your story in more chronological order.

    You do say:
    Perhaps just focusing on who the narrator is or whether you're writing in first or third person isn't taking the brainstorming quite far enough.

    I know this might seem like a radical change—getting rid of or reducing flashbacks—but you could play around with it. The reason I suggest it is because my original first draft contained umpteen flashbacks. I realised, after I'd written it, that the novel would be more coherent and less jerky if I told it in a more straightforward way—in chronological order. The jerking back and forth was not helping my story at all.

    Now I only have three flashbacks in the whole novel. In two of them, the 'narrator' of that part of the story is verbally telling another character what happened in the past. Those two 'flashbacks' flow smoothly, because the telling evolves naturally from the present events in the story, and I can stay in the voice of my narrating character. Only one of my three remaining flashbacks is an actual memory, which the POV character is keeping to himself.

    Switching to chronological order had an added advantage I hadn't expected. As I'd originally written them, the flashbacks simply shed light on the present situation, by flashing back to what had happened before. My revision allowed me to to use these early events to foreshadow what was to come instead.

    The events seemed harmless enough when they were happening (as many events in real life do) but I was able to shade the presentation so that readers know this might not be the end of the matter. Instead of seeing something happen then finding out why it happened, the readers now see something happen and wonder what it will lead to. It's a subtle difference, but one that can help push the story in the right direction.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2018
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  8. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I think the more you stray from a traditional narrative, the harder sell the story would be. Unless you do whatever you chose and do it so beautifully that there simply was no other way to tell the story.
     
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  9. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    The above seems to exclude the most obvious choice: close third person with a changing POV character. Maybe that’s what you’ve been doing, but I’m not clear on why it wouldn’t work.
     
  10. kibekelo

    kibekelo New Member

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    I think I tried doing that in a very early version of the story, but a lot has changed since then, so I might give it another shot
     
  11. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    It definitely seems, to me, like the most standard, straightforward way to handle the issue. Omniscient would also, IMO, be fine, but I think omniscient is much harder to write well.
     
  12. Malisky

    Malisky Malkatorean Contributor

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    Recalculating...
    If you have many key characters maybe go with omniscient. If not, choose 3rd close and switch POV's in new chapters or page-breaks or whatever. Flashbacks work in any form of narration. Some writers tend to switch from 3rd close to omniscient from time to time, depending on the situations that are hidden but basic for the plot to move forward. You can do this too. I've noticed that when the writer does this, usually the 3rd close resembles closely the omniscient way of narration. What I mean is that it's not an overly personalised way of narrating the story. It's like very basic and simple omniscient but seen from the "eyes" of the MC and that's why when switching to omniscient you might not even realise it, because the transition is smooth and doesn't stand out (flow wise/ style) from the initial way of narration. It's like balancing out the two. It's like an inbetween type of narration. Not really omniscient but not 3rd close either. A fused style. It doesn't look so difficult. The change from 3rd close to omniscient happens in the new chapter whenever you see fit, whenever you find it necessary to switch.
     

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