The Point of View questions thread

Approach it like this:
In real life there are people you know whose backstories you know--best friend, parent, grandparent, co-worker...You know their backstories despite not being in their heads or inhabiting their bodies and looking out of their eyeballs. How did you learn their backstories?

 

I agree with this approach. If they are members of a strong community, surely they will know each other's backgrounds (unless some members are deliberately keeping their past hidden.) How does your main POV character (the one you'd like to use to tell the rest of the story) know about the backgrounds of the others? Can you depict the background of the others through this character's eyes alone?

That being said, it's also fine to tell the story from three different perspectives, if that makes it easier. It might—in that one character might be present during an event while the others are not. You CAN keep all three POV characters going, if you want.

It does seem weird (to me) to start with three equal POVs, then drop two of them as POVs for the rest of the story, however. Your readers will probably be expecting the others to chime in, eventually. When they don't, the readers might feel that something isn't quite right.

It's not a rule, but one storytelling convention is that a POV character who is introduced at the start of a story will have more to contribute from their POV later on. It's just one of those things that readers have come to expect.

 

I wrote their back stories because they're three completely different walks of life that each influence their immediate family and community in their own way. I liked these three snapshots of human experience and wanted to use them each to illustrate three different points/perspectives about human relationships.

The main protagonist wouldn't know their backgrounds entirely. Like the person al details. He knows of them from mutial acquaintances.

For example. He knows a nurse who is the mother of main character number 2. But when I'm writing about character number 2 I want to include back story from out of town that character number 1 would have no way of knowing.


And character number 1 is witness to am event that character number 2 is not because she's away from home.

 

I think you should approach telling backstories with caution. they're so often a detriment to the story.

 

Interesting. Why do you feel they're a detriment?

Perhaps I'm misusing the term backstory. Forgive me, I'm very new to all of this.

To explain; two of the main characters are in town at the time of a significant event that affects them independently at first and unique to their lives. It later brings them together.

The other main character is out of town with friends. There's an event that takes place with her friends that will show the reader her character and determine how she responds to the incident back home and grows as a result. It also connects her to the other two main characters.

So, it happens within the time line of the story. Not before.

 

Completely agree! I'd say focus on the story too!
Life's the story's what happens when you're busy making plans writing about characters backstory.

 

Well, the best way to handle this is to finish writing the story. And see what works and what doesn't. Write it the way you want to tell it. And see where that goes.

Sometimes planning too much ahead of time can hamstring you as a writer. Sounds like you've got enough to go on already.

I believe fiction comes in two parts. Part One is what the author intends. Part Two is what the reader picks up. Ideally, as a writer, you want them to match! You won't know if they do until you write the story and test it out on a few readers.

 

May be you did not attach yourself to MC well enough. Other characters are secondary. The 3 main characters in single story is impossible format. Make it one story of one MC from his point of view all the way.

 

You could have the nurse tell your MC a story about her daughter to fit in her backstory. Something like that where the MC learns the history of another character secondhand. That's something that might work. But if it's really not fitting in, are you sure it needs to be there?

I have no problems with backstories or flashbacks in fiction. They just have to be done well. A slow reveal of a backstory can add tension. Try to avoid just plopping it in because you think it's something the reader needs to know. Make it part of the story even if it doesn't take place in the present narrative.

 

Having multiple main characters is far from impossible. Read more because this stuff is out there. Also, maybe is one word.

 

Right. Maybe

 

Unless your story is massive in scope, pushing well beyond the 100k words range, then I wouldn't shoot for too many different POV. Even in those instances, having too many can become confusing for some readers or make them lose interest because they aren't connecting with specific characters that they like.

 

So this is what I'm wrestling with.

A loose example of what I'm working on; Ken is spending the evening fishing at a lake outside of town. When he returns home he finds the town's residents have come down with an illness and he is unaffected.

Jenn is away at college out of state. She is attacked by a male student whom she trusted and days later decides to go home for Thanksgiving rather than spend it alone. When she arrives home she finds her parents and everyone else ill. When out running errands she meets Ken who also isn't ill. We find out Ken and Jenn's mother know each other.

Meanwhile Charlie and his wife are expecting their first born. The baby and Charlie's wife become ill but Charlie does not.

Charlie eventually crosses paths with Ken and Jenn and discover their shared acquaintance. A connection within the community.

How can I reveal Jenn's negative experience at school, as well as Charlie's experience with new fatherhood through the eyes of Ken who would not yet know these things about their lives?

Edit: I suppose I could have Jenn reveal to Ken what happened to her once she trusts him and they've established a relationship.

 

Edit

 

I understand what you're saying and I appreciate the input.

I'm not sure I would agree it's an impossible feat though. The Stand by Stephen King comes to mind. It was pulled off extremely well in that book.

 

Hello friend.

I will advise you to write in their conversation, not as an exposition but more like a flashback or memory. And to trigger this, put the characters in a difficult situation for them to make harsh decisions. If the two characters are conected, you write that part by making them remembering something they have done. Another possible way is for example if they are in a cafe drinking coffee, why not you create an atmosphere that can make them remember a good or bad time (depends of their backstories), show us that time.

I hope this helps. Keep on good work and have fun.

 

When writing in Third Person Limited, must the POV character be in every scene? Or can I have him/her leave a scene and then merely describe what is happening when they're not there as a narrator with no POV?

Any help here would be appreciated.

 

While you are in a scene using the Third Person Ltd, that character is your eyes and ears on the scene. You can't intrude some other character's direct perspective into that scene without the danger of 'head hopping.'

However, you can certainly move to another scene or chapter and either employ a different POV character in Third Person Limited, OR simply revert to Omniscient and narrate from the author/narrator's perspective.

Play around with what seems to work best for you. You can always change it later on.

If you want to get close and personal with your character, and get readers to identify strongly with that character, Third Person Limited is an excellent tool. Third Person Omniscient gives you less restrictive options, but it also serves to distance the reader from the characters a bit. In Omniscient we are looking at a character, not 'being' that character. So play around with those dynamics.

Oh, and by the way ...I'm one of the Moderators here, and I'd like to say welcome to the forum. Nice to see you diving in and already participating on your first day.

Please read New Member Quick Start at your earliest opportunity, if you haven't done so already. It'll get you set in the right direction. You might want to also take a look at Forum Rules at some point soon, as well.

Have a good time, and see you around the threads. If you encounter any problems, feel free to click my owl avatar and 'start a conversation' with me. I'll be glad to help.

 

Thanks for your response and warm welcomes!

I don't intend on head hopping at all, I just have a couple of scene's where the main POV character leaves and the people remaining continue to talk. In these scene's, I don't get into any of the other character's heads. I simply narrate what is happening. Is this still acceptable under the Third Person Ltd perspective? I'm trying to avoid my writing from feeling amateurish so I want to make sure I stay within confines of a perspective.

 

Technically yes, this is fine. Whether it works, of course, comes down to how it gets written. So go for it and see what you get! Remember nothing you write is set in stone (until you get published) so don't be afraid to do things wrongly. If you make mistakes or sound amateurish, at least you'll have something to work with.

I changed POV several times in certain chapters when I was writing my novel ...and changed them again on a couple of occasions. I always had a POV character, so I was never writing Omniscient. (Which is what you mean when you are simply narrating what is happening without having a particular POV character, or even any character at all.) But there is no reason you can't mix it up a bit. The key isn't whether you can, it's whether it will work. And you won't know that till you get it finished. Good luck!

 

Thanks so much!!!

 

HI there. I am writing a story in first person (past tense). There are two first persons. My problem is that one of them dies. Do you generally think that if there is a first person he has to be alive? Am I forced to turn it into an epistolary?

Or am I just overthinking it?

 

Sure, it can be done. But speaking as a reader, I's say it matters when he dies and what for. I'd expect the doomed character to die a good way into the story, to justify being given his/her own point of view. At the very least, his death has to affect the outcome for the remaining POV character.

 

How do you write in 1st person?
What makes the writing good? What makes the writing bad?
What are the general do’s and don’ts? Things to absolutely avoid?

I am a total beginner and basically know nothing, so I appreciate any help and guidance you can offer.