I am outlining a new story, and I'm stuck decided whether the first part of the book should just be edited out and used as mental backstory, or if there is value to switching POVs/main characters a third of the way through. My genre is fantasy. The basic plot so far is: - young woman is big fish in small pond, leaves home for special training - young woman is decidedly average once in this new environment, falls in love along the way - young woman reaches personal conflict climax whether she discovers she's pregnant, that her home is destroyed, and that she's failed her final test - young woman finds a way to stay on at the school in a menial role, becomes something of a pariah once her pregnancy is discovered - young woman gives birth, raises child in this special training environment but hides the fact that she is teaching the child everything she's learned (and she has continued to study secretly) - child grows up and reaches a conflict point in which mother is killed defending her - child (now young adult) is forced out into the world and undergoes a save-the-world journey, haunted by the death of her mother and unsure where she ranks in the world, given her odd upbringing Should the book start with the child growing up in the academy, or is there value to surprising the readers when the supposed protagonist (the mother) dies along the way? Obviously, there would be a lot of time spent on character development and making the death incredibly valuable to the plot development. Another angle I'm considering is having the child die very early on/during pregnancy so that the mother remains the protagonist. I appreciate your thoughts!
Hi! Welcome to the forum. It sounds as if you've got the makings of a good fantasy story here. Just off the top of my head, I think the real story will lie with the daughter. It's what happens to her that's interesting to me. Why not keep the mother's backstory in mind, and start writing from the POV of the daughter? Here's a young woman cast out into the world, against her will, mourning the death of her mother? Probably pretty angry at what has happened—and she has these skills. What does she do with them? Bits of her mother's story can be dropped in as needed. But move forward. It's the girl's fate that's interesting. Will she repeat her mother's mistakes—fall in love and then come a cropper? What was her relationship with her mother like? Loving? Confrontational? Did her mother resent her a bit, because her mother's life was so badly derailed by her daughter's birth? What about the girl's father? What is her attitude towards him? Has she ever met him? Does she know who he is? Is he still alive? What was the guy's relationship with her mother? Does he even know he has a child? Has he disowned her? Lots to be going on with.
I think that a permanent protagonist shift from mother to child is likely to make the reader frustrated at the lost investment with the mother. So I think that the mother should be backstory.
While I agree very much with @jannert and @ChickenFreak, I also think this is a very interesting angle that isn't seen very often. It comes down to whose story you want to tell, and what story you want to tell. Is the story the stuff that comes after the pregnancy? If so, no matter if you go with the daughter or the mother as the protagonist, I'd wager the previous stuff is just backstory.
I’d use the mother’s backstory as part of some interludes, letters or something left behind by the mother for the daughter?
I think starting off the story with the child would be of more interest. The child's story/journey sounds more dynamic and interesting. And if you "nested" the mother's backstory into the child's story, maybe even revealing pieces of it along the way, it would enrich the child's story. Who is your main character? Whose journey are you more excited to tell? That person should be the focus. Personally, unless I'm reading East of Eden or some other sprawling epic of generational families or the like, I would feel like I'm being dragged along with the linear narrative you described. Especially if the story is fantasy/adventure genre and seems to be better fit a more fast paced narrative.
Write both in a character chapter turn-base style. That way you show both the mother's and daughter's stories.. Just a thought.
I like this idea. I’d like it even more if it wasn’t made clear that the mother character is the mother of the daughter character (I hope that makes sense).
I also second @Cave Troll 's idea. This would be cool too, but can be tricky to pull off. In cases like this the challenge is striking a balance so it isn't either hopelessly confusing, or obviously telegraphed from the beginning...
I usually derail the whole story when I focus too much on one character because one person's life cannot always be interesting. I also get a very hard to follow plot when I have too many switches between characters or introduce too many side-characters. Focusing on a group of people doing most of the things together can make it easier to hide the jumps from person to person when they meet.
Really like your idea. Personally I would be more interested in reading the daughters POV if the story started when she was growing up at the academy. I feel like that's where the most exciting part of the story starts. If it was the mothers POV it would definitely bring that shock factor but id be frustrated the MC was killed off so early. Id be wondering whether killing MCs is going to be a continuous theme throughout. Could there is a book in this for the mothers journey as well? If you was thinking of telling both, I would finish the mothers story as the daughter is released into the world on her own. I see an anger fuelled daughter standing on a cliff or mounting edge looking back over the city or town where the carnage had just unfolded. Probably just witnessed the death of her mother during the escape. So the protagonist dies right at the very end. Then book two continues as the daughter being the protagonist. If the mother journey ends up being a back story perhaps the daughter receives diaries written by the mother. You could write those moments that she reads them as separate chapters from the mothers POV? I would most likely write down a few story outlines and see which inspires me the most and go with it. So for me... mothers story book one or back story... daughters story from daughters POV.
