I am writing a space saga and I wrote it in first person for the main character p.o.v. chapters, but other chapters relating the experiences of other characters are in third person. My writing coach thinks that's fine. What do you think?
I enjoy reading books written this way and I am enjoying writing one that way. It's an interesting challenge.
I think it reads well. The only potential danger might be an assumption that the 3rd person perspective is the MC’s interpretation of those events. I read a couple books like this.
I read The Lion's Game by Nelson Demille not too long ago, and it did just that. Alternating chapters between 1st person MC and 3rd person secondary characters, usually the villain but occasionally a random in-and-out throwaway. I noticed no things about the style at all. Neither good nor bad, didn't add anything or take anything away, didn't distract me or make me focus more. It was like it wasn't there at all. Now, I could see it being a thing if Demille was juggling three or four main POV characters and the first person only made up 25% percent of the total narration. Or if he kept the 1st at 50% but had to the remaining characters rotate the in-between chapters--as in AB, AC, AD--I would wonder what the point of only one 1st person would be, but none of that happened. I'm sure there's plenty of authors who can execute any of those combinations perfectly, but it sounds like a janky plan of attack in my head.
I was reading a book which was first person from the MC's p.o.v. but then it had a third person "Interlude" and a "Second Interlude" from the p.o.v. of an antagonist. Later, the author got sloppy and just stuck these third-person pieces in among the first person sections, no longer calling them "Interludes".
I think I'm going to rewrite the first-person parts in third person. The sloppiness of the book I just read bothers me.
I listened to a series that was written in first person for all characters. Can't tell you how confusing that was. If the author had done something to indicate that the new chapter was a new character's pov that would have helped. As it was, it wasn't until the MC was mentioned as another character that it dawned on me the person speaking or thinking was a new character. I personally don't care for first person narratives in general, but there are cases where it works well. If you choose first person, it does make sense that you switch to third for the supporting characters as you've described.
One of my WIPs starts with MC in 1st person and then shifts - at a chapter break - to 3rd person, but with them still being the POV character. It hasn't confused anyone so far, but for me it meant saving up action or events for third-person chapters, whilst reducing internal thoughts and reflections. I find action becomes quite device-y in the 1st person. I'd find it hard to switch back and forth between 1st and 3rd, especially within a chapter or for multiple characters.
I’ve read a book where the first act followed a character in two distinct timelines. The recent timeline was written in first person present., the older timeline in third person past. You didn’t know they were the same character until the end of act I. At least I didn’t, there are probably smarter readers than me out there.
