Just wondering because I am thinking of splitting my narrative like that in GoT. I came across something that speaks about Alternative POV, is this the same thing being used by Martin in Game of Thrones because if it is, i'd like to do more research on it. Otherwise what is this narrative called?? Thank you!
You say its common- do you know of some or even one novel that follows this POV in the fantasy genre? Thank you.
Martin is slightly unusual because he names the chapters after the characters, but plenty of books switch between POVs. I don't read much fantasy, but off the top of my head Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy springs to mind.
I like to think of naming your chapters off of the POV character's names more efficient and reader-friendly. Perhaps he innovated the genre on that part. Thanks for the book recommendation, i'll check it out and probably even read a little bit of it. I've heard good things from it.
No idea if he was the first, but doing it that way definitely allows him greater flexibility when switching POVs. If you don't name the chapter like that, then you're pretty much obliged to name the character in the first sentence or two for each switch, otherwise the reader has no idea who/where they are. It's only a minor inconvenience IMO (I also usually write with switching POVs, but I don't name chapters), but I guess it might frustrate some people.
On a minor side note, I like to think that using alternative POV allows you to get greater depth between unlikable characters instead of just naming them "evil" and being done with it, and giving personality towards the protagonists only. It's an interesting way to make the world become more real imo.
Yes this is exactly why I do it. It's a great way (practically the only way, at least that I know of) of getting the whole story across to the reader, rather than just one side of the conflict.
I've heard it called "Multiple POVs". Other series that do it are The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin, The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, The Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan, and of course LoTR. As you can see it's quite common in the fantasy genre and has been around way before GRRM.
Usually it's a subtitle. At least in romance (which very commonly does shifting POV these days). Chapter One Mr. SwelltideThe day was long and draining and blah blah blah
You might check out this article on simultaneous arcs from TVTropes. If you scroll down to the examples, ASoIaF is there along with a bunch of others in the Literature folder. There are also a bunch of links in the article to other possible ways to organize your narrative chronologically. I've found it to be a pretty helpful resource since I often write with a lot of POV characters and it's tricky to keep it from getting confusing.
Can I ask your thoughts on this? My WIP uses this, but reading around the site makes me think it is frowned on? Is it more acceptable in fantasy than in other genres?
What's frowned on is what's called head-hopping, which is alternating POV done poorly. I don't remember all the guidelines offhand, but as I recall you're supposed to switch POV at a break, like between chapters, or at least put a gap and a * * * to mark a big shift. Head-hopping is when you hop willy-nilly from one POV to another and then another all in the same chapter or section.
I say it's a good way to scope out the different opinions, emotions, feelings about a particular event... but you HAVE to move the story forward with each P.O.V. so as long as you keep it going it can turn out great.
Agree that head-hopping has fallen out of fashion. Disagree that it is "alternating POV done poorly." I'm perfectly happy reading stories with sudden POV shifts, and in some instances it's used to great effect.
Ok, it's a matter of opinion I suppose. I'm not sure if I've ever read a story like that, but I do know there's a lot of talk on this board about head-hopping, most of it in the negative.
One of GOT's greatest strengths was telling the story from different characters' point of view. The same main character can get boring pretty quickly, no matter how interesting they are. In some cases, it's one dimensional storytelling.
Thanks. Some of my favorite books have multiple POVs so I was surprised to find so many negative comments about the style here. Now I understand the difference between head-hopping and switching POVs.
... Aaaand I just ran across a head-hopper. Not really—it was well handled, but it did switch POV several times, not always at an obvious break point. It's a short story in this book called 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories. I wouldn't say it's badly done, because it was never confusing and never felt like too many POV switches. So now I would say as long as the reader isn't confused and it doesn't feel like too many switches, then you're good to go.
I examined how the POV was handled in that story, called Next-Door Neighbor by Don D'Ammassa. The first time it switched into the old witch's POV there was an extra space between paragraphs, a technique also used to indicate some time has gone by or the setting has changed. I'm going to copy a bit here as a demonstration—Lucy is the MC, a 13 year old girl living next door to Mrs Brackford, the witch, and has just snuck into her house. Starting with the last sentence from Lucy's POV before the switch: Lucy turned and quietly walked back down the hall, then slipped into the bedroom and bathroom beyond. (I'm a little surprised the editor didn't change this—the story is from 1995, when I think Bed Bath and Beyond was a very well-known franchise.This is where the extra space between paragraphs is.) Ruth Brackford started the laborious journey upstairs. The climb seemed to require more effort every day. She thought idly of having her bed moved downstairs. (Nicely done. It begins with an 'external' shot of Ruth climbing the stairs, as if the camera is now out of Lucy's head and momentarily in an Objective viewpoint. The second sentence isn't really interior to her head yet, but is very close. It's a transition from seeing her climb the stairs, through the way it makes her feel, and then into her head. 'The climb seemed to require more effort every day.' is not as interior as 'She thought idly... ') There follow 3 paragraphs from Mrs Brackford's POV, ending with her smearing a vile potion she just made in the kitchen onto the face of a small effigy of Lucy's father. I'll pick up from the end of this part: "Tastes wonderful, doesn't it?" Her laugh was a thin crackle. "Ipecac and sour cream, mashed maggot and rotting meat, everything needed for a healthy lad like you." (No extra space here) Lucy watched from where she hid concealed by the altar curtain, terrified but elated when Old Lady Brackford's thin ugly laughter changed tone. She began to gasp and raised one hand to her throat. (It's a little confusing here—who gasped? But it doesn't seem likely to be Lucy, and this confusion actually plays into the moment, because something important is about to be revealed.) Lucy hadn't been able to remove all the residue of her father's body from the doll, but she had managed to add a good number of discarded grey hairs to the sticky patch. (A moment ago she had looked in the bathroom and seen hair all over the sink and floor.) Enough of them, it appeared. Ruth Brackford gasped and bent forward, shoulders heaving as her stomach abruptly tried to empty itself. She maintained control, but swayed as she turned, lurching toward the door. When she was out of sight, Lucy emerged from her hiding place, snatched up the doll, and headed for the door. I feel like the shifts are very well handled, easing the reader into and out of the different POVs deftly. This is completely different from the beginner's way, which is to just jump from inside one person's head to inside another one with no transition.
I I agree- I think that if the POV's are tightly connected to each other and make the plot move forward and more interesting that this type of writing can easily shift and build momentum than other POVs and lead to both unpredictability and unconventional storytelling- especially more likely if your characters are unique in themselves like how George R.R. Martin wanted to first write his characters.
It's a very common thing. Jeff Shaara does it in his war books like so: Ch. 1 [image of US flag] ULYSSES S. GRANT Ch. 2 [image of Confederate flag] ROBERT E. LEE and so on. I like it.
