If anybody were to write a romance or a book of friendship, who would you pick as your main mc? Or would you write it from a third person narrative? Or eagle-eye view? Which would get the better response?
Which of the couple would you make the narrator? The straight character or the other who, let's say, has some personal issues? He's somewhat socially inept. Pretty much the recluse. I've been having doubts. And the 'eagle view' approach is more of a godly figure speaking as the narrator. Someone has nothing to do with the story. I apologise for this. I'm new to the 'writing' trade. It's all a very different experience but I appreciate any feedback.
I say it could differ depending on the sort of story you want to tell. Whoever's POV you go with their will be a (even just a slightly) different cast and different sub-plots. The best way I can think of to respond to this is to give an example of what I have personally done: For example, I've been working with a certain couple (let's call them Ka and Lu) for the past eighteen months. Besides a certain half dozen friends they have in common, Ka and Lu lead very different lives. Ka is an alcoholic prostitute with sharp wit and Lu is a mentally-challenged mechanic who also volunteers at his friend's nursery. Ka's story would feature his clients while Lu's would more likely feature his co-workers and the children he meets. However, they're still a couple, so certain scenes would be the same (although told from a different perspective) but any sub-plots containing their professional lives would lead to a completely different story. It would be safe to assume that a story told from Lu's POV would be much cleaner than Ka's. Also, they would have different impressions of the scene -- eg: Lu might be quite childish, stubborn & take everything to heart; while Ka would be more cold, cynical & possibly violent if he's been drinking -- so I would write it in a way that favours the MC's POV. How would I decide whose POV to tell it from? Originally, I chose to tell a story where Lu's innocent view of the world makes Ka second-guess his immoral ways, so I chose to write it from Ka's POV. If I had wanted to write a story where, say, Ka had driven Lu to want to become more social and better himself, or a story where he struggled with his disabilities, then I would have written from Lu's POV instead.
You bring up an excellent point here: what's the story that you're trying to tell? Even in third person, you'll be pretty much following one character around per scene. So if the story that you're trying to tell has more to do with the experience that character A is having, you'd write it from his perspective. If it's more about character B's experience, then he's the one that we're more interested in. If both characters are changing and growing and it's important to show both of their viewpoints, you might have to do it on a scene-by-scene basis.
You should write it from both perspectives and also the "eagle-eye" view - which I think is called either third-person cognaisant or third-person limited - look it up on Wiki or something - I forget. See which you like better. I find when it's from one's perspective, it's much more personal. I've really experimented with POV lately, and it's really interesting. You could also write it from a third-party observer who for some reason has some sort of initimate knowledge of their relationship. I'm thinking of a sibling of one of them, maybe who's jealous? Or you could do it from one of their points of view as a flashback from a few years later, which is even different. Maybe write a list of possibe points of view and sketch out ideas for each. Imagagine each and see where it takes you. I always think of POV almost first, and then I say to myself: "Self - what if I made this other person (or thing) the storyteller? What would that do to the story?" Think if it would make it more or less confusing for the reader and for you to tell. Think if it would add a creative spin on things. I did a story recently from the viewpoint of a termite. I also did one from the viewpoint of a strawberry in a baking competition. Instead of from one of the judges, bakers, or audience, I did it from the perspective of a strawberry unsure of his fate waiting in a glass bowl. You can do anything! Good luck!
What if you wrote the story from different angles using both mc's and maybe others. Then maybe you'd get a better perspective of the story, from the more emotionally-fuelled angle to the more subdued version etc. Attacking the story at all angles and leaving no gaps un-barred. haha. bad analogy. Or too confusing for the readers? Shifting from one extreme to the other.
The main character is not the same as the point of view character. The main character is the focus of the story, but the POV character can be someone better placed to observe the events of the story or to put them in the light chosen by the author. For example, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chose Dr, Watson as the POV for novels where Sherlock Holmes was the main character.
I wrote a romance story, with two main characters and three - no, four! - viewpoint characters from third person perspective.
'eagle-eye' would more likely be akin to the 'omniscient third' where the narrator sees all and knows all...
I can see your point Cogito but how can you make the story more effective on an emotional/personal level if one of my mc's doesn't participate as the narrator at some point during the novel? Surely it's the most effective way for the readers to understand the character.
No, it's not, and don't call me Shirley. The most effective way to reveal a character is not through his or her literal thoughts, feelings, and observations. The most effective appraisals come from outside observations of their behavior. People delude and lie to themselves all the time. Furthermore, showing behavior gives a more complex view of a character's nature than a bunch of touchy-feely assertions. Given what you have just said, I would strongly discourage you from writing in first person until you gain much more experience.
I've got to admit I am struggling with the character. He has some major social issues that have left him somewhat introvert. He's a little reclusive and finds it almost impossible to interact with the community around him. So you can imagine how hard it'll be to see the world around him through his eyes. But I was afraid his character might come off a little limited if was seen, let's say, through one of the community's perspective. I apologise for this. As you no doubt have guessed, I'm new to the field and just organising some thoughts. The planning stage is a little difficult.
I don't think it must be more difficult to write someone introvert. Maybe it won't contain as much dialogue, but he still does things, thinks, acts, sees, feels, hears. Write scenes where this problem in interacting with others is clear to make the reader get to know him, how he feels about that and they will start relating to him.
