POV question

[lady_ganesh]

I'm working on one of the WIPs that Will Not End, and I have a narrative problem. Most of the story is over Character A's shoulder. But I realized I have a scene with Character B where A cannot be there. Is it jarring to switch POV for just that one scene? Should I start doing it more often? What do y'all think?

Comments

[lauand]

I'm not one to talk, I'm famous for my shifting POVs. How personal is the point of view? It doesn't sound very jarring to me unless the POV is really close to that person's perspective, in which case the switch is a bit whatthefuckish and I vote against it. But if it's mostly ethereal I don't think it would take me out of the story.

But, as I said, I suck at this kind of thing, so don't mind me much. Follow your heart?

[lady_ganesh]

I've been pretty close over Character A's shoulder so we can see what he thinks of the other people in his orbit.

...my heart told me to ask you guys. ;-) You guys are very helpful though!

[lauand]

Hmmm... in that case I think I agree with the rest of the people. If it's a one time thing, me no likes; if it follows some structure as an intentional dramatic effect, I'm all for it.

(XD!! Well thought!)

[kryptyd]

I don't/can't write fiction, so my perspective is as a reader only, but what I think is cool is when an author uses that jarring sense as a feature, as in you're right in this character's headspace and you expect to remain there, then suddenly you jump to a different character's perspective. It can work great for building anticipation.

[lady_ganesh]

Yeah, I'm leaning toward switching when Shit Gets Real and then going back to the first character's POV, especially as he's the calm one.

[nina_vendredi]

This is probably not helpful, since it would make your story not end even more. I was having that problem with the fic I'm writing now, and said oh, I'll just add this POV, and maybe a couple more scenes so it's not jarring, and the next thing I knew I had all the scenes alternating POV, and the character that was just going to be there for snark and to be the love interest now has all the agency.

[lady_ganesh]

It's gen! I...don't know if that makes it better or worse.

[nina_vendredi]

XD. Yeah, I was planning on using smut to fill in plot holes... but yeah, now it's mostly gen with the occasional make out session with a completely different character.

So I guess my advice is, add POV if it works for the story, but be prepared for it to change everything.

[tiggymalvern]

To me, it would be really jarring to have a single scene in the POV of one character, and all the rest in someone else's. I'm not a huge fan of constantly switching POVs, but it would be better than just having one.

[lady_ganesh]

I wonder if I could use the switched POV three times as something of a framing device - in the first bit, at the Pivotal Moment, and then at the end. Less jarring than only doing it once and better than switching every couple of scenes.

[tiggymalvern]

That should work, yes, as a highlight for the Big Important Thing along with sort of prologue and epilogue.

[red_squared]

I am really OCD about POVs (I once wrote a number of extra chapters into an even-longer-tnan-it-needed-to-be long!fic because I needed extra POVs but also needed a structure, which ended up going ABCBA and then BADAB alternating) so... Keep that in mind when reading the following!

It would not work for me as a one-off.

I think the B POV could work if you bring it in more than once, as you've suggested below above (it was below when I was drafting my comment!), using it as a framing device. I ended up doing this in another fic of mine because of my OCD-ness, and it brought out things that it hadn't occurred to me focus on before because I was forcing myself to go to B's POV in a way that actually added to the story, rather than just rounding out the POV count, and I think it ended up being a better story for it.

And I assume you've already considered and discounted telling the B-only scene as a flashback or report in a scene that subsequently includes A?