(Untitled)

[pottersues]

TITLE: No Matter How They Toss The Dice, It Had To Be
PERPETRATOR: notwhatyouwantbutwhatyouneed
SUE-O-METER:

Comments

[hazellwood]

I hate POV changes, so much.

(Mer-person.)

[szaleniec1000]

Random POV shifts are annoying enough in the third person, when the author hasn't got the hang of writing the omniscient POV and it instead looks like a whole bunch of limited POVs fighting for attention and distracting the reader. This isn't the first time I've plugged the essay "Narrative Point of View: Who Tells the Story?" by Linda Anderson and probably won't be the last, but it really is a must-read.

If in doubt, and this goes for first- and third-person narrative, start a new chapter if you're switching POV.

[yemi_hikari]

I write a lot of limited third person point of view, but it is spread out... I would only have more then one point of view if I use both point of views each chapter. But typically, I do change chapters.

[little_masaouki]

Third person is a lot less important than in first person. I'm writing a story that's so far chapterless (will probably add those in when I clean it up), but the view point switches often. However, since it's third person and written well enough, I've never had anybody get confused by who's point of view it's in.

So the problem is not so much....

[hazellwood]

multiple points of view, but whether or not they are clear cut and easy to understand when they switch?

because I always though books with multiple points of view (obviously to a managable number) were great to read because you get to see the perspective of the story from different characters.
(something that, as much as i love hp it bothered me that it didn't happen much in hp because there were some cool things out of harry's vision/pov and they got skimmed over because we were limited to his pov, as much as i love him as a character.)

So... multiple pov in a book can still be good, right?

the biggest example i can think of is Faulkner "As i lay dying"

~A

Re: So the problem is not so much....

[szaleniec1000]

It can be done, and can be done very well. As I said, you're best off starting a new chapter or at least a new section if you're switching POV. If you're going to do it in the middle of a scene, then reconsider unless you have a very good reason. The essay I mentioned has this to say: "Just because you have the ability to enter the consciousness of every character, it doesn't mean that you are obliged to do so." To which I'd add that you're often better off not doing. (You certainly don't want to be switching POV in the middle of a sentence, as at least one fanfic writer I've seen does a lot. Honestly. I'm not exaggerating there.)

[szaleniec1000]

And as a footnote, the last time I saw a random POV shift in first-person narrative was in My Immortal. That's a useful clue as to how good an idea it is.

[yemi_hikari]

I see it a LOT, and it is always badly executed...

[yemi_hikari]

Most Suethors see other people doing it, and don't realize it is actually BAD writing, which is unfortunate.

[artemis_j_halk]

Exactly. If only there was some sort of way that we could get the word out to the general public that writing like this is not "good" writing!

[yemi_hikari]

The Stuthor replied back to my review. They said they are happy about their fanfic and don't care about being recognized as a great fanfic writer. So, I made the comment back that they probabbly don't want to be remembered for writing badily either. And, I made it clear that people are allowed to tell him where his stuff is flawed, even if they only read the summary, if the summary is that bad. Tried ending it with a major insentive to write well, the fact that because there are so few male writers, they have a higher percentage of average and good fic then the rest of fanfiction.net.

[yemi_hikari]

And talking to the Stuthor again, it makes me realize. The fear of being flamed sometimes is what causes Suethors to get so upset. Not all, but some of them. I don't blame them, as truth be told, flame is not something that is meant to be helpful.