Monday, January 10, 2011

First, Third, Multiple POVs: ¿Who should tell the story?



In days of old, authors were omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. They were privy to every little thought that went through their characters’ heads, and, being great gossips, they disclosed them to their readers. This viewpoint mélange is known as “head-hopping” and it is a sin that no contemporary writer should ever attempt to commit. Novice writers skirt the caveat by narrating their stories in the first person singular, but even that intimate narrator has its limits. So, which point of view is the ideal one?

First of all, let´s review the types of raconteurs available to us. The most common is third person singular, but in order to avoid the dreadful “head-hopping,” the storytelling must rely on only one character’s perspective. Although the rules are flexible enough to permit changes of point of view, preferably each chapter should be told from a single POV.

As every novice writer knows, avoiding head-hopping is a difficult task. It´s always easier to go for the first person cop-out… only to discover that it also presents drawbacks. Having little knowledge of what other characters really think invites to constant speculation. Terms such as “apparently,” “it appears,” and “it seems,” become crutch words and the description turns clunky. Moreover, there are readers who actually hate first person narrative!


In Sophie’s Choice, William Styron presents action and characters through the eyes of Stingo, a young aspiring writer from the South, living in post-war Brooklyn. However, the true protagonist is Sophie, a Polish refugee with a dark past. At times, Stingo has Sophie tell her story in pages- long dialogue. Often, the author cheats by having Stingo describe Sophie´s past with the excuse that he has come to see Poland (and her life) through her eyes.



Nevertheless, Stingo also disrupts Sophie´s narrative with his own perspective. At some moment, he claims Sophie lied when she said she had no lover before Nathan Landau. Then, he proceeds to tell us of Sophie´s brief affair with a Polish underground fighter. As readers we are assaulted by these overlapping POVs, but the writing is so masterful, we never complain. Alas, I don´t think I could get away with that, so I am a great believer in having more than one POV.

I read somewhere that Gone with the Wind is told from Scarlett’s viewpoint because she is a much more interesting character than Melanie. I strongly disagree with that statement. Once in a while, Peggy Mitchell regales us with Melanie´s perspective (an example is her relationship with Rhett after Bonnie´s death) changing our whole perception of Melly and the story.



Having multiple narrators has its great advantages, as William Faulkner’s fans may tell you. As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury are masterpieces of American Literature, in spite of their variety of POVs. But if you want to go Faulkner´s way you’ll run into a couple of questions. How many narrators should you have? How many are too many? Who should they be? How should they appear? Should you have multiple POVs from the start or they should pop up at different stages along the storyline?

My last novel presents an apparently insurmountable problem. The first part describes the antics of the heroine, from birth until she meets the man of her life. So far so good. But it happens that the hero who blindsides her has a past so steeped in mystery and rumor, that it’s not simply a matter of having him tell it to Violante (yes, that´s my heroine’s name) over tea. Since I wanted him to remain mysterious, he could not narrate his own tale. So, like Conan Doyle, I created a Watson-like character to sing the chanson de geste of this larger-than-life protagonist. And then trouble began to brew.

Viktor, the second narrator, turned up to be such a fascinating creature that both my Beta Readers confessed to like him better than the hero! Therefore, I tried keeping his overwhelming presence at a minimum. He ended up reporting only eight out of forty chapters. It just made poor Viktor´s entrances and exits awkward and unbalanced. To be quite frank, I still don´t know what to do with my novel, but it is a good example of the problems that arise in handling more than one POV.

Which viewpoint do you prefer as a reader? As a writer, which narration style would you say it is the most unmanageable?

23 comments:

  1. Great post - I had a lot of trouble with this when I first started writing! BTW, I wanted to let everyone know about a contest I'm offering: http://writinginwonderland.blogspot.com

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  2. I thoroughly enjoyed this post, Violante. I ran into some of the same issues you did with my first manuscript, only I had no idea what 'head-hoppin' was until a critiquer pointed it out to me. Then I realized I had a problem on my hands. I literally went through the entire manuscript and reworked each scene, narrowed down my POVs, and made sure I stayed in one character's head for one given chapter/scene. It's quite a task! But I learned my lesson. Oddly enough, I started writing my second novel in much the same manner and then realized it wasn't working, so I went back to the beginning and the entire story is in my main protagonist's POV in third person. I enjoyed writing this one in a different manner. It was a break from the first novel and the different POVs. I guess I don't really have a preference, it's just mainly been a stroll down Learning How To Write Street. It takes time and practice and, I believe, comfortability in what POVs and tenses you prefer to write in.

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  3. I'm currently writing in third person multiple POV. The POV switches at a scene break (but not every one). I didn't give much thought to POV when I started, the story just flowed from my brain this way. I'm reading a book now that head hops. It doesn't bother me from a reader standpoint, but I have caught myself doing it on my WIP. I wonder if POV is infectious? Most of the novels I read are third person. Maybe that's why I find it easier to write that way.

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  4. Kari Marie, I couldn't agree more. What little fiction I do read, I gravitate heavily toward first-person narrations- and this is how I write.

    As always, excellent post on craft, Violante. I feel honored to have gotten the 'sneak preview.' ;)

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  5. Well have you ever considered that Viktor and Violante might be destined to be together? u could kill the hero off

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  6. I think everyone struggles with POV when they first start writing. I thought I was "above" the rules and had a head-hopping feast in the first draft of my first novel. After all, everyone used to write that way in the past, right? (except for those clever first person narrators.) I woke up from my dream when an editor, who read my first fifty pages, informed me that in today's market, "mismanaged" POVs (my words) were jarring and made it hard for the reader to connect with the novel (in other words, I wouldn't get published unless I followed the POV rules.) It took two more drafts for that first novel to become head-hopping/excessive POV-free. Now, in this second novel, I only have one and it's so much easier. Why it is that when we first start we make things so much harder for ourselves? :)

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  7. Because we don´t know the rules, Sister Lorena. But isnn't there some unconcious need to head-hop? If it was so offensive we wouldn´t do it. I learned about POVs when trying to enter a critique group that sent me away with a "Learn the rule and then become a writer!"
    Kari Marie do you remember the title of that head-hopping book? So far the only XXI century novels I had found that dared to head hop were the Artemis Fowl Series. I believe J.K. Rowlings got away with it in the firt Harry Potter, but then she gets away with murder!

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  8. Sister Suze, thanks for helping me edit that obnoxoius sentence!

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  9. No, Joanna, no, please, don´t be cruel. I happen to love my hero. I don´t have the heart to bump him off.

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  10. I dealt with head-hopping last summer when I was writing one of my stories, but the one I usually prefer is first person POV, because you are put in the character's shoes, right then and there. Awesome post and great examples!

    Write on!

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  11. That's funny, Joanna because I'm planning on bumping off my heroine at the end of my latest manuscript. It's just getting to that point that leaves me a little baffled . . .

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  12. loved this post! i'm currently writing both my WIPs in first person. (when they're done i need a change and third person sounds like a really good idea.) in one wip the majority of the story is told from my protag's pov, but there are three chapters (about 3/4 of the way through) when her love interest shares his perspective and story. (i think his chpts are my favorite. hopefully that doesn't mean i need to rewrite it all from his pov!!!) christy

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  13. Erica and Christy that was my peeve. Is it legit to have a narrator that only narrates acouple of chapters?
    It´s funny that so many talk about bumping off characters, because my MS was supposed to be part of a series and Viktor does run into a silver bullet before it ends (he is a werewolf). I guess that is why I never really grow attached to him.

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  14. What an interesting post! I write in third person but it's not singular since I'm bouncing back and forth between my romantic leads. I had a lot of problems with leaving third person singular when I was writing flashbacks, but my editor helped me. Your conundrum sounds challenging!

    Congratulations--you win the Stylish Blogger Award! Check out http://jenniferlanebooks.blogspot.com for details. :)

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  15. Jennifer, you bring up another taboo in writing: flashbacks. But that deserves a post of its own. :)

    Thank you for the award!

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  16. What a great first line! As usual, a well-explained post. Thank you!

    ~Debbie

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  17. My writing varies a fair bit - I've written in third person present tense, third person past tense, and a lot of first person in both tenses. I've also mixed it up a bit with some 2nd person in a first person narration. Scary. yes. lol. Not sure how that last one's gonna work.

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  18. Thanks to you Debbie! And to Jennifer Lane for the Stylish Blogger Award.

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  19. Great post. I'm struggling with a POV decision for a new project at the moment so wish I had clarity on this issue! Certainly every point of view choice comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.

    I'm most comfortable writing 3rd person limited point of view, but I'm thinking of expanding my horizons for the new project.

    And I've had the same experience as you - with readers liking a particular character more than they were supposed to. That kind of thing is out of our writerly control and can be so frustrating sometimes!

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  21. I tried writing in first person once. I did it, but in the end preferred third, hanging over one character in particular. I find first person too... personal. I from time to time enjoy non-fiction blogging and the same sort of motivation is at work with my fiction. Third person allows more to be described, a more clinical assessment of the situation... to understand that comment I suppose when I said one friend joked that I'm a mixture of Jeremy Paxman and the Borg, gives some way to understanding why I'd prefer a more detached-analytical approach. Heheh. It needs to be described; not involved, as such.

    The nature of politics and suspicion in my novel necessitates a very fixed perspective... so little to no head-hopping that I can recall. Scenes where the main character is in the company of mysterious priests, whom he's been brought to believe are supernatural avatars of a thousand-year-old apostle. But hidden beneath masks and hooded robes, who knows? It's essentially him guessing about their nature and intentions, which is the same with most other major factions and characters. His doubts surface, but at the end of the day it's still him guessing.

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  22. You are fortunate. I still can't avoid subtle head-hopping when I try using third.
    True. First is a very personal point of view. Is why I can't write from my male protagonist's POV, I can only write from the heroine's perspective.

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  23. the truth never set me free

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