Let's talk about point of view!

[sholio]

So I'm at about 9000 words on the WIP-of-the-moment, and I've realized, as the plot evolves, that the viewpoint I'm in is probably not going to work for the whole story.

Which reminded me that I love talking about the writing process, and I haven't made a writing post lately.

The tricky thing is that the current viewpoint character (Sam Carter) is probably going to be perfect for about 80% of the story. It's the rest of it that is giving me fits. I could probably unfold the plot just fine in Sam's POV by leaving out big chunks of the self-indulgent and world-building stuff. *g* But it's fanfic, dammit. If I want to play in my AU world, I don't want to deny myself for purely mechanical reasons. And I want to tell those parts of the story, even if they end up not being wholly necessary from a strict exposition standpoint.

Re-reading some of my long stories (or parts of them) when I was redoing my website over the holiday was a bit of an eye-opener. I'm shocked at how much more careful I've gotten about viewpoint. In "That Which is Broken", I actually switch POV in the middle of a scene. (Bad writer, no biscuit!) In "Fading Sun", I narrate several chapters from Rodney's POV and then, inexplicably, switch to another character, and continue switching throughout the rest of the fic.

Fanfic, as a medium, is a lot more forgiving of that kind of thing than pro fic. I doubt if most readers noticed. Obviously I didn't notice myself when I was writing. Technically, I could just go on for another 5000 words in Sam's head and then hop into Character B when it becomes necessary -- I think the audience would forgive it. But I don't want to -- now that I'm aware of the issue, I'd like to do better this time around. So I'm dithering with various solutions, which basically are going to involve giving up on some of the scenes I really want to write, or massively rewriting some of what I've already got.

So, readers, writers ... talk to me about point of view! I'm really not fishing for solutions (I've got several of those, just have to decide which one hurts me less *g*) but I'd love to chat about what you think of a story's POV when you write and read. Does it bother you if a story suddenly hops narrators in mid-plot, or do you even notice? Do you prefer stories that stick to one character's POV, or stories that hop around, or do you care? Is the choice of narrators a major writing decision for you, or something that happens organically? Is it different for AUs vs. canon-based stories? Do you have any anecdotes about stories you wrote where the POV did something interesting, or stories you read that made you think about POV in a new way?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

Actually, after spending all these years immersed in fic and discussions about writing it, I'm amazed at how many pro-level short stories get published that seem to wander through multiple POVs. In fic, I'll back right out of a story with a wandering POV, and so I tried to figure out why it annoys me so much (other than ZOMG lazy writing!): it sucks all the tension oout of a story to know everything from the narrator's POV, in my opinion.

What a unique POV can give you is character: not what's there in the room but what that individual person notices and takes meaning from; not what Person B is thinking/planning but the gestures/words that resonate with the POV character; even the face of the beloved, through the lover's eyes - all of that really makes a story rich for me, and you lose so much of that when a writer doesn't understand how to use POV in a story. Of course, that implies knowing how to write multiple voices, too - shifting POVs never really works for me if the different voices all sound exactly the same.

And so, as rydra_wong says, I'm perfectly happy to see deliberate changes in POV in a story, as long as there's a strong organic-to-the-story reason for doing so and it's done strictly, at logical points, and to some kind of an internal rhythm. I don't want to see so many POV characters that I say, "Wait, what? Who are you?" every two pages, or, as she says, have the shift happen just to make things easier on the writer.

And you know, I'm not sure I would have noticed POV, or known how it worked for me as a reader, if I hadn't logged so many hours thinking about it here. When everyone is reading the same texts about the same characters (broadly speaking) but those texts are produced by hundreds of people, I think you get a unique prspective on things like voice and POV...

[sholio]

Question - is your icon an actual scene from the show, or is it a manip? Because if it's a scene, I want to know which one. :D

Actually, after spending all these years immersed in fic and discussions about writing it, I'm amazed at how many pro-level short stories get published that seem to wander through multiple POVs.

I know, right? Oh my god, reading fanfic has made me so incredibly picky about profic. I am aware that profic has different requirements than fanfic for all kinds of reasons (for example, though I personally hate them, I will grudgingly acknowledge that infodumps are sometimes necessary in profic to get the setting established), but even though I've always been a voracious reader, I've noticed that reading (and writing) fanfic over the last ten years has made me noticeably more analytical about the books I read, and much less likely to stick with a book that turns me off with various stylistic issues in the first ten pages.

I think what you said in your last paragraph about many people working with the same texts really speaks to the heart of that, too. It's like many variations on a single theme, allowing you (the generic reader "you") to pick out specifically which aspects work or don't work for you. With profic, the whole package is unique -- it's hard to figure out if you were kicked out of the story because you just don't like first person, or because the main character is offputting in some fashion, or because of the author's overly verbose style. With fanfic, you get the same characters in a million different settings and authorial voices; it's an awesome stylistic testing ground. As well as making me pickier about profic, ironically, fanfic has also had the opposite effect by making me more open to experimental fiction of all stripes -- things that would have been instant turnoffs for me in the past (present tense, for example, or most first person) are things that I'm more than willing to try now.

Of course, that implies knowing how to write multiple voices, too - shifting POVs never really works for me if the different voices all sound exactly the same.

*nods* I'm not overly fond of Sarah Monette's books from a storytelling perspective, but OMG, does she have a masterful grasp of character voice; you can open any of her Labyrinth books to a random page, read two sentences and know exactly which character you're reading.

I've found it really interesting to notice how my ability to write various characters in SGA fandom has waxed and waned. Lately it seems like I've been very comfortable writing Sheppard's voice, whereas in the beginning, I really struggled with him ...

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

Question - is your icon an actual scene from the show, or is it a manip? Because if it's a scene, I want to know which one. :D

It's from "First Strike" (http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=311&pos=104), the scene where Ellis briefs them on the Replicator warships.

This whole discussion is very interesting to read, btw :)