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Let's talk about point of view!
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?
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?
no subject
I actually expect POV changes, especially in a long story. So much goes on in a story that, as you say, you lose important info if you restrict yourself to one POV. It can be done, certainly, but it's a different story.
I think about "Epiphany", for example, as we switch back and forth between what's happening to John, and the rescue attempts on the outside. Having both sets of viewpoints makes a fully-fleshed story.
That said, I prefer each scene to be a single viewpoint, if possible - although, as others have said, switching POV can work if done well.
I also think that the sections of different POV don't necessarily need to be similar in length. The story should dictate what it needs. It can be perfectly acceptable to have two pages of X's POV, followed by a half page of Y's input.
Really, if one POV works for 80% of a story, and POVs from two others works for the other 20% of the story, I see nothing wrong with that.
.
no subject
I was really enjoying the mystery in season three's "Real World" until they switched viewpoints in the middle of the episode to show us the team and Carson dealing with Elizabeth's nanites. Suddenly the tension collapsed like a punctured balloon, because you knew exactly what was going on. Drove me nuts. *g*
So I'm trying to be cognizant of that as I write; just because I really want to show what's going on with a given set of characters, doesn't mean it's a necessarily a good idea for the story if I do so. (As
no subject
YES. THIS. I had the same reaction to that episode!! "Real World" would have been so much more powerful and scary if it hadn't moved away from Elizabeth's POV. The writers could have launched head-on into surreality territory and done some crazy stuff. I mean, Matrix-y stuff, even! Alas.
I've been dying to write a comparison essay on that episode, the Buffy episode "Normal Again", and the DS9 episode "Shadows and Symbols", all of which use the same premises - the mental institution and the question of reality. I think Buffy and DS9 both succeeded a little better than "Real World" (that Buffy episode leaves me shocked at the end, every time) - and in the end of both of those episodes, it remained unclear which world, exactly, was real. And neither left the main character's POV (at least, not that I can remember).