There are only two more days until my vacation. I’ll be able
to enjoy five days of uninterrupted writing time. Well, maybe a few interruptions,
like turkey, stuffing, pie, black Friday, my sister coming in from San Diego,
entertaining the kiddies who are out of school, and…the list goes on.
But I should have some NaNo time.
My work-in-progress, FIXED, is shaping up now that I’m
editing as I write it. For those who followed my NaNo journey last year, you
know I like to experiment.
This time, I added in a new POV character, Landry,
to the story. I wondered how he felt about all the crazy
happenings in Mala’s world.
His chapter…wow, it felt wonderful to write. It got my mojo
flowing again. After I wrote his chapter, Mala’s chapters wrote themselves with
little effort from me. I love when that happens, but I was afraid it wouldn’t
with story after the rocky beginning.
I’m now on Chapter 8, which will be a Landry chapter. I
wrote the first one in 3rd person, past tense. I didn’t want it to
be confused with Mala’s 1st person, present tense.
I’m not sure
whether it’s too jarring of a change. If necessary, I can always go back and
convert it after I’m finished. I won’t worry about it until I get feedback from
my critique partners.
I need your opinion. Do you find books with dual POV’s
that are written in different POV’s distracting or is it better to have such a distinct separation?
I like it when there's a distinct separation. Good luck with NaNo!! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input. It's helpful to get a variety of opinions. Good luck on your NaNo journey, too.
DeleteI can't really think of any books I've read that are both 1st person and 3rd person. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention or maybe I haven't read enough books.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to remember. I think some of the later books in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast had both. I don't think I personally had a problem with the tense change with those books.
DeleteI love dual POV books. I'm also trying to remember if I've read any with different tense changes...can't remember off hand. But I don't mind the dual povs at all.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebekah,
DeleteThanks for stopping by. I enjoy reading books with multiple POV's. George R.R. Martin does this really well since each character has a very distinct voice.
I'm reading a book right now that does the same thing, The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent. The female MC is in 1st person and the male MC is in third. It helps distinguish their voices. Personally, I'm rooting more for the male MC because the female's first person voice makes her sound like a bit of a brat, but she's undergoing change.
ReplyDeleteLOL, the curse of 1st person POV. The bratty tone. I think my girl's a bit whiny right now. I'll fix that in edit mode. Thanks for your opinion through. It helps.
DeleteIt's funny you should bring this up, because I just ran into the same thing on my WIP. I have one MC in my WIP, and I wrote the entire thing in 1st person, present tense. But for reasons I won't explain here, I had to write the last chapter from someone else's POV. I initially starting writing that final chapter in 1st person present, but it just didn't feel right, so I ended up switching to 3rd person past. So I'd say just go with what feels right. It never hurts to experiment a little, either, and write a little bit in each format to see how they feel. :)
ReplyDeleteI think I wrote it in in 3rd/past for the same reason. It worked with the emotion I wanted to transmit. So for me, it worked out. It seems most of the comments are okay with this style.
DeleteAnd you're right, it doesn't hurt to experiment with it. I may write the initial scene again just to see how it sounds. I just have to get his voice down. Writing from a male perspective is easier for me since I work with teenage boys. The girls tend to baffle me, lol.
You know my take on dual POVs. *giggles* I think it works when the voices are distinctive. :-)
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I do, lol.
DeleteWithout diving into what my story is about, all I'd say is that my NaNo novel also involves more than one perspective, though most of the story is told from first-person.... When I read, I appreciate distinct markers to show me whose perspective or head I'm getting into.
ReplyDeleteThe last story I wrote had male/female narrators. I wrote both in 1st/present and it worked with that story. I put their names as chapter headings which forewarned readers of the POV change. I could do the same with this story.
DeleteThe following comment is from Terri Bruce. I had to repast it after my computer fritzed on me.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm....I have seen the use of two different tenses, I think, but I can't think of any of the book titles. However, keep in mind with the tense change, what you're saying to the reader is that the first person character is telling the reader what happened AS IT HAPPENS, while the 3rd person character is telling the reader what happened AFTER THE FACT. If that's what you mean, then it should be fine (the examples I'm thinking of are usually suspense/mystery/thrillers, where one person is telling the story after the fact (like the detective/cop) and one is telling it as it happens (usually the bad guy), but I've also seen it in mother/daughter women's fic - with the grown up daughter explaining the present day problems in the past tense and then the book switches to the mom's PoV in present tense as she relates her life story). I'd have to check but Paulo Coelho may have used two different tenses in The Witch of Portobello and I think possibly Amy Tan in The Bonesetter's Daughter. But if you mean for your characters to both be telling the same story at the same time (e.g. as it happens), then you'd really need to use the same tense I think.
As for the two different PoVs...hmmm, not sure if I've seen that if both are suppose to be PoV characters, versus an outside narrator (for the 3rd person) and then zooming in on one character (1st person). Now I'm curious and want to start pulling books off the shelf to see if I can find an example of that! You've made me curious! Good luck with the story - go, Angie, go!!!
Terri, your right. I guess I'll be converting his chapter. This story works in present tense because of the mystery/suspense elements. It keeps the reader in the moment. Thank you.
DeleteI've yet to read a book with such a change in POV, but I think I'd like to. It seems like it would open up a new perspective on things.
ReplyDelete