Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Beginnings, POV

This is topic Beginnings, POV in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004708

Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :

My questions is this:

Is it acceptable to start a story, in this case a full-length novel, with a POV other than one of the main characters?

I posted my first 13 in the novels section, Knights Valor, and confused everyone, myself included. While the POV, told through a main character, was clear in the 13, that was about all that was. I feel that having the original scene I wrote, but cut out before posting, would explain all, but it is told through the girl’s fathers POV not a main character, and after chapter 1, he is not heard from or seen until about ¾ of the way through. Is this a problem?

Any thoughts?

Posted by smncameron (Member # 7392) on :

Of course it is, OSC did it in Ender's Shadow. He talks about it
in this 'Writing Lesson'
http://hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/1998-10-29.shtml

Posted by Patrick James (Member # 7847) on :

Yeah. I have seen that executed lots of times.

Hmmm. Notable example, Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar book two (and I think book one of the series. Its been awhile.): It begins with the POV of a man recieving letters from the MC, who is deep in the Earth---in the land of Pellucidar. At the first chapter break the POV swings from the man reading about the MC to the MC himself. Never does the letter recieving man reappear.

Hope that helped.

Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :

I read the first 13 you posted, and the critiques you received.

In my opinion, it is entirely acceptable to start a novel in a POV other than your main character, but only if there are other, significant portions of that novel, told in a different POV. Otherwise, if it's a one-time kind of thing, then I'd say it's essentially a prologue, a tool to drop information into the story (whether it's an info-dump or not depends on how it's written).

I suppose the inevitable question you'll need to ask yourself about your opening, if you need to stick in your main characters POV but don't feel good about how the scene develops, is "Are youstarting the story at the right place?" In the 13 you posted, we see Trevain raising The Five. It's a very action-heavy scene. Could we start sooner and incorporate the info you're missing from the scene with Roselyn's father, so the scene makes more sense to a cold reader (not fully informed yet).

So, I suppose my answer to your question would be, yes. It is acceptable, given a few provisos.

Jayson Merryfield

Posted by annepin (Member # 5952) on :

Mos def. Many novels do this. There is a cost, though. In this case, I think the cost is you risk confusing the reader as to the contract that you're setting up. In a couple books I read (can't remember--too long ago and not very memorable books) I remember for the first few chapters wondering when we were getting back to the original characters. Then it occurred to me we weren't getting back to them. Which was all right, but I was confused as to the author's intentions.

So, if you plan to do it, a good question to ask is why? What effect to you hope to achieve? Why is it better to have these characters and not your main characters?

My 2 cents.

Posted by mommiller (Member # 3285) on :

I have to agree with Annepin and Wolf Boy on this one. I think having too many characters taking center stage early on is just going to muddle the excellent plot you are trying to get across.

Like Wolf-boy said, reexamine your story to see if you are starting at the right beginning point.

My current WIP progress starts 20 years before the events in chapter one, and with characters that only get a passing reference. That's why I have a prologue.

Posted by JeanneT (Member # 5709) on :

I would pipe in to agree that I would only do this if it is at least an important secondary character. While it can and has been done otherwise, I'm sure, that doesn't make it a good idea. It's likely to confuse the reader and a confused reader tends to be an annoyed reader--who may not finish the novel.

I've done it and I assume it was successful since the novel is sold. (But we'll see what the editor says when we start editing in a couple of months lol) I did a single scene from a secondary character's PoV. However, he was in the following scene where it switched to the MC's PoV and there were a couple of other chapters from his PoV.

So--for what it's worth that's my opinion.

Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :

Silly, silly Todd, I mean Tiergan. Gods, pen names are so hard to keep straight theses days. Apparently when I wrote the book I had a fuller plan than I realized as the ending, as in emotional closure of several points, comes from his POV I feel it only fitting to start with his.

smncameron, hope I got that right. Thanks for the link. It was great, and amazing to see the difference POV can make in telling the same story, and through OSC's mind non-the-less.

Everyone else thank you so much for your advice, it is greatly appreciated.