POVs in a first novel?

[Zelenka]

I've a couple of books on different genre writing and general writing tips and two now have said that a first time writer should stick to only one POV character in the novel (in terms of, agencies won't be interested in novels with more complex structures and several POVs from a first time novelist). Has anyone else come across this, in querying or the likes perhaps, and is it true?

(Sorry if this is in the wrong section, btw, as I was torn between this, BWQ and Ask the Agent. I thought since it's specifically about novels, I'd go with this one).

[Karen Duvall]

News to me. The novel is written in whatever POV needed to tell the story regardless of who writes it.

[Axelle]

I absolutely agree. I've put a few scenes told from other POVs in my first novel and I don't see anything wrong with it. Well, changing POV every three paragraphs would probably be a bad idea, but apart from that... how else would you inform the readers of the Truly Evil Scheme set in motion by the bad guy ? Well, I suppose there are other ways, but I find a different POV to be one of the most effective. Unless your hero's name is Harry Potter and he has a mental link with the big baddie ;)

[timewaster]

My first novel had two POVs but I'm not sure that it didn't veer into omni-ish territory on occasions. It was published.
The advice sounds like nonsense to me unles you have a particular difficulty managing more than one POV. Personally, I think it's easier to have more than one as you can skip between story lines and keep the tension levels high. YMMV. I think you should do whatever comes naturally.

[JanDarby]

I've heard that advice more in the context of "learn how to do one pov well before you try to juggle more than one," which is a craft issue, rather than an issue of marketability.

JD

[ishtar'sgate]

Yes, I've read that sort of advice but I think you have to do what is comfortable for you. If your story flows when you tell it your way don't let someone tell you you can't do it. I honestly think there are far too many books telling writers how they ought and ought not to write. It can stifle creativity when you're anxious to do it right, at least according to this or that instruction manual. Personally, I didn't even consider the easiest or best point of view for a debut novel when I wrote my last book, I simply told the story the way I wanted to and I'm doing the same with my current WIPs. The real key is finding your own comfort zone, the POV that allows the story to tell itself and just drags you along for the ride.
Linnea

[JamieFord]

Like what JD says, it's good advice as far as working on your craft. So many aspiring authors start out trying to write a 600-page, 12-POV, head-hopping opus. Then they query it, get rejected and assume that agents just don't want books that complex. Odds are, it's not the complexity...

[Michael Davis]

When I started writing fiction, POV was a "no issue" issue to my stories. After all, why can't I be in more than one persons head at a time, right?

Wrong. I got beat with a 2X4 about POV switches. Personally, I prefer seeing inside a characters head, knowing why they are responding to another character in the way they are. But my editors were of a different view. Given they had the experience with the reader audience, and I didn't, I accepted their guidance. I was able to convince them that when in the throws of love, readers actually want to be in both characters heads (who doesn't want to know why Jane and John are reacting the way they are). There actually was a survey done (I've since lost the reference) that determined the one place that readers agreed they wanted to be in two heads was in the bedroom. The editors when along with that one switch, and (so far) the romance angle has been well received. But it is one of my two Achilles heels (the second being spotting typos). I don't worry about POV when I write the draft (it would encumber my juices) but I do comply with the editors guidance and go back and remove all POV switches (except in the bedroom of course, LOL).

Just my view of course.

[Charlie Horse]

Pish-tosh. As long as your not confusing the reader use however many POVs you need to make your story work.

[dawinsor]

I'll pass along some advice I got from Connie Willis. She says the default POV and tense is single POV, third person limited, past tense. You vary from that if you need to. Indeed, at the time Connie gave that advice, she was writing a novel with four POVs. But you have to have a good reason. IMHO, conveying a plot point is usually (though not always) a weak reason. You're a creative person. You can think of a way for your POV character to learn what he or she needs to know. And maybe it's better if the reader learns things as the MC does.

Obviously all kinds of stories are written and turn out to be strong, readable, and well-loved. But I still think starting with a default and considering your reasons for varying is a good idea.

[Zelenka]

Glad most everyone seems to have the same thinking as I do. (Been there, done that with the multiple POV switches, long time ago. I have since learned, lol). With two of my WIPs it's not an issue as they've naturally fallen into one limited third person POV but with my new one I just started writing, I think it'll work better to have the majority of it from one POV, with a few scenes from the main antagonists' as well to show the other side. Just I kept coming across this 'don't write more than one if you're trying to sell this as a first novel' and wondered. I know it's a bit pre-emptive to think about selling when I'm just on the first draft, but the question's been bugging me ever since I first came across it to be honest, so I thought I'd ask.

[bluntforcetrauma]

I skirted the issue by refusing to write from any POV.

[Phaeal]

As far as I can see, the advice to stick to a single POV character could help some novices in the writing of the first novel, not its marketing.

I've never heard or read that writing a novel with multiple POVs is forbidden to first-time novelists. Like any other novelist, the first-timer can do whatever he or she can do. If it's good enough for publication, why wouldn't an agent pick it up?

After all, readers don't buy novels based on how many POV characters they contain. If they did, a POV tag would appear on the cover to help them out. :)

Heh, and I can just hear the conversations at the bookstore help desk if readers fretted like writers:

Buyer: Excuse me, where are the first person novels?

Clerk: Well, do you want first person single POV character or first person multiple POV characters?

Buyer: Can you do that? Um, multiple first person POVs?

Clerk: Oh, sure.

Buyer: Well, I don't know, I guess I'll stick to first person single. Oh, and I don't want to see any first novels!

Clerk: Certainly. That would be Aisle 95, First Person Single/Post-First-Novel Novels. Or Aisle 96, First Person Single/Tenth Novel Plus Novels.

Vikings pop up and start to chant Novels, novels, novels, novels. Novels, novels, novels, novels, etc.

[Willowmound]

I was able to convince them that when in the throws of love, readers actually want to be in both characters heads

Don't you be throwing that brain-sticky love at me, is all I says!


yech

[Madison]

eh, people like to stand on soap boxes and dictate the rules of writing in those handy-dandy write your own bestseller self help books...it's all opinion. i read parts of king's 'on writing' and thought most of it was bs.

do what you want.

and, just fyi - throws of love should be throes of love. that's just my ap english police side :)

[Constantine K]

I only write in one POV, because that's what I like to read. No matter what, I always have a favorite character in multi-POV novels. Whenever it breaks away and goes somewhere else, I get ancy and want to skip ahead so I can read about the person I really like.

Plus, one POV lets you really get into a character from beginning to end, without all that hopping around.

Reflex by Steven Gould is a good example of what I'm talking about. It has 2 POVs--husband and wife. Every chapter it switches, and every time I ended a chapter with the husband, I was ready to kill myself because I knew I had to spend another 10-20 pages with somebody I found utterly boring and stupid.

But, weird as I am, I do like omniscient when it's done right.

I guess the bottom line is: only use the amount of POVs that you find completely necessary. Don't just throw a bunch in to make the book "bigger."