POV question

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TheRob1

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OK, my stories are mostly speculative fiction where multiple povs are common. However, I've limited most of the story to 1 POV, the mmc. My secondary POV character is a henchman for the bad guys, and I have a couple other characters that get a small amount of POV time.

So, for the characters that only get a few POV scenes they have to meet 1 important criteria: before I'll introduce a new POV it has to be something I want or need the reader to see and it has to be happening at a time and place where the main POV characters can't see it, and the mmc can't discover the information on his own for a large chunk of the book.

So with that in mind, as readers does it bother you if a new POV character is introduced late in a book and are you annoyed if you only get 1 or 2 scenes with a character?
 

TessB

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I don't mind getting single or a few number of small scenes with a new POV character as long as it's a style that's introduced early on so I can expect it. if there was only one in the entire book, it would feel a bit contrived. But if there was, say, a small scene from an outsider POV by chapter two or three, and then another in chapter four or five, I'd be groomed as a reader to expect the occasional intercession from an alternate voice.

Guy Gavriel Kay uses that technique a lot to flesh out his worlds, sometimes just half a page from someone involved who we may only ever see that once, and I think it works really well.
 

Maryn

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I generally don't like it. I can't help reading like a writer nowadays, so when I see it, I wonder how the author could have presented that information without introducing a new POV we only see a little, and not for long.

I used to real a lot of mystery, and most manages to provide plenty of information the PI or detective who's narrating was not there to observe. If they can do it without having to switch, there's no reason other genres can't--unless the new POV is both purposeful and desirable.

But as I said, I don't really like it. Just one opinion, of course.

Maryn, fussy
 

Bufkus

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I prefer that POVs be established early and limited to characters who are important, but that's just me. I wouldn't make a POV of a minor character just to see something that the other POVs couldn't. I'd work around it somehow or revise the plot. Just my personal preference.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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I have 5 POV characters in my WIP, but the MC gets about 60 - 70% of the screen time. The others are there to provide depth to the story and introduce plot points that my MC may not be aware of, but they're all connected to him - his arch nemesis, his wife, his love interest, his brother-in-law. The only exception is one scene, which shows a murder that ends up bringing several plot strands together, but none of the POV characters witness it. I wanted to show it rather than report it later because it added action/tension, and broke up another scene to solve some pacing issues. But it's a single orphaned POV, in omniscient, whereas all the other POVs are close third. However, not a single person has mentioned it, not my betas, not my agent, so...

*whispers* I think I got away with it. ;)

If you really think the story needs it, it can work. But listen to feedback and be prepared to find another way round the issue if people find it jarring.
 

beckethm

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I generally don't like it. I can't help reading like a writer nowadays, so when I see it, I wonder how the author could have presented that information without introducing a new POV we only see a little, and not for long.

I'm in the same camp as Maryn on this. When a new POV character is introduced late in the game or carries the POV for only a few scenes, I find it jarring. If you're going to be shifting point of view, I prefer that it be established early on and that the POV characters get roughly equal "screen time."
 

Layla Nahar

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I'm ok with multiple POVs, and even I could be open to what you describe, someone who arrives late, so to speak. But I think you have to have a reason to justify it, and you have to make it work.

I like Maryn's point - and myself, though I write fantasy/speculative, I use only on POV. Maybe someday I'll go multiple. It depends on the story, I think.
 

guttersquid

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Elmore Leonard said he wrote scenes in the POV of the character whose view best brought the scene to life, and as someone who has read almost all of his books, I know he often gave one-time-only POVs to secondary characters. I never had a problem with it. In fact, I liked it.
 

TheRob1

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For clarification, the character in this scene is major character in the story who is introduced relatively early on. We just don't see his perspective until later in the story.

Thanks for the feedback. The scene will stay until it gets to my betas.
 

LDParker

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If there is a good purpose behind using that Pov character, and the shift isn't too jarring,i don't see why not.

I'm doing something similar, sprinkling occasionally dufferent POV characters into the story to change up the perspectives. Allows the reader to see the two MCs from perspectives other than their own.
 

BethS

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Guy Gavriel Kay uses that technique a lot to flesh out his worlds, sometimes just half a page from someone involved who we may only ever see that once, and I think it works really well.

Guy Gavriel Kay mostly writes in omniscient POV, IIRC.

To the OP:

Whatever you're going to do, introduce it early and be consistent.

My personal preference in multi-POV books is for each POV character to have his or her own story arc, even if it's very minor. I've never been a fan of POV characters walking on stage purely for the sake of being a pair of eyes. OTOH, if you make the scene (and the character) interesting enough, I'll go along for the ride.
 
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Bufty

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If the mc can't and doesn't discover the information (given to me by these minor POV characters) for a large chunk of the book why do I need to know it? I can't say I really see the need for this approach as outlined and wonder if it isn't more of a gimmick than anything else.
 

Jamesaritchie

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I very rarely see this is a published novel, but when I do, I hate it. It's not so much having a new POV character introduced, it's a lack of consistency. If a book goes almost all the way with only one POv character, and a new one poops up near books end, or for only one character anywhere, that book becomes an instant wallbanger.

I love books with multiple POV characters, but only if the book is consistent, and changes POV regularly, right from the start.

If a POV change in introduced late, or if a couple of characters get only a scene here and way over there, it reads like the writer didn't know how to get all the information in without briefly jumping to a different POV. This is a common mistake with new writers.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Guy Gavriel Kay uses that technique a lot to flesh out his worlds, sometimes just half a page from someone involved who we may only ever see that once, and I think it works really well.

No, what Kay does is a completely different thing. He writes in omniscient, which really has no POV character, and he's consistent throughout his book. If he single character third limited for ninety-eight percent of the way, and then jumped POV for a couple of scenes near the end of the book, I doubt he would have sold anything.
 

ishtar'sgate

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For clarification, the character in this scene is major character in the story who is introduced relatively early on. We just don't see his perspective until later in the story.

Thanks for the feedback. The scene will stay until it gets to my betas.

I think that's wise. Execution is everything. If they don't mention it or find it jarring then you're probably okay.
 

ironmikezero

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FWIW... Multiple POVs don't bother me; done well it can enrich the story. My pet peeve is when there is more than one POV in a given scene. Admittedly, it can (very rarely) be done well, but I typically find it awkward - and begging for an edit.
 

Jamesaritchie

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FWIW... Multiple POVs don't bother me; done well it can enrich the story. My pet peeve is when there is more than one POV in a given scene. Admittedly, it can (very rarely) be done well, but I typically find it awkward - and begging for an edit.


I love multiple POVs, too. What I dislike is a single POV that gets interrupted by a new POV when almost all the books has had a single POV. This is a sign of a new writer, and it almost never works.
 

TheRob1

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Turns out I have to cut the scene. My FMC gets possessed by a demon, but the mmc doesn't know. I also don't make it clear to the reader either. Including that scene will make it obvious tothe reader.
 

J.S.Fairey

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As much as I'm all for not listening to anyone, I do think advice from potential readers helps ;) I think it's fine, as long as (as someone has said) this is a style you introduce and stick to THROUGHOUT the novel. If you're constantly popping off for little two scene adventures, I'd get used to it and expect it. If it's pretty much in one POV, then right at the end changes, I'd firstly think:

Woah, wtf? Hang on, hang on, I'm thrown.

And I'd secondly think:

This is just a really lazy way of telling me something that the writer couldn't be bothered to show.

That's my one big problem with POV characters appearing for one or two scenes, tbh. It can work, but it can also just feel like the writer wanted to tell us something, and so did so by adding a character rather than showing us that information in a creative way, you know?
 

Jamesaritchie

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And I'd secondly think:

This is just a really lazy way of telling me something that the writer couldn't be bothered to show.

That's my one big problem with POV characters appearing for one or two scenes, tbh. It can work, but it can also just feel like the writer wanted to tell us something, and so did so by adding a character rather than showing us that information in a creative way, you know?

This is how it almost always comes out. There's always a way of getting any information to the reader without having to add a new POV like this. Not knowing how to get the information across shouldn't mean adding a POV just for the purpose, it should mean reading good novels that do the job the right way.

I haven't read Ben Bova in a while, so things may have changed, but for a long number of years, everything he wrote was third person limited, single POV, and there was nothing he couldn't accomplish with this.
 
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