Zestful Blog Post #133
Recently I got three inquiries in a row from aspiring
writers wanting advice on point of view in fiction, specifically shifting POV
from one character to another, and even more specifically, mixing first-person
POV with other styles—third person limited and omniscient: can we do it? should
we do it? how do we do it? (Thank you to D, J, and E for giving me the idea for
this post.)
The novels of my first series (Lillian
Byrd crime) are all in first person, which has its joys. The reader gets to
know the main character intimately—if you’ve done your job well—and the limitations
of the form can help shape your plot. One character can’t know everything,
which automatically introduces an element of suspense. I chose first person for
my first books because I was told by some magazine article (probably &
ironically in Writer’s Digest magazine) that all first novelists should use it,
because at least then you can’t screw up POV.
LOL.
Alternatively, writing gurus often tell new authors to stick
with one style of POV: pick either first, third-limited, or omniscient, and
stay there. Yet messing around with POV is interesting, and it can be
just the thing for your story. Yet it’s fraught.
In many novels old and new, an omniscient narrator tells the
story, shifting frequently from one character’s viewpoint to the next. If done
well, we get not only a literal unfolding of the story, but also the characters’
inner worldview—their thoughts and judgments as to what’s going on. But the
narrator becomes a bit of a character as well, which can be helpful or
annoying, depending on the skill of the author.
For The Actress (Rita
Farmer mysteries) I wanted more flexibility than simple first person, because
my story was more ambitious, wider ranging, with more characters. Yet I liked
the intimacy of first person. So I looked around to see if any novels mixed
first with third limited and/or omniscient and found a few that worked (don’t
ask me; I forget), so I figured I could do it too.
Yet I hated reading novels where the POV sticks with one
character for almost the whole book, but shifts quickly and inexplicably to
another character’s POV as a way out of plot jams, which is cheap. Suddenly—gosh!—we
learn what the bad guy’s thinking, just at the exact moment we need an
explanation of what the hell his motivation is. Then we’re back to the hero for
the duration. In such cases, shifting POV is a way to avoid telling the story
with discipline and fluidity. And it’s pure plain jangling to readers. It’s
especially bad when readers constantly have to re-orient themselves to rapidly
shifting limited POVs. Note I say limited: This is worse than just choosing
omniscient, which imposes its own demands of reason and plausibility.
So I structured The
Actress to begin from the perspective of Rita, my protagonist, and to shift
POV only at major breaks. Sometimes it’s a chapter break, other times it’s a
mid-chapter shift from one scene and set of characters to another. I carried
the same pattern into the other two Rita books. By On Location I was pretty comfortable with it.
Currently I’m writing a final draft of a novel told in a mix
of third limited and omniscient; no first person. It happens in Los Angeles, it
involves a retired schoolteacher, her illiterate (and undocumented) cleaning
woman, and a gang of corporate saboteurs. It digs into why people help one
another, why they betray one another, and how far into the abyss they will go
for money—and sometimes love. The title is Crimes
in a Second Language.
Bottom line answer to the questions on mixing POVs: Yes, we
can do it. We should do it IF the story demands, or at least prompts it. Keep
your artistic integrity handy and never shift POV to get yourself out of a
tight place you’ve gotten yourself into. When mixing first with third limited /
omniscient, do it sparingly.
Moreover, don’t be cowed by the process. Relax, jump in, and
give it a try.
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