Abandoning an Entire POV

[Netardapope]

Alrighty, this one's a doozy. So I've been working on my novel as of late, but I've found that my original plan is falling apart. I wanted to make a book with three different POVs, and it started out all nice and dandy. everything was flowing smoothly and my prose was god-like (or at least, I perceived it to be). But, as it went down, everything started turning to crap really quickly.

First off, I started with a clear preference of one viewpoint over the other. This was natural and I ignored it for a while. But as it stood, I found out that my plot continued to grow excessively unfocused and far too episodic for my taste. I stuck with it for a while, since I thought that this was only writer's block and that I'd eventually grow out of it. But being the gullible fool that I am, my plots are now so out of whack that I'm starting to lose the feel for my entire story. And this is mostly because of one of the POVs, which is a court-intrigue style of plot.

This experience has taught me why I hate court-intrigue plots.

Many of the characters that I once loved are turning into "flanderizations" of themselves, and I think this is because I've spread my attention across too many plots. As it stands, I have to get rid of this one POV, which is the one I loathe the most, if I want to get back actually enjoying my writing. But honestly, I think I'll end up stumbling through my pacing if I do this. I know I'm rambling, this is because I'm immensely dismayed as I type this down. In case you need information, the novel I'm writing is a sequel (the first novel was mostly told from one perspective). I think I should have just used the same style I used for the first book in this one.

I'd like to know if any of you have had to do something similar to this, and if so, I'd like to know how you recovered. This is really tough for me, as this plot arc's protagonist is also a character I deeply adore. But I think this has also been the largest source of frustration for me in my whole book. Any advice or personal experiences with this is welcome!

 

[Xitra_Blud]

I sort of had this with the novel I just finished. One of the POV's storylines seemed kind of boring to me, and I decided I'd go ahead and keep her in there and decide whether I wanted to rid her POV in the end. I decided I'd keep it, since it wound up playing a major part in the main plotline, but there's some stuff of hers that I will probably delete if I don't feel I need it.

I think, if you haven't completed it already, you should go ahead and finish it, read over it, then decide whether this character is really that important to the story or not. If not, I'd say go ahead and ditch 'em. If so, try revising it enough that it fits your liking or taking out some parts with the character you feel you really don't need.

 

[Penpilot]

The more POVs you have the more complicated the story will become. With one POV, you only have to deal with basically one character, one main plot, etc. With three, you have to deal with that for each POV and then how each POV and plot relates to the other two plots and POVs.

If you haven't done so, I'd suggest outlining the plots, so you know how they fit together and how they're all important to the overall story you're telling.

 

[Netardapope]

The more POVs you have the more complicated the story will become. With one POV, you only have to deal with basically one character, one main plot, etc. With three, you have to deal with that for each POV and then how each POV and plot relates to the other two plots and POVs.

If you haven't done so, I'd suggest outlining the plots, so you know how they fit together and how they're all important to the overall story you're telling.

That's the problem. I did outline them all, but the POV of which I speak is entirely isolated from the rest of the plot. As a result, it's a huge distraction. And it really is never fun to write.

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[Heliotrope]

Why do you have a POV that is isolated from the rest of the plot? How does that POV serve the story?

 

[Netardapope]

Why do you have a POV that is isolated from the rest of the plot? How does that POV serve the story?

I wanted to develop a certain character that would not have found himself in the other POVs otherwise, for the purposes of the other books I wanted to write with him. I thought I could pull it off, but it went south. I could easily do the same development for that character in another story.

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[Heliotrope]

Yeah. So do it another story.

Here is the thing, a story is a concise unit. It shows a beginning, a middle and an end. By the end, something should have changed. It should be tangible to the reader what the story is 'about'.

I think you may have an issue here that is about more that a single POV. It sounds a bit like you may be unclear about your story is about. How your cast of characters gets from the beginning to the end. What changes occur by the end to let the reader feel closure?

I would suggest stepping back and trying to really gain some clarity on what, exactly, you are trying to show with your story.

Try the Snowflake method:

How To Write A Novel Using The Snowflake Method

Start by first writing a log line. This is a single line, less than twenty words, telling exactly what your story is about.

Once you have that then write a paragraph-long synopsis of your story. Try to make it as clear as possible.

I find these two exercises as described in the link above to be VERY helpful when I have a story that is going in too many directions and get's confusing and overwhelming. It helps me to bring it all in and sift through the plot strands to find out what exactly is important.

Once you have done that eliminate anything that does not feed into the story. Get rid of it. It is clogging up your plots and will be frustrating and confusing for your reader.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Hmm, I did eliminate 2 POV's from my book 1. One I deleted entirely, mostly a word count issue, and it wasn't absolutely necessary... although some depth is missing. The other, which is separated from the main plot geographically (similar to Daenerys is GoT... not in story, but in separation) and wouldn't have an obvious connection until later, I have kicked back to book 2.

Sometimes I think you just have to write all the POV you think you might need and then trim back. It might hurt a little, but sometimes it must be done.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Eew, yes, I have a tricky situation going on, because I'd love to do my story with a single POV main character, but there is information she'll never have. The story is about her personal growth, and it leads her on an adventure in the second act. Unfortunately, the second act is about 70k words in...so I have a whole chapter devoted to three separate POV characters, only one of which will ever be a POV character again (an antagonist). So...I'd love to eliminate the extra POV characters, but they have vital information and start a ball rolling and that ball eventually runs over my MC. If I just say it's rolling in my head...well that future event is going to look really random and throw a major tone shift into the story (that will go from personal change journey into hunting down dragons journey...not at all similar). So...if your story REQUIRES an outside perspective to keep the right kind of spotlight on your main characters or her goals, then you might have to keep it. If, however, you can step back and KNOW that keeping the extra POV because you love it is rather indulgent...it might be time to find him his own story, where he can shine, not be a hanger-on. (I'm still trying to find ANY legitimate way to cut the extra PsOV, because I'd like to stick to just the MC and the bad guy)

 

[Miskatonic]

I actually like tackling multiple POV's, it allows you to spread the story out further, but if there isn't some point where they cross paths it doesn't work as well.

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

Netardapope, if I were in your situation, I'd probably leave the POV in for now, but when I reached any other scenes for that character, I'd just skip writing them for now, if I disliked it that much. I'd write a sentence or two about what had to happen here and move on. I'd come back to it later when I felt more like writing those scenes. If my mind balks at something enough that it causes the project to drag, then I have to do something to get my mind moving past it. So I temporarily remove the obstacle and come back to it later. If my mind continually balks at it, then it obviously has to be cut entirely. But you don't have to make that decision right now. Let your mind have time to work out its own problems and at some point it will probably click and you'll know what you need to do.

 

[Netardapope]

Netardapope, if I were in your situation, I'd probably leave the POV in for now, but when I reached any other scenes for that character, I'd just skip writing them for now, if I disliked it that much. I'd write a sentence or two about what had to happen here and move on. I'd come back to it later when I felt more like writing those scenes. If my mind balks at something enough that it causes the project to drag, then I have to do something to get my mind moving past it. So I temporarily remove the obstacle and come back to it later. If my mind continually balks at it, then it obviously has to be cut entirely. But you don't have to make that decision right now. Let your mind have time to work out its own problems and at some point it will probably click and you'll know what you need to do.

Oh no, I won't delete it. I'm just going to leave the POV where it is, and finish the novel without. I'll probably mark it as not canon. If it still sucks when I revise, I'll do away with it entirely

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