Opinions about multiple POVs in fantasy

That sounds really cool It should work out fine to have multiple POVs. A few years of working with this style has shown me that POV shifts are more effective by chapter. For instance, chapter 1 is in A's perspective, chapter 2 is in B's perspective, chapter 3 in C's and so on. I guess the hard part is just figuring out whose POV is the most effective at what time. I've seen a couple of fantasy books that use this format, the most recent being Willow of Ashes.

 

Ah, ok. Are you comfortable with repeating the same event in three different perspectives? That might be a good way to do it, have them all generally experience the same thing. It's okay to have the main story centered on one character. Every book basically has its main protagonist, even if there's a trio of some sort.

 

Personally I enjoy this approach a lot and it's something I employ often. I am currently working on a sci-fi/fantasy with three POVs much like yours. These are two antagonists and a third, younger, innocent character caught between their machinations. The only important thing would be to ensure each character has a point, with arcs & themes of their own that tie in to a larger whole. I have read stories where the POVs have sort of just become a camera from which to view the action and I find this a little unsatisfactory.

ASOIAF does this really well. The POVs are intricately linked, with common themes and arcs that crisscross. I would say though that right now some of the POVs feel a little detached from the main thrust of the action (namely Dany and Jon from the struggles in Westeros).

 

I’m hoping it’s a great idea and everyone likes it because I’m doing that.
My thing is more on the suspense/mystery side so my hope is that this structure will allow for obscuring events and keeping the pieces of the puzzle scattered at first before they are gradually put together.

I think it becomes a problem when there isn’t a strong correlation between all of them. Or when it’s just the writer saying “I got all these characters so I’m just going to go around and check-in with what they’re doing right now.”
My way to avoid it is that all the major subplots tie into the main villain’s big evil plan but if you just read the main POV, you wouldn’t know what the big plan is, exactly. So having subplots from alternate POVs would, in theory, help the audience see the big picture of what the villain is doing and why it is a problem.

 

That sounds awesome, Morgoth. If you'd like me to take a look at anything, just let me know. Your story idea is fairly similar to mine, so I'm willing to help you organize it and such.

 

I second this Morgoth_69 I am writing something with a similar angle and it would be great to swap feedback if you were so inclined.

 

Nice! So much support, I love it. Portuguese is a really cool language. I can only sing a few songs in Portuguese. Does your friend live in central Texas or no?

 

I am doing that but I was thinking that might not be great advice to give since it’d be very easy to mess that up and frustrate the reader when they know crucial information that the character doesn’t know. It’s a good idea but easy to mess up.

 

Funny, I was actually going to post something about this topic. Does anyone find it annoying to have rolling POVs in the same chapter? How much do you think readers care these days?

 

That's exactly what I'm planning on doing for my fantasy, a single POV seems too limiting. I have plot ideas for different places across my world and the POV character would have to visit all of them if I only did one.

 

Hmmm....

I go with a single POV for an entire chapter.

There are four principal POV characters in my (now seven book) 'Empire' series, plus an assortment of...special cases. Sometimes the Four are together, other times they are separated (on occasion they are on different planets). Sometimes they describe the same events from radically different perspectives.

The 'Labyrinth' series is a little different. 'Journal,' the first book of the series is literally just that - the journal of the central character, though the epilogue and prologue are told from a different POV. 'Seed,' the second book, has six POV's, one of them not human.