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POV change, knowing who the narator is and the "O" shape

This is a series of questions I wanted to ask since I've been having these ideas that seem really awesome to me, but might in fact be really bad for a story. I am writing my first novel and I'm afraid of encumbering it with all this stuff.

First of all, I'd like to know if changing the point of view from third person to first person once in a while is too distracting for the readers. (Even though I'm probably not going to have any.) The way I wanted to write it would be something like this: It starts in the future, one of the characters wants to execute another, when the blade strikes she sort of clears her mind, flashback ensues - She starts telling the story in first person from the point when she initially lost her memory (sort of). She tells part of her story in first person, then switches to third person on the other characters. While I don't want to clearly state that it is she telling the story, it is heavily implied.

I'm still using third person limited for the rest of the book though, which brings me to the next thing. Is the "O" shape ever used in third person? For those of you who might not know, the "O" shape is a way of structuring stories that starts at the end or near the end, either at the big climactic moment or when whatever conflict has already been resolved, like the first part of The Great Gatsby or Fight Club. I've never seen this being used in thirds person stories though, but maybe I just haven't read enough. That would also replace the need for what Dan Wells called "The Ice Monster Prologue". Basically the first scene in A Song of Ice and Fire with the whole Ice Monster fight.

So now, here are my questions:
Is the person change too tiresome to read?
Is it a good thing to make the narrator a known character. (Take into consideration that she has some sort of omniscience. Not any god-like omniscience, it's more like the oracle kind.)
If not, how could I make this stuff work?
Should I just give up this fancy stuff and simply write a linear story with a clear beginning and end?

If something is unclear, please tell me, I have a tendency of being writing really scattered.
PS. Should I post an excerpt so you can see what I'm talking about?
 
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Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Anything of the things you're thinking of can work. It's all in the execution. As for execution, there's no magic formula. Part of finding out what works is just doing it. Make your mistakes and learn from them.

Since this is your first novel, I say just have fun and try things out. Don't worry too much about messing up. If you're not messing up, you're not trying hard enough. But there is something to be said about trying something simple for your first novel before trying something more complex. For my first novel, I tried something complex. I messed up pretty big, but I learned a lot. For my second novel I kept things simple, and it came together easier in part because I had already tried something complex.

In a nutshell do what you want and see where it goes. Just realize Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are novels and writing skills.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I've read books that switched between first and third, and I didn't find any of them to be confusing, jarring, or problematic in any other way. Give it a shot and see how it comes out!
 

Trick

Auror
I think it can definitely be done. Try finding books that switch POV and studying how it's accomplished. The only one I can think of at this moment is Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss but his method his very straight forward so that may not help you.

Perhaps others can suggest books that switch POVs creatively?
 
Here are a couple of recommended resources for you:

Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Leguin

Both of these are writing guides--both are excellent and deserve to be read in full, but you can just skip to the bit about POV. Card is more of a fan of the consistent POV but Leguin is far more open to changing POV throughout the story. Leguin's caveat is that you need to use chapter or section changes as a strong cue to your reader that the POV has changed. I suggest reading Card's book anyway because he still has some super useful advice regarding POV. After all, you have to know the "rules" in order to break them effectively!

I don't see anything wrong with your idea, but my advice is to be really sure to delineate what is happening.
 

C Hollis

Troubadour
Care must be used in changing POV like you suggest. I read a book where the POV changed three times (each different than the others)on the same page multiple times in the book. I suffered through it, because I use such atrocities as learning experiences, but when I was done with the book I wanted to toss it into the fire pit. Unfortunately, it was on my Kindle...

I believe it can be done and I applaud you for attempting it; it'll take some care to ensure it doesn't mess with the flow.
 

PaulineMRoss

Inkling
I've seen the mixing of 1st/3rd POV done really well just once. In that book, there were two main characters, one written in 1st, one in 3rd, and the changes only happened with chapter changes. It was very effective - the 1st person POV was a convicted criminal and also an unreliable narrator, so the reader was both deeply in her head and also unsure what she was up to, and whether she'd really done the things she was accused of. The 3rd person POV was the straightforward cop (or parole officer, not sure).

I've also seen a case where the main body of the story was 3rd person POV, but each chapter had a little section of the main character in 1st person. That didn't work quite so well.

The trouble with 1st person is that it isn't obvious who it is that's talking, since there's no name given. The reader has to work it out each time. So it can be confusing.

Also, a personal preference: I really, really hate it when the POV switches in the middle of the scene. I find it jarring to shift perspective like that. It's OK if the POV change is also a scene change, though. But that's just me.
 
I believe it can be done and I applaud you for attempting it; it'll take some care to ensure it doesn't mess with the flow.

Well, thanks for the encouragement.


I've seen the mixing of 1st/3rd POV done really well just once. In that book, there were two main characters, one written in 1st, one in 3rd, and the changes only happened with chapter changes.

What was the book called?
 
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