Your Questions Answered: Multiple 1st-Person POVsQ.
I have two protagonists—two sisters. I’m limiting the POVs to them, I’m using omniscient (or at least I’m trying to!), and I’m pacing the story so the POVs switch at consistent intervals. So that’s all good. My question, however, is whether or not to a) drop one of the sisters and/or b) change to 1st-person POV. The reason why: Voice. The younger sister’s voice just delights me. Issues: The problem with this is that the older sister’s story—external and internal goals, the way it plays
out—has to do with her marriage (therefore mostly inaccessible to the sister’s POV) and is also largely a spiritual battle, which is difficult to show from the outside. In fact, the tone of that plot line is more literary, whereas the younger sister’s goals and the tone of her plot line are more chick lit, though there’s seriousness there, too. It’s kind of shaping up like
The Help, where Abileen’s the serious one and Minny’s the comic relief, if that makes any sense. I love the older sister, and I think her story is fascinating, but she’s a bit of a wet noodle toward the beginning, and I’m having a hard time latching onto her POV with the same enthusiasm I have for the younger sister. But... I also wonder if switching to two 1st-person POVs (like
The Help) might be a solution, helping me to better get inside the character and develop sympathy for her.—Rhonda Ortiz A. Point of view (POV) is rarely a cut and dried issue. There is often more than one “right” answer. Really, it comes down to whatever you feel is right for your story. My inclination, based on what you’ve told me, is that the double first-person narrators would be the better approach. Omniscient is hard to pull off well
(especially in our current market). The very fact that you seem to be having more fun with the first-person narrators says to me that your readers would probably have more fun with them as well. As for your concerns about dropping the “wet noodle” sister’s POV, I will say, first, that
it’s remarkable how well stories often work with just one narrator—even when we’re initially convinced readers won’t "get" the non-narrating character the way we want them too. The second thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want readers to have a significantly larger affection for or enjoyment of one of the sisters’ POVs, over the other. If you’re switching POVs, you want readers to be just as actively interesting in both—and not disappointed when they have to leave their favorite (as per
this post). Bottom line: if you can make the older sister’s narrative just as compelling and interesting as the younger’s, I would probably go with the double first-person narrator approach. If you’re not confident in the older sister’s ability to hold readers’ attention, then I would seriously consider cutting her POV and focusing on the younger sister’s. Contact Me Have a writing question you’d like answered? I respond to all emails and will publish one question a month in this e-letter. Email Me
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