I don't understand how you always make a video that hits perfectly on an internal story debate I'm having, but I'm so grateful every time it happens.

@kenyaholloway-reliford8213

Жыл бұрын

Glad I'm not the only one. I'm working on a story with five main characters and has each of their povs. I did a lot of head-hopping in the first draft. 😮‍💨

I know that I'm going to write my novel in single POV, but I'll still watch anyway since I'm young and there's always more to learn!

@trinaq

3 жыл бұрын

I concur, single perspective is the easiest to write from, and there's always more to learn, and different ways to grow and develop as a writer. 💞

@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321

3 жыл бұрын

I also just love watching her videos anyway 😂💞

@izstrella

3 жыл бұрын

Same! You never know, some new info could inspire.

@MintysSketchbook

3 жыл бұрын

@@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321 same idk y but alexa just gives off a rlly nice vibe, I bet she'd be an amazing teacher irl, since she's basically teaching us here already haha

@EL-ISS

3 жыл бұрын

You've got the makings of a good future author with that attitude! Keep on learning!

I wish there was a way to poll the entire bookworm population. Like do we still enjoy love triangles? Do we crave to see more single or dual POV? Character or concept book cover art?

@meiulleyl

5 ай бұрын

I agree. ​@StayHome4Them

Now I'm imagining the story of a serial killer told entirely through the POVs of witnesses and victims. Crime isn't really my genre so I'm not going to write it!

@sassyblondewriter8239

3 жыл бұрын

Dracula by Bram Stoker is written "found footage" style where everything is told through diary entries, newspaper clippings, and letters and that's part of what makes it so interesting to read

I agree! In alliegent of the divergent series, I kept forgetting if it was tris or Tobias who was speaking, and I took a long time to finish the book because of that.

@raindrop3280

3 жыл бұрын

Same!! I could literally get through half a chapter before realising it was the other person narrating (and only then because they'd mention something specific to them), you really couldn't tell them apart

I think multi-POV is almost harder to pull off-at least, I can think of WAY more books that I think would work better with fewer POVs than more POVs. For me, multi-POVs work best when each POV has a distinct arc and doesn’t “spoil” the other POVs, and a lot of stories are missing one or both of those elements. 😞

@jellyfishathogwarts

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for your comment - it was really helpful

@TGOTWhihi

11 ай бұрын

Wdym by spoil the others?

In my dual-POV story, both perspectives start with the characters' being born, and that's the inciting incident. Because of the age difference between them, one starts off over a decade before the other and the timelines have to meet up by the end. Both of their stories start off out unconnected but become increasingly entwined as they metaphorically meet in the middle, but they don't meet literally until the very end of the book, where one of them actually murders the other.

You upload right when I'm second guessing how many narrators I should have in my book... now I'm definitely going back to my original decision to write in dual pov! Great video!

Alexa, Can you define the difference between multi POV, head hopping, and omniscient?

@ARMYALEX1869

2 жыл бұрын

multi pov is a book having pov scenes/chapters from different character. for example, chapter 1 is from Josh's pov, chapter 2 is from Mark's pov, etc. head hopping is switching pov in the middle of a scene. for example, "Josh doesn't understand why there's someone knocking on his door at 10pm. He isn't expecting any visitors, so who could it be? Frustration wells up within him, so he knocks again. But before he can knock a third time, Josh opens the door." The second 'he' refers to Mark who's knocking on Josh's door, but we suddenly jumped from Josh's head to Mark's so it's confusing. Omniscient is telling the story from a god's pov so you're in everyone's head but not all at once. you're describing someone's emotions while distancing yourself from them.

While I love both perspectives, I'm more drawn towards multiple narrators, since we get more information on how they feel about certain events, since there's more than one side to every story. 💖

@iferawhite7661

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. What I hate, though, is when it's used as a cliffhanger device over and over again. Like "Oh something terrible is happening to her-- Too bad it's in his POV now, guess you'll have to find out later." once or twice it works really well to build tension, but used too often or written poorly and it makes me skip through someone's POV just trying to get back to the other POV to see what happened.

Omg I literally decided to write my story in dual POV a couple weeks ago and kept wondering if it was a good idea and what the benefits were. Thanks for answering all my questions 😆😆😆

At work right now but I'm definitely watching this tonight. I'll hit that like button now because I know the content is always great. I'm working on my first ever novel and it's multi-pov. I know. I'm nuts. 😂

Omg I was just trying to finalize POV for my WIP. Perfecting timing for this video!!! Thanks as always :)

As someone who writes multi-POV (fantasy) I completely agree that it has several major challenges. Since my first novel has POV swaps mid-chapter (always clearly marked!!! PLEASE always mark POV changes unless you are doing true omniscient) after the major revision pass I actually went through and changed some POVs to reduce number of swaps, since while I used it to (in my opinion) great effect in some places, in others it was definitely a crutch that needed to be fixed. In the next novel I'm writing (well taking a break from writing to edit the first one), I am actually being much stricter with myself and making each chapter be a single POV, and that was worked into the outline from the start.

This is a great video! I love writing multi pov (normally dual), and what i love most about it is the way it can really expand the world building and character complexity- especialy if your writting characters who come from verry different perspectives, or have complex relationships where it might be easy to demonise one of them, or theres a complex and multifaceted theme you want to explore. But hard agree, the shorter the work the harder it is to pull off. Highly distinct and interesting characters are key, and each pov should bring multiple things to the table in terms of plot, mood, and theme. Otherwise it csn just get really confusing and muddy

I swear Alexa always knows what I’m currently struggling with! She’s in my head! 😳

Another pitfall of multi POVs is the "too much information, until not enough information" problem. IT cheapens the reading experience when you have multiple POVs, and then, for the sake of suspense, the author doesn't include important information because they want the surprise. Example: Tim and Kayla are going to find a gemstone. Both of them are POV characters. IN both POVs you see them working together to find the gemstone. PLOT TWIST in Kayla's POV: Tim was actually working for the other side all along. However, in Tim's POV we've never seen him attend meetings with the "other side," or even hinted that he might be duplicitous. Obviously that is a hyperbolic example, but authors do this frequently in little ways. We don't need to see each character in 100% of their actions, but if you've signed up for a multiple POV, you've signed up to show their every important plot point. An example of this done well is one of B. Sanderson's characters, (we'll call him Kel.) Kel is plotting a rebellion, but is making plan B in case things go wrong. Sanderson doesn't want the audience to know WHAT plan B is. So instead Sanderson shows Kel making preparation for these plans through the POV of his friends. They note Kel's acting odd. In the Kel's POV, he'll will start to think about his plan B and then stop himself, saying "I want to have faith that Plan A will go well. Let me work on that instead." It's a nice nod to the readers, letting them know Sanderson is withholding information, but Kel needs to be allowed to think about his plan B and we're just going to miss it. Long rant. Biggest pet-peeve.

I just finished my first draft of multi pov fantasy. This was very helpful and I think you were very positive about it. Alot of people have given me a hard time about writing four character povs so I appreciate your tips. Thank you!

My murder mystery has seven POVs, it's been quite the tough journey working on each voice while revising!

@jpch8814

3 жыл бұрын

OMG my mystery has 6 and the voice shift is my fav thing :D

@SiiKei

3 жыл бұрын

@@jpch8814 Oooh a fellow multiple POV writer! Heya! How's it going? I'm going through a big revision now after receiving an R&R and one of the things mentioned in the feedback was to consolidate the voices. I admit it's tougher than I expected and I have a pretty hard time explaining that to other fellow writers I've connected with, since most of them use only one POV. But I love multiple POVs books, I just can't help it!

@jpch8814

3 жыл бұрын

@@SiiKei Good luck with your revision! I am in the process of my second draft, but my feedback is pretty positive toward the voices that part was easy for me, what's difficult is my slow pacing.

@SiiKei

3 жыл бұрын

@@jpch8814 Good luck! Pacing is one of those things that's difficult to grasp by yourself but once you do, you know you've hit jackpot!

@peripheralzx11

3 жыл бұрын

Lol I’ve got like 9 POVS

I concur that writing dual first person POV is suuuper difficult, I recently queried a book like that and some of the feedback I got on it from agents was that the voices needed to be more distinct. I really thought I'd given them their own unique voices, but apparently not unique enough!

The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston is one of the better uses of multi POV I’ve read. I’ve recommended it to so many people trying to figure out their POV. Great video as always! ☺️

I use single POV most of the time but if the story calls for it, sometimes there will be moments where I have to insert another POV in the middle of the story. Oh well, rules are meant to be broken :D On a different note, I was watching your video on what to do and what to ask when you get an agent call and I've been wondering how it's like if an editor calls you instead? Can you make a video on tips/what to expect when an editor calls you? I'm sure we'll learn a lot from your experience too. Thanks and keep up the good and definitely informative work!

@OcarinaSapphr-

3 жыл бұрын

I was wondering about this myself- & I didn’t know if it was something that was ‘done’- but I call it mini-multi PoV- for instance, when my MC’s unconscious with a fever, her L/I has the PoV for a little bit- & at a couple of other points when the MC isn’t there, but I hadn’t wanted everything to be just related to the MC in flashbacks when they’re reunited - & there are a couple of individual moments where there are other PoVs, but like 85-95% of the story is from the MC’s PoV. This may change, but the L/I’s limited PoV will remain.

I think another thing that could help distinct characters in dual/multi is having said character[s] have a phrase they say. :D

something I’ve realised about multi POV books is that the difference goes further than the lives, language and thoughts of the characters. if you’re writing multi POV, you should really be prepared to alter the way your character describes objects, rooms, people and situations, alter the way your character makes judgments about things and alter the way your character goes through logical processes in their brain. I never really see this in multiple POV books which is why I find them so hard to read, because even though you’ve switched characters it stills feels the same. if you were to hop into the heads of loads of different people in real life you would probably find completely different worlds. I feel like when people write multiple POV they don’t realise each intricate detail that would be different in their minds.

Hey guys! I'm brand new to this channel (thanks Alexa for sharing so much knowledge with us!!) and super new to the publishing world as well. I've been working on a book for the last few years and avoided researching the publishing world because I thought it would dishearten me and convince me I could never write/get published. Well... I finished the first draft of my book a few days ago😁 I'm super proud of myself but I'm also freaking out. I'm 21 and I graduate with my bachelor's in 2 months. I haven't told anyone except my sister that I want to be a writer because I didn't want to feel other people's judgement weighing in on my writing process. I know my parents will be supportive, but I also think they're going to expect me to get a "real job." I have no problem working but, to me, working a 9-5 feels like the death of my writing dreams. I want to 100% dedicate myself to my manuscript/getting published after I graduate, but I have no idea where to start. I'm also terrified by the very real possibility that my manuscript will never go anywhere. My BIG personal goal these last few years was to finish my book. Now, it's to get published. I'm starting to research the publishing world voraciously, but there's just so much information... it's overwhelming!! If anyone has any advice or experiences of their own they'd like to share, I would love to hear it. Or if you want to rant about your own writing struggles or anything else, you can comment that here too😊 If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this. I wish you the best of luck in your goals, writing related and otherwise❤️

@ballerinadolllover2434

3 жыл бұрын

I totally feel your pain! I am only 18 and have been working on my 8 POV medieval fantasy novel for the past five years. At first, I was writing it just for fun. I am an avid fantasy fan, but I enjoy the more classical fantasy like LOTR the most. There are many who try to write stories that emulate that sort of writing, but most of them turn out to be not very good, which has caused a lot of the decline of the medieval fantasy genre. So I decided to write what I as a reader would want to see - my ideal idea of a true medieval fantasy book in the Tolkien style, but not just a copycat version. Then, in my freshman year of high school, my writing teacher got her hands on a VERY early draft and liked it, and I started thinking that maybe it was good enough to publish. It has come a LONG way since then, however. I had to edit and adapt it quite a bit, as one would assume haha. One grows a lot from the ages 13-18. Plus, Alexa was one of the main people who has helped my in my process. Before I discovered her, I was writing with absolutely no structure or knowledge about how to write a book. There was so much head hopping, it wasn't even funny. Every time I watched a video, I would see so many issues I didn't know I had. She has helped me tremendously with pacing, show vs. tell, tension, dialogue tags, midpoint turns, the list goes on and on! It's quite hard because many think that medieval fantasy is a dead and trope-ey genre, so now that I've finished it, I'm quite scared that no publisher will want it. I deliberately gave it a very classic medieval fantasy storyline, so that the reader will not be confused with so many POVs, which I'm worried will be a turn-off. However, the reason I made the storyline so simple, is so I can develop and create some really amazing characters, and can really get into their headspace. I feel like the multi POV gives what would be considered a basic story what it needs to be interesting, and helps with the reader not being confused with a really complicated plot and bouncing around to a bunch of characters. 8 POVs is a very large amount, and insanely difficult to write. It can make a story crash and burn if not done right. Hopefully that is not the case, since I was very careful with the execution of each, giving them each a unique voice and making sure that it does not become "POV soup". I feel the strength of my book is in these characters, and I love being able to allow the reader to explore more of the world, and the character's part in both it and the story. Another quirk of my story that I feel helps add interest is it's unconventional format: The 8 POVs begin pretty much all apart from each other, and as the book progresses they all eventually converge and meet each other. The first half of the story (more or less) takes place in four storylines, where these characters journey unintentionally closer and closer to each other, until they all meet. Keeping each storyline separate but still close enough where you don't forget about them is difficult. But if done right, then you can see the inevitable clash and convergence that these characters will have, and though you don't know how or when it will happen, you know it will. I feel like that is another think that helps make the book stand out, but the worry that it isn't good enough is definitely strong. I also haven't told many people about my book, mainly because I'm worried they will think I'm too young for my book to be good. That's another reason I'm scared to try and publish it. To quote Back to the Future, "I just don't think I can take that kind of a rejection" haha. The few people that have read it really liked it, however, but I just can't get over the fear that my book will crumble if a more educated and official person reads it. I do apologize for the insanely long comment, but if anyone has any opinions or advice, I would gladly take it. Or maybe there is someone else who has a similar story, and now they know that there's someone out there who is going through the same thing. Writing is hard, people! But luckily we have people like Alexa to guide us. :)

@gamewriteeye769

2 жыл бұрын

@@ballerinadolllover2434 Ik this comment is old, but I'm working on my first WIP. It's pretty planned out, it has 7 or 8 character pov's at the time of writing this. The one thing that has bothered me is I heard that to "stay pov consistent" you can't use certain pronouns like "you" in first person; but what if, since it's first person narration, why then can't the character narrator talk to the reader? The same can be said for action tags that cue who the speaker is, because it can end up looking like it's "written" in third person narration, but the lens focus is coming from the first person narrator who's seeing them do that; so, it's bugging me on a line by line basis and I wanted to know if one of y'all are struggling with that. With that said, how has your novel gone so far? As a side note, I'm working on a novel that is expected for me to be around 200-225k word count by the end of the first draft. What is it? It's a fantasy, but all the Genres are as follows because I weave a lot in to keep the reading experience fresh during scenes. Focus genres: Neo-noir fantasy (arguable if it should be Epic fantasy, too though), Suspense, and Paranormal Romance (Monster Romance to be specific). The other genres in it: Dark Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Rom-Com, Romance, Horror, Noir (for the sake of Noir), and Coming of Age. It's easily an adult fiction fantasy (it's got scenes NOT for kids, despite the protagonist being a young teen), and the category it falls under is Upmarket Fiction, since the style of the prose is somewhere between Literary Fiction and Contemporary Fiction (Literary is more dramatic, has a message crafted around it, etc. While contemporary is essentially more melodramatic and has a lot of "fluff and entertainment" scenes). Hope you don't mind the long comment

This was very clear and helpful. Thankyou!!

I love reading and prefer to write in multi POV because it gives me and the readers a better view of the story from many different angles, if done well. Not more then 3 or 4 POV and you should be golden. I’ve seen many examples that haven’t executed this correctly.

I've never heard anyone mention the idea of structuring a book with comp titles already in mind. Comp titles are a beast for many writers, have you done a video on this subject? I'd love to watch it. (This was a great video, too, thank you!)

You are the best. Thank you for sharing all these suggestions

I was struggling to figure out how I wanted to write my POV for my book and this really did help, thank you 😊

Thank you so much for filming on this topic. I have gone back and forth with my novel which started as a 1st person, single POV. I've written a few scenes that I like in other characters' POVs but your video really helped me remember that single POV is what I want to do, as I'm really drawn to the slow reveal of just one character's POV for the reader experience

Alexa - you are fabulous. I’ve been writing a fantasy novel and one of my beta readers suggested they didn’t like the use of multiple POV, as they personally found it confusing going between three different POVs. I have a dominant POV with a couple of other characters. I had them because the world I’ve built is quite large and there are important events happening simultaneously that I feel are important to articulate. I tried removing the other POVs, but personally I think it has taken something away from the story. Your video has given me food for thought and I’m going to really consider factoring them back in.

The best is the one that works for the story you intend to write.

My novel is written from the points of view of the main character and 2 others. It really helped with the pacing and tension. The main character becomes involved with the other two who have had a mother-son relationship for years. For me, it was fun to see how all the relationships affected each person and changed the dynamics. I think if it had been told only from the main character's POV, there would not have been enough for a novel and it would not have been as interesting.

I felt my voice, as a writer, come through as I figured out that this is a Single POV story I'm writing. I've achieved 1k words a day now that I found the voice. I suggest, for people struggling on the writing of the story, that if you try changing the POV, you might find it easier to write it. You can always edit it all later.

@evejcqt7331

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, I found like 2 weeks ago that I wanted to have 2 POVs. And just when I realized it, my story became deeper, richer and more pleasant to write!

Gillian Flynn's Dark Places is a New York Times bestseller and has multi-POV and multi-timeline. One hell of a dark messed-up thriller.

@EricaFlipped

3 жыл бұрын

It’s one of my favorite novels

@jpch8814

3 жыл бұрын

@@EricaFlipped Right? It was incredible, Flynn is my favorite writer.

Thank you so much! I’m writing something I’ve recently decided to make a multi POV, I’ve never done it before, and I’m so, SO thankful for this advice. ❤️

Thank you!!!! I've been going back and forth on whether I should stick with just the first POV of my main protagonist or letting everyone tell the story though their POV

I exclusively write multi-PoV novels and typically play with a large cast. This has inspired me to do a video on how to effectively set up a large cast for multi-PoVs for the near future!

I wrote my first draft with about twenty POV characters. This worked fine for this draft, as I was developing ideas on the fly while already posting chapters on Belletristica. (Without that, and people commenting on the story, I'd probably never finished it.) However, many of these characters either weren't important or interesting enough to deserve POV, or are not what they seem to be, thus, to avoid spoilers, I couldn't give away too much of their thoughts and motivations. Furthermore, it's hard to give all these people a different voice. Now I'm thinking about how to narrow it down to - well, that's the big question. I'm wavering between two oprtions and have started two second drafts. Number One are four POV characters in 3rd person, with two of them dying in the middle of the story. Number Two is one character in 1st person, telling the story after it's already over and he, as we learn at the end, is badly wounded. The scenes he wasn't present in are described in 3rd person, but also by him and with his opinion, as he met people who told him their version.

Great video! It was very helpful. My heart is set on multi POV or at least dual POV since I love seeing stories unfold from multiple perspectives and seeing how they play off each other, but this definitely gave more insights into the benefits of single as well as some of the setbacks and pitfalls I should watch out for with multi. Gonna be looking more into that now that I have an idea of what to look for. Thanks!

I tend to write in multi-POV and I feel 3 POVs are a lot to handle. I couldn't imagine trying to deal with 8.

Just wrote my very first dual POV novel last year, and I was already stressed because it's a sequel, lol. I cannot tell you how accomplished I felt going through copy edits last week! *raises fist in victory*

@roseviolet4147

3 жыл бұрын

So Book 1 single POV and the Book 2 is dual POV?

@amparoortiz2234

3 жыл бұрын

@@roseviolet4147 Yep! It was challenging, but in a fun way (mostly, lol).

Thanks for the insightful video! My current Masterpiece In Progress is close-3rd, but I've been using short cutaway scenes to convey info and (I hope) create tension by showing the reader premise-related info and events that the MCs don't know. This involves briefly introducing other characters and their POVs, some of whom appear later in the MCs' experience arc. I introduced this technique when I realized that just following the MCs around as they detected things was kinda dull and plodding.

After reading Ottessa Moshfegh I've become obsessed with single POV. Thanks for doing this topic!

Patrick Rothffus' King killer chronicles are written in dual POV. The fist one is in 3rd close, which frames the story in "the present", and the other is the MC sitting down to tell his story to a chronicle in 1st person. This is the most prominent POV of the story.

Oh my oh my HOW did you know I needed this video right now?!?!?! My Friday night just got soooooo good 👍🏼

I’ve been bingeing these videos so much lately I didn’t realize this one was literally posted minutes ago. This one is just in time! I’ve been learning and thinking about POV a lot recently ☺️

Good videao. I was writing a mega fanfiction piece and the pov count was something ridiculous, like at least a dozen, or so. Too much television based story-telling and "Game of Thrones", I think, and, as Alexa says I was biting off too much too chew. Advice from somwhere else online -- maybe "Save the Cat Writes a Novel" suggested each pov character required their own story arc. Eek! Latest work will utilise dual povs, which suits the story and seems far more manageable. One learns by doing.

Diana Peterfreund's Clue trilogy has 6 POVs, and I think I read another YA thriller with maybe 5 last year, but you're right! I couldn't think of any with 8 either!

I like reading single POV mostly or majority single POV in a single book (more chapters in a particular POV). The multiple POVs take me so much longer. The only time I like a multiple POV somewhat is in Thrillers/Mystery where we are trying to figure out things, etc. I’m currently writing a book in single POV, but this will make me consider multiple.

I find writing outlines for each p.o.v. character separately and then lining them up next to each other helps me to figure out the best way to deliver information in the timeline I want. But it's definitely more challenging in my opinion because lining up multiple characters at different points in the story and world etc is a whole puzzle in and of itself. This is literally why I'm currently taking a writing break and plotting out the main moments for each character throughout the entire series before I write more. It's too complex to not.

Have such respect for people who write duel or multiple POVs. It's a difficult thing to do compared with single POV. I've done single POV in first person and in third person in my writing. Have considered Duel POV for a few stories. But I'd really have to work on the execution of it.

Working on a 3rd person omniscient POV. Gotta tell you, creating suspense is difficult, but fun!

I didnt know I was writing a dual POV but I guess thats what I'm writing

your eye makeup is always so pretty!!

Thanks for sharing this. It helps. I wrote a novel that has duel POV. I may spell that wrong 😬 And now I am doing first POV on new drafting. Definitely different from what I am used to do in long story.

Best dual POV (imo) Devil in the White City. Also, may or may not have just started a thriller with the mc jumping between the present and 100 years ago to stop a relative from dying.

The reader wants to _enjoy the company_ of the characters in a story. They wish to _be_ there. A lot of good dialogue will help here, as this reveals personality. People love being _immersed_ in the narrative; almost as if they are a silent observer. But, most of all, the story has to be interesting and convincing; not contrived. It must feel real. The only true way to make a narrative compelling, and relatable, is to draw on personal experiences. *Third person* viewpoint gives a writer maximum control. However, good _technique_ should also allow the reader to be privy to the current thoughts, and past memories, of a character. And this should all be seamless. Stephen King is a master of this type of story-telling.

I have a dual pov book I'm working on and I just know I'll get reamed for head hopping :-/. They have somewhat alternating chapters until their paths cross. In chapters and scenes when they're together and things are tense, I see absolutely no way how to do it well by breaking up chapters or whole scenes. (3rd limited) I.e. -Non-pov character enters scene -Character A looks at the girl, seeing her best friend. The last time they met, her friend's face had been covered in blood spatter. She wants nothing more than to hug her. -Character B sees nothing but a spoiled brat, the enemy. Her kind were responsible for a loved one's death. So quick observations of characters we both know intimately and then move on in dialogue/the next action.

I use a dual pov and my 2nd pov is the antagonist. My protagonist is in 1st person while the antagonist is in 3rd person so its always clear which pov Im using

I have three POV's in a YA Fantasy story. This is because I want a certain story to tell about friendship and it's importance in growing into adult hood, and the lesson of getting through internal stuff that prevent us from having the kind of friendships we dream about. Then there is magic too. Lol.

Thought provoking video. I always start with single POV, until I run into a situation where it's quite... uhm, impossible for the character to experience things. But that's just my dark-skimming fantasy/sci-fi writing. I have done the whole story in single POV, but as I started to read it through it just became more dull in points where as a reader you can't tell how much time is passing or what is actually happening (because even the character couldn't think why they were feeling like that etc.).

@reihwan

3 жыл бұрын

Has it been really 5 days since I watched this? Anyway. I just realised that most of my problems with head-hopping probably stems from few things. I run D&D campaigns so, I need to often switch POVs on the fly as my murder hobo friends go along. That's one, but another is because... I'm somewhat ashamed of admitting this. I have no memory of what third person telling is like. And this is because I write in English which is like... my second/third language (out of 8), but writing in my native tongue feels cringy, ugly and simplistic. (+ I'd have zero beta readers then...)

@jujuma8300

3 жыл бұрын

3rd person is when there is an undefined voice explaining everything that’s happening! For example: Robert walked to the store. Simple but vs first person It’d be: I walked to the store.

I’d disagree on the not-challenging-you part of dual/multi. I write predominantly in multi 3rd (surprise surprise, I write fantasy) and it forces me to really nail my pacing down and gives me the ability to work out the perfect flow with the same core bits (surprise surprise, I’m a also a planner). It’s fun to be able to shift a big reveal or a lighter fluffy moment around and see drastic improvement in the effectiveness of your writing.

@AlexaDonne

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, I actually think multi is more challenging than single in many ways--which is precisely why I said I recommend newer writers stick to single. (I myself am working up to multi-POV in thrillers.) Where I was pointing out dual/multi *can* be lazy--but obviously is not always--is when a more novice writer chooses it so they can "show everything." Any POV a writer uses should be used thoughtfully with regard to tension and pacing.

I agree with the multiple POV and how we can get bored.

@elisa4620

Жыл бұрын

We can get bored with any POV if it isn't engaging. I don't think it has anything to do with single or multi POV.

I was literally thinking about this yesterday lol so this came at the perfect time

Recently I read a story that was single POV for 98% of the book and then near the end it switched for one chapter into the head of a totally random character that has no name in the book. Wondering what you thought about things like that? I personally felt like I experienced whiplash and was extremely confused with what was going on until the end of the chapter.

@crazybookcanary8941

3 жыл бұрын

Its weird and totally just confuses readers that's why if you want to do multiple POVs you do it from the start not at the end or middle of a book otherwise you end up like you did with whiplash. it's considered a rookie writers move.

@rachaelhilton424

3 жыл бұрын

I think that can work if the switch is an Epilogue that leads into a sequel, and the "unnamed character" is important to the overall series arc. But the emotional arc of the story should be complete before the switch. :)

@crazybookcanary8941

3 жыл бұрын

@@rachaelhilton424 I agree I love the little spoiler at the end of even at the beginning of a certain character we’re going to meet or have already met and we know the stakes. I don’t like the whole book but the last half is another character we’ve never met.

in ROMANCE, dual 1st person POV is the superior, and that's on PERIODT!!

I'm currently writing a story in multi pov for the first time and I want to write it in terms of the killer, the protagonist, and a player in the killer's game because I think that'll be interesting. As of right now, my story has a lot of extra pov's and I don't know if I should cut them or not. For example, the main character of the story is a detective and I have multiple detective pov's including the main character. I don't want to overwhelm the reader though so I'm thinking to delete a few pov's but I feel some of them are important to keep in the storyline. Although I feel like it would add a lot more tension if I deleted a few of those pov's.

Not a writer but I hate multi pov, I feel like it never serves a purpose to have more than 2 povs and if you're going to do that just use third person.

What do you guys think about this idea regarding povs/story structure?? Also this is a fanfic so it doesn't have to be perfect or anything lol- I'm writing a historical drama/romance and I want to include povs of both characters, as they spend a lot of time apart because one is off at war for a while. They were also childhood best friends. What do you guys think about including both characters' current povs, as well as one character's pov from when they were kids?

Amazing information

So in my current book, the Prologue and Epilogue are 3rd person multiple POV while the main chapters are first person and single POV. I did this to create dramatic irony where the readers knows things the main character doesn't/shouldn't know yet. However, I don't know if this will cause confusion or make the reader uninterested.

So I'm leaning towards POV on my book I'm writing more for personal reasons I can't figure out route how I went doing when it put the reason I feel I need multiple perspectives is because the main character dies towards the middle of my book

Totally off-topic but, girl, i need a make-up tutorial. XD

when you said some ppl can get bored if its in one characters pov they dont like as much as the main, literally me w the entirety of tower of dawn by sarah j maas. i love the throne of glass books but tower of dawn in my opinion could have been deleted from the series with little to no affect on the rest of the series

Thank you! Can you do a video about the difference between a serial and a series? I’ve been reading a lot of books labeled a series, but they end in a cliffhanger and lots of unresolved plot lines. I consider these serials. There are also series that end in cliffhangers. So what’s difference?

One question I have which for the life of me I can't find like proper advice on is this: When a character is reading a letter or is messaging someone via text. How do you format that? Like if it's a handwritten letter a character finds do we just put it in double quotes or center it in the page with a separate font? What if two characters are texting? So one of them is obviously not at the scene, do I write it as if they were there but add some additional info on how their convo is going via text? Or italics work? Its small things like this that always stump me when it comes to formatting.

i do multi a lot, i usually will put the name at the top of my chapter and the main character is mostly throughout the book. and every couple of chapters i will show another pov, is this ok to do?

Summary: Use the least amounts of POV possible to tell your story in a full and engaging way

i always get so in my head about multi-POV because I have read books where that's the case and absolutely dread when centre characters narrate and I'm so worried my readers would feel the same hahaha

I'm really stuck. I'm writing a chapter where the protagonist (who's POV it is) has sprained her arm from falling in a broomstick display and the love interest is showing concern and empathy towards the protagonist. But I seem to really struggle with showing things, I'm in a habit of telling. But I don't want to say "she was empathetic towards me" or "she showed concern towards me" or whatever, I want to SHOW her empathy and concern. But I don't know how to describe someone showing empathy or concern for someone without just telling the reader that they are. Please help!

@alicialu4189

3 жыл бұрын

Show them helping the protagonist. Show them caring for them. For example, you said that the protagonist sprained her arm. You can make the love interest ask the protagonist how they're doing or if they're okay. You can also show the love interest helping the protagonist to do things they can't do while their arm is sprained. Hope that helped!

@lundits2154

3 жыл бұрын

@@alicialu4189 Thank you so much!! That is such a good idea, thank you :)

@alicialu4189

3 жыл бұрын

@@lundits2154 No problem!

Should I worry about a line by line basis not being consistent with pov? For example I am writing in first person, limiting the perspective to that one perspective. But, since I'm using that one narrator as an example, if they start using "you" to address the reader, or an action tag line sounds like 3rd person narration leading in as a cue to that character's dialogue, is that... fine? I hope that wasn't too hard to follow. I've heard about it recently, and it is frustrating me to understand it.

Hey Alexa's can you make a video about how to move on from a story this particular story was a passion project of mine that if be working on for years , I now what to move on but I find it hard not to think about it all the time.

wow im early. love your videos alexa!!:)

I tried making my first book a single POV but the book didn’t let me >:/

Does anyone know any examples of a book that falls into the multi-POV pitfall of switching POV just to be lazy? I'd like to see what she meant by that as I'm not sure I fully get it

Can you recommend books written in multiple POV that are well written

Hi and thank you for this video. I am writing a book in first person POV but I absolutely need to have 6-7 scenes where the narrator is not present. Can I switch to third person limited for those scenes? (I still want the readers to feel more connected to the main protagonist) Is it acceptable? I know some might say just go ahead and break the rules, but I just really want to know if the rules allow this

I love your glasses!

My story is a family saga/mystery where one of the family members goes on a journey of discovering family secrets. I'm writing in multi POV for the different family members but only using first person for my "detective" character. I got the idea from Elif Shafak's book Honour :) hopefully it won't be too hard to follow!

Can i just write my novel from the authors pov?

Can you write romance without having had one?

Mostly I read on wattpad are only single POV and the male character only have own POV at the finale chapters and it's not satisfying.

Single vs. multiple isn't a better or worse question. It depends on the story and the ability of the writer. I mean... single is almost always the better choice, the same way first and third person past are almost always the better choice, but some narratives benefit from other voices and POVs. It comes down to the story you want to tell and how you want the audience to respond to it.

11:29 And i took that personally

Can I jump between hero and the gang and some beings of power talking in gibberish? I plan to make that scene in gibberish the main focus in a later book in the series this time in english.

what are some good book recommendations with dual POV

For something like Harry Potter: it would be a single POV? ... but then I’m not sure if I misremembering but I swear is the scene between Snape, Narcissa and Bellatrix was a standalone alternative POV. Is the single POV a strong guideline more than a hard rule? Sort of a thing where if you’re going to deviate from it, you better have a good reason?

@AlexaDonne

3 жыл бұрын

Harry Potter is third person limited from Harry's POV for 99% of the series, but yes JKR uses select third person more omniscient "prologues" (that technically aren't prologues lol) in multiple books. That's what you're thinking of. Definitely something you can do in third person middle grade! (anytime you're doing third person with a "storytelling" feel, especially in fantasy, you can get away with that sort of thing--it's almost unheard of in YA, however.)

@logan2113

3 жыл бұрын

@@AlexaDonne Amazing! Thank you for the clarification- this makes sense :) (Thank you for ALL you amazing content, I've been on a deep dive into novel writing and wow do I appreciate your energy and quality. Once school is on break next week I'm going to read Brightly Burning - my first of your novels and I'm pumped!)

It’s ok- you can say Bran Stark...