Wrong POV

 

Have you ever been working on a project and realized you were speaking from the wrong point of view or using the wrong narrator? It happened to me with a new story I came up with yesterday and I was quite surprised. I started writing a YA romance from the perspective of the new kid who comes to town and how he changes the life of the school jerk. But, as I wrote, I realized that too much of the story actually takes place when my MC was not in the room. Yes, he is the catalyst for change in the other character's life, but it's really the love interest's story that needs to be told.

Now I have to rewrite the first 3,000 words or so in order to switch perspectives, but I think the story will make a lot more sense and be more compelling with this change of main characters. Sometimes the story tells you how it's supposed to be written, and we, as writers, just have to sit back and listen.

Changing POVs

 

For the first time, I am working on a story with multiple main characters and switching between their points of view. It's easy enough when they are doing their own things, but they interact a lot throughout the story, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to lead those scenes when either of them could be the focus.

I'm writing the story in 3rd person, as I'm not fond of books that change perspectives but maintain the 1st person narrative. That seemed to be a popular thing with middle grade books when I was young, and I don't want to repeat their mistakes. But that doesn't really solve the conundrum of how to maintain a consistent perspective when both main characters are in the same scene.

I'm thinking it makes sense to introduce one character at the start of the scene and try to keep them the narrator of the scene that follows, even when the other character has a strong role in the action. It's a difficult balance, and I'm not even halfway through my first draft, so I've got time to work it out.