Mixing up viewpoints in your fiction
I just finished reading the book Sail
However, despite flat characters and a very disappointing ending, one part of the novel did intrigue me. Patterson went back and forth between viewpoints. Some of the book was written in the first-person, as events unfolded for the main character Katherine Dunne. But at other times, the narrative was in third-person so we (the reader) can see what other characters are doing and thinking. What did I think of this shifting viewpoint?
I thought it was kinda awkward at first, and to be honest, I was a little confused by it. But as I got further into the novel, I began to enjoy the shifting viewpoints. Had the novel been…well…better written, this could have had a powerful effect on the narrative and the novel as a whole. But given what Patterson did, going between first and third person narratives was a refreshing trick.
In most of my creative writing classes, and most books I read on fiction, they always warn against shifting viewpoints. Doing so isn’t breaking any rules, but if you’re not careful you can confuse the reader and they’ll eventually give up. Usually, when most people sit down to write a little fiction (myself included), we pick a viewpoint for the story to follow and stick with it.
For those of you who are beginning writers, or need a little refresher in point-of-view for fiction, I’m going to give you the basics:
1. First-person: The main character refers to him/herself as “I”. We only get his/her point of view.
Example: I decided to stay home from work today because my headache became unbearable.
2. Second-person: Rarely used in fiction. “You” are the character and are referred to as “you”.
Example: You lay on the couch in agony because your headache feels like it’s tearing your head apart. There’s no way you’re going to work today.
3. Third-person: This is where the characters are referred to by their names.
Example: Elenore could barely lift up the phone to call her overbearing boss and tell him about her epic headache.
Third-person is divided into two sub-categories:
a) Omniscient – The narrative jumps from character to character and the reader gets a broad overview of what is going on in the story.
b) Limited - The narrative sticks with one character, and you get to dive much deeper into one specific character. This appears to be the most widely used viewpoint in American fiction (I think).
I’ve never mixed up the viewpoint, as Patterson did. Now I’m intrigued to give it a shot. A majority of the fiction I write is third-person limited, although I’ve been writing a lot of stories in first-person lately as well.
Which viewpoint do you prefer for your fiction? And why? Have you ever mixed up two different viewpoints in a story/novel? How did it work out? Leave a comment below with your answers.
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