Hi everyone, a new author here.

I've been working on a novel, but I'm unsure on how I should go about the POV system.

Essentially, I switch between a third-person, narration style of storytelling and the first-person point of view of various characters. However, it feels awkward in some places to me, as though the different povs aren't connecting correctly.

Am I not supposed to write like this, or am I doing some of the "don't do's" of writing in this style?

Also, if anyone has any recommendations on novels that have this sort of thing, I'd love to try reading them, both for research and for fun!

    ShoeInk
    I do the same thing too, I started from first person and had to switch to third because I introduced other main characters.

    But to make it cohesive, I never switch from first to third in the same chapter. 1st pov is reserved for my main character and I use third for other people, side character and villains and such. I stick to that, so its never confusing.

    Im sure there's some rule that you're not supposed to both, but do whats best for your story. Im sure other people will have different opinions

      I personally really dislike when a story jumps from third to first.

      Why?

      Because the first person POV colours the story by being limited to what the character knows or believes. The entire world is shown to the reader through the eyes of one individual. That said, the character still doesn't have to be reliable at all.

      A strictly limited third person narrative can achieve this as well if we only follow one person. The distance to the character grows a little, but there are stories where this kind of detatchment is perfect.

      The usual style for making the reader know more than each character is a limited third person multiple point of view. It's considered good form only to switch POV with a clear and distinct break. It's perfect for quickly ramping up conflict based on misunderstandings.

      Lastly you can go ninteenth century on your readers and run with god-mode. I feel that this is sloppy writing, but admittedly there are a large number of classics doing exactly this. It's also the most usual version of third person POV found here. I suspect an influence from cartoons (manga, manhwa, etc) where you can have multiple thought bubbles inside one frame. Poorly done this kind of POV will degenerate into an orgy of tell and very little show.

      Anyway, in short. Pick FP or TP and stick to one of them. Sure, feel free to run your frame story with an FP narrator finding a room full of old letters and then offer your story of what happened fifty years earlier in TP based on the contents of those letters.

      1st person POV seems very repetitive to me, most that have seen in here are usually, " I saw, I stole...", to me everything pretty much starts with I which feels kind of retarded when reading but a 3rd POV feels like I'm watching a movie and the author tells me what is going on behind the scene which other characters have no idea about. 2nd POV I'm neither for nor against just not really my favorite. No matter how nice the cover and synopsis a book is if it's 1st person POV that's a dealbreaker for me. Some authors combine all three when writing other may choose to stick to just one POV, at the end of the day the only way to know for sure what works for you is to write and see which of them your readers prefer.
      P.S: 1st person POV is well loved by readers in here way more than either 2nd or 3rd person POV.

        AriaKang

        Well, a movie usually is TP objective, so no wonder ;)

        While I prefer TP (limited) there are things you can only do in FP.

        For example:

        I'm Daisuke Todo, cause my parents were asshats and saddled me with a name from way back Showa. Caused me problems more than once. Last time was outside Nagoya when my dad dragged me into an onsen for the first time in my life. Now he got away with embarrasing himself since he's half Japanese and looking like the foreigner he is, but mom's from Tokyo, so I sat there looking like the Japanese I definitely was not.
        Who brought the trash in? one of the guests thought.
        That was rather obvious from the glares we got, and I had to take the brunt of it. Next I knew I was showered by words in Japanese I didn't even need to understand to get the gist of it. I know a verbal bashing when I hear one.

        The above is impossible to recreate in TP.

        It's a past tense narrative retold and commented in present tense. I call this a camp-fire tale. As a reader your suspension of disbelief is contracted by assuming you're sitting by the camp-fire listening to someome reminiscing, or maybe just telling a tall tale. Bouncing between past and present tense like this is only allowed in FP.

        Another bonus: With the narrator also being the main character you can easily insert a false TP like above. We learn that it's the FP character who assumes what someone else is thinking. This gets a lot clunkier if you're already in TP from the start.

        All that said, I still prefer TP, just like you do.

            When I write a novel, I use 3rd person pov because it would not only focus on the main character but also the side characters also have their presence in the story, and also in 3rd pov, you can describe the world-building and settings of your novel. Unlike 1st pov, that would only focus on the main character and it seems repetitive whenever it's in 1st pov.

              empressblackrose09
              I don't think there's a wrong or right way to write something. You can describe the setting and world in 1st person the same way as 3rd, its not that difficult.

              The only way i can see it being repetitive is if the person using it isn't used to writing in 1st person. Its very similar to 3rd, especially if its in past tense.

                  Just tell the readers that you're changing the PV if you aren't already.
                  For a recommendation you can try, "I am the young master." The only one that came to my mind.

                    ShoeInk

                    I would personally stick to one point of view. Otherwise, it’s confusing for readers. If you are going to do this, then you need a way for a reader to keep track of whose perspective they are seeing. Don’t assume we know and be careful not to break immersion.

                    One way you can do this is to make each chapter a different perspective that is labeled in the chapter title. Do not switch mid chapter if you do this because it will be disorienting to the reader. Also, end the chapter if you want to switch! Do not like put your own title or make a line with symbols or something. That really breaks immersion. Chapter breaks are at least going to be a part of the story anyway, so you aren’t adding distractions.

                    Another way is to use third person omniscient rather than a bunch of first person points of views. This is a point of view where the narrator (person telling your story) is someone that can switch perspectives or knows the thoughts of all of the characters. Since you are always in third person, you never need to worry about how to get into it. For each characters perspective, you just need a way of telling which character you are about to jump into the mind of. This can be done with a lot of internal monologue, which works like normal speech but is “thought” rather than “said.”

                    Other ways to clue the reader is is in the narration stated who you were talking about in each paragraph. Something like, “Character A wasn’t so sure because XYZ.” Just be careful you don’t get too repetitive with either option. Mix up how you say things so that it isn’t the same exact words and format to start each paragraph or sentence.

                    In my opinion, third person limited is the superior way to tell a fantasy story. However, third person limited will work best for what you are trying to do. All you need to do it put thought into why your narrator can read everyone’s mind. It’s best if there is a reason other than, “I’m the author, this is a story, and I said so!” For example, perhaps your story is told by god (or a god?) that is all knowing/all powerful that follows the story of a few of his subjects he finds interesting? Anyway, this is up to you to figure out in a way that makes sense.

                    If you do go with the switching first person, remember that the narrator is switching. This means that how you explain things, even if they aren’t related to any character actions, has to change to match your narrator. As an example, if the character is stupid then the narrator has to be stupid! A dumb muscle head can’t know everything about the word or situation or he isn’t actually dumb. That is why writing in this format is really hard. Even describing the setting has to change when you change characters because they will see their surroundings differently…

                        StenDuring

                        I feel like it is possible to do this “camp-fire tale” in third person. it might be more clunky or harder to do, but usually anything is possible in any point of view if written correctly.

                        The example someone mentioned of a story about someone reading letters would be a way of getting this camp-fire tale into third person. You could also make a third person story about someone telling a first person story around an actually camp fire…

                        AriaKang

                        Repetitiveness is a problem in any tense. It’s more bad writing than an issue with the tense in general. Sounds like the authors you saw do first person didn’t know how to switch up sentence structure and keep things fresh in general… here is an example similar to what you said above without using “I” in any sentence.

                        The gems gleam was impossible to ignore. My hands moved on their own, stealing them from the dim-witted old man. Escaping wouldn’t be as easy…

                              Wow, thanks for the responses. I didn't expect so many opinions so quickly, it's kind of overwhelming, to be quite honest.

                              So if I have it right, the overall consensus I'm seeing is "stick with a point of view, be it 1st or 3rd, unless otherwise noted either through a change in context or through a labeling of the chapter".

                              That makes sense, what you said, shadowdrake27, about how the narrator needs to change along with the pov assumed, ie "dumb character, dumb narrator" and the like. I feel that I do already use that sort of setup, so I'm glad to hear that I'm at least following convention, albeit blindly! You also mention using Third Person Omniscient in place of multiple first-person points of view. For the most part, that is just what I'm doing, but in a couple of chapters, I switch to first person to get an in-depth look at a character's thoughts on a situation. On that note, some others had mentioned that setups like this wind up being "all tell and no show", so maybe I shouldn't use that method for the sake of maintaining a mystique storyline?

                              Thanks for the recommendation SlaveOfTheLord, I'll have to check it out.

                                    ShoeInk

                                    It’s up to you since it’s your story! Showing vs telling is always a problem/debate. Telling doesn’t necessarily follow a perspective. In first person, you still have to make sure you write well. If you are worried about it look up show vs tell and how to do each so that you can control it in your writing. There is a thread that was just posted on this forum about showing vs telling recently…

                                      ShoeInk Well, I didn't think I could ever plug my own novel for educational reasons lol
                                      Here's the link

                                      So the way I do it, is I only write in the First Person if it's the main character's POV. If I want to include a bit about other characters, when the MC isn't paying attention to them, or they are ina different place, then I switch to Third Person Narrator style. This way I can more or less assure that I have a fluid way of telling the story, and give multiple inputs for the readers. For example, if I write a fight between one of the main crew, and some antagonist, then I'd usually write it from the POV of the antagonist, or at least go for a heavy description on their stance, views, and reactions from a non-personal POV.

                                      I hope that made sense lol. Never had to explain it before "

                                          Just do what George RR Martin did.

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