Writer's Fallout Shelter

I need a little more info here, first. You writing in the third person limited? As in, not 'inside' your heroine's head, but still following her thoughts? Or are you in first person? Personally, I've yet to write a story of any signifgant length using the alternating POV method. The primary reason being that I've always lost interest in the story due to a lack of organisation.

Now, I find stories set in first person POVs don't do well with alternating POVs. Having "I" mean different things depending on the chapter you're in get's way too confusing. So if you're using it, I would suggest rethinking alternating POVs -- as in, don't do it -- or switching to the third limited.

There are advantages to sticking with only one POV. For one, it is far easier to write. When you have two POVs you have to keep track of the 'thoughts' of two different 'people'. You also have to keep track of two different perspectives. Not an easy task.

Next, 'How to do it'. Tough one. As I said, haven't done it much, but there is a story developing in me head that I'll be writing using this method, so I've been thinking on it a bit. Essentially, you have two story arcs traveling through your overall plot line. Each 'arc' representes one of your characters.

What I can suggest is this; Make a diagram of your main story line. Put every plot point down on a piece of paper and paste it on your wall, if you have to. Once you have that, take a look and see which points would be best viewed from your heroine and which from your hero. That way you still track your story development, but don't lose track of who's doing what. Course, if your two characters are going to 'go their seperate ways' at some point, resulting in a forked plot line, you have two options. Decide which forkline is more 'important' and write that character's POV for that portion of the story. Or write both and play the 'rewind' game, showing the same event from different perspectives, etc. The second is the harder one to pull off and can often confuse your readers if you don't do it well. So becareful with that one.

I think the best thing is to have a POV switch only at the beginning of a chapter. In other words, one chapter is devoted to Jane, another to John. Don't switch POVs partway through a chapter. Reason why? It's easier for your reader. If you switch in the middle of a chapter, your reader could get a bit lost. Of course, how you define a chapter is upto you. Myself, I just get a feeling when a chapter is done.

Anyway, hope some of that helps. If not, someone else should be along to post something more helpful soon. See ya round and keep on writing.

- T

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

- W. Somerset Maugham

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