Another question about point of view:

“Okay! Now I have a question about this subject. I read that you cannot
switch POV in a story. My novel has four different sections covering four
different time periods. One tells the story of one character, the other
sections are stories of his heirs. He wrote out his own story, so the first
part is in first person. Can Parts 2, 3, and 4 be written in third person,
since they are completely different stories?”
Leesa

David Woolley’s answer:

 “The edict against switching POV is pretty much confined to each scene. You
can have multiple scenes in a single chapter, each one from a different
point of view character. Alternating between first person and third person
within the course of an entire novel is a complex structure that requires a
good deal of skill. It will, at first, appear jarring to the reader, but it
will also serve to help them make the time warp jumps you're proposing. What
is usually more typical of this kind of atypical structure is to use
multiple first person narrators—-usually two but not more than three—in
the same novel. Chapter one is in the first person view of character one,
chapter two is in the first person view of character two, and then you
alternate back and forth between the characters. This is a very difficult
form as well, but certainly doable.

The most important thing to remember is to maintain the SAME POV within a
given scene. Once you jump to another scene you can move to another point of
view, but switching mid-scene is hard on the reader, and more important it
reduces the quality of your writing and (dare I say) it lacks the
professionalism of really great fiction.

Here’s an answer from another writer:

 Leesa,

In answer to your question on pov, yes you can use different pov in different
sections of your book. Just keep in mind (as David and several others have
mentioned) it is a difficult transition. If you are talking about switching
from 1st to 3rd person from the prologue to the chapter that you sent to me,
I think that works all right.

As anyone who's read a lot of best-selling authors will tell you, there are a
lot of ways to go about pov successfully. While I agree with David for the
most part, I would take issue with what he calls amateur or immature writing
styles. Please consider the following examples.

This from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling:

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry asked incredulously. "Jealous of what?

"Look," Hermione said patiently.

****
This from 1st to Die, by James Patterson:

"You better get in there," the groom gulped, "if you want the end of this
bone."

"Please go ahead," I told her soothingly.

I agree that Rowling is guilty of excess, but I don't know if I would call
her writing immature or unprofessional. Certainly her millions of readers
don't and they should be the final judge.

James Patterson will tell instead of show only sparingly. He uses it in
circumstances where he wants the reader to have more information than just
who is speaking.

I guess my point is that while what has been said about pov is correct, there
are exceptions to every rule that are still very good and acceptable forms of
writing. Should we listen to millions of readers who find this style of
writing enjoyable or someone who wrote a book saying we should never, never
tell but always show?

My two cents,

Larry Forkner

And now this rejoinder from David Woolley:

Hi Larry:

Your example from Harry Potter has more to do with TELLING vs.. SHOWING
emotions than point of view (see the example below). In essence, JK Rowling,
through the use of speaker attributions (he said, she said) and modified by
the use of ly adverbs TELLS the reader what the character is feeling and it
is important for authors to understand that a TOLD EMOTION is not developing
a voice for a character, it is a bit of author intrusion on the characters
voice. Essentially the author stops for a moment to TELL us the emotion with
which the character is saying what they are saying.

In the example Larry provides the adverbs tacked onto the speaker
attributions act to MODIFY the dialogue. The word despairingly in the first
line of dialogue modifies how Hermione says "Oh Harry, isn't it obvious.",
the word Incredulously modifies how Harry says, "Jealous?" and the word
patiently modifies how Hermione says "Look". These ly adverbs are not
"interior dialogue" from the character, but rather come directly from the
author in an attempt to TELL the reader what the character is feeling rather
than to SHOW what the character is feeling, and more importantly, they have
little to do with developing a voice for a character. They actually act to
remove the character, for a brief instance, from the reader while they
bring JK Rowling into focus, for a very short instant, to tell us what Harry
and Hermione are feeling and they get in the way of developing the voice of
the viewpoint character.

In the first line of Dialogue JK Rowling TELLS us (rather than showing us)
that Hermione is despairing. And telling an emotion is a bit of a crutch.
Better for JK to show us Hermione's despairing. If you remove the ly
adjective "despairingly" from the first line and Hermione's despair is clear
without having to tell us that she is despairing, then take it out and let
the power of the dialogue stand on its own. If, after taking out the ly
adverb, it is still NOT obvious by what she says that she is despairing,
then throw in a bit of action that will tell us she is despairing, something
like: "Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione pushed her cake away without
taking a bit.

In the second line of Dialogue JK Rowling TELLS us (rather than showing us)
that Harry is incredulous. If you take out the ly adverb that acts as a
crutch to this dialogue and it is obvious that Harry is incredulous, then
leave the dialogue alone and let the power of Harry's words stand on their
own. If it isn't apparent that Harry is incredulous by what he says between
the quotes then add a little more action, like, say, "Jealous?" Harry took
her cake and swallowed it in one bite.

In the third line of dialogue JK Rowling TELLS us (rather than showing us)
that Hermione is being patient with Harry. Again, if it is obvious by what
she says that she is patient with Harry, then you don't need to tell us. If
is isn't, then rewrite the dialogue until it is obvious or throw in a little
action like, say, "Look," Hermione cut Harry another piece of cake and set
it on his plate. "You really should......"

This example is really about the use of speaker attributions supporting
dialogue and the use (or miss-use) of ly adverbs to support and modify
dialogue, but it has very little to do with selecting a point of view
character. There is no change in point of view and the short dialogue example is not
long enough to know which character, if any, JK has selected as the point of
view character nor is there enough narration to get any sense of JK Rowlings
development of the voice of her viewpoint character in this particular scene.
In general, you should avoid the use of ly adverbs to TELL
emotions, wither they are modifying dialogue or narration.

Here is the example Larry shared in his email:

This from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling:

"Oh Harry, isn't it obvious?" Hermione said despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry asked incredulously. "Jealous of what?

"Look," Hermione said patiently.


Hope I was clear with my ramblings,

David G. Woolley

Comment from David Hall

When writers use these -ly adverbs to modify speaker attributions, it is a mark of immature writing. JK Rowling gets away with this in Harry Potter because she isn't writing to a sophisticated literary audience.

There are basically two problems with this manner of writing.

The first is that this is somewhat a corruption of grammar. In the example above, Hermione didn't say "Look" patiently. She "felt" patient while she was saying it, and the message may have been a patient message, but she didn't "say it" patiently. How do you speak patiently? You can speak softly or loudly or quickly or slowly or deliberately, but tell me what it is to speak patiently? The author is merely telling the reader what the character is feeling, and trying to sneak that in with an adverb modifying the verb "said." It doesn't belong there.

The second reason is that this type of writing is condescending to the reader. Harry Potter fans don't seem to care if JK Rowling is a little condescending, and many adult readers may not care, but some adult readers and sophisticated literary critics do care. Most readers will not notice why they feel unchallenged by the writing, they will just have a vague feeling that the writing is for immature readers and won't enjoy it as much. However, if the writer can convey emotion through the story, by illustrating what the characters do and say, it draws the reader's mind into the story and it conveys a sense of sophistication to the writing. It takes more skill for the writer to be able to do this. It's much simpler to just tell the reader what to think or what the character is feeling. But, as in much of art, the more skill that is displayed by the artist, the more we enjoy it. It's flattering to the readers to ask them to use their brains, and thus reading becomes a more enriching experience.

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