|
Since story is always about character for me, I generally have a central character before anything else. So I knew from the second the idea for The Druid and the Dragon arrived in my brain that the story was about Maeve. I wasn't sure what that story was, but I knew she was at the heart of it.
The next decision was how to narrate her story. From what point of view would the story be told? There were lots of options, but only three I considered.
A viable choice was first person narration. If I told the story in Maeve's voice it would definitely be intimate and heart-wrenching, but it is hard for first person narrators to be objective -- or even honest -- about themselves and events affecting them. They tend to be biased and present information in a way that paints them in the best light. Depending on the nature of the character and tone of the story, that can be a good thing, but it wasn't going to work for this story.
Another option I considered -- for a nano-second -- was third person omniscient -- the all-seeing POV. I've published 30+ novels, but I've never used third person omniscient. Though being a fly on everyone's wall with access to all characters' minds, emotions, and actions makes it easier to relate information to readers, I find it highly impersonal, and as a reader I feel less connected to the protagonist. My apologies to writers who use this POV, (I'm sure you do it masterfully) but to me, an omniscient POV just feels like a lazy way to go. It's like washing a floor with a mop instead of getting on your hands and knees with a bucket and rag. It works, but you miss the corners.
The POV I ended up choosing is third person limited. This is the narrative style used in most novels. It gives the reader insight into the thoughts and emotions of one particular character (generally the protagonist) and it can know only what that character is privy to. It achieves a similar intimacy to first person narration, but it provides an objectivity first person doesn't have. eg. If in first person Maeve says, "It wasn't my fault," readers may be skeptical. But if a third person narrator says, It wasn't Maeve's fault, the reader believes it.
But -- as its name signifies -- third person limited is limited. The reader follows one character and only one character. There is no meanwhile back at the ranch with this POV. So if the writer (me) needs the reader to know something the protagonist doesn't know, other means have to be used to impart that information: conversations, eavesdropping, confessions, spying, dreams, visions, memories, etc. It's all very cloak and dagger and requires numerous showers and naps on my part as I wrestle with how to achieve the impossible but because the books of The Seer Trilogy embody magic and divine powers, I had quite a few options available to me, and I made use of most of them.
The thing to note is that I could have used another POV to tell Maeve's story, and it would have worked fine, but it would have been a different story. Point of view really does matter.
P.S. -- In Bran, the trilogy spin off novel I'm currently working on, I am using third person limited again, BUT I have two different POVs. Most chapters focus on the thoughts, emotions, and actions of the protagonist, Bran, while others are seen through the eyes of his caregiver, Cara. I made this choice out of necessity. I needed a first hand witness to some events as well as an emotional interpretation of those events that my main character could not provide. I wasn't sure this split POV was going to work since this is a middle-grade novel and one of the narrative POVs is that of an adult, but it's actually turning out to be a good mix.
|
