At the moment I am very interested about this, but I don't think that I've ever read a piece of fiction that does this fluently and in the scope that I am interested of. There are many ways to achieve similar experience for the reader, as an exmaple, having the narrator tell about something that happened to someone else, and then tell a story about what happened to the narrator. But I am intrigued about the idea of using third person narration about a character and then switching to the first person narration, and I could imagine that if this was done well, it could really boost the effect of your text.
I am working on a text where I'd like to start from the third person perspective, and make the reader hate the character, from a safe distance, then switch to the first person perspective and do something awful to the character, and trap the reader inside of the event to suffer within the character, to experience it more closely. I know I can achieve this by using strong on-body experiences, but I'd like to challenge myself even further. Maybe I could cheat a bit, add headlinings for the different parts and maybe some additional bold text information to make the switch more apparent... hmm.
Maybe this idea is just plain stupid, but I think I will at least give it a try and suffer the consequences, in other words, waste my time on this.
Feel free to drop in any additional ideas about what should I take into account?
Any possibly helpful reading regarding this?
Using letters, diaries, etc. can work, like Dracula or Cloud Atlas. Or go all oral history. Read Haunted, Rant and Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, constant shifts in first person perspective.
I've never read anything that does what you describe, and it's a style I'd like to write in for a later project, so I'd be interested to see if anyone has a good example. Maybe change POV for each chapter, giving the reader a definitive break point.
I'd say if you want to do it, just do it. Fuck it, what's the worst that can happen?
Though not exactly the same as what you're after, I always thought Sometimes a Great Notion was a wonderful use of seamless POV switching. Great book you should give it a read.
King does a lot of fluent POV changes in his stuff, but even he sticks to 3rd. Its worth a try - rules are meant to be broken and all.
A handful of books come to mind, not sure how they might fit into what you're looking for, but they're all good ones:
Irvine Welsh does some interesting things with POV switches in books like Filth and Marabou Stork Nightmares. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner is a great book as well. And there's always House of Leaves.
I lovvvvvved both of those Welsh books (all of his stuff, really, though Filth was probably my favorite). He does do a good job of POV switching, but the slang/dialect is damn near impenetrable.
oh shit, wait...Isn't that what Transubstantiate (by our very own Richard Thomas) does? I haven't yet had a chance to read it, but in his interview on Books and Booze, they talked about the POV switches.
I wish I could drop some more names...
@JGB: you're right, the slang & dialect are a major headache, but I am really glad I pushed myself through those two books. Such great stories, and some really nasty things in both. They are the only novels that I've read by Welsh (also read The Acid House). Are there others of his on par with those 2?
In Transubstantiate each chapter is devoted to a different character. So...in a way you can see people from both 1st and 3rd, yeah.
@sean: Trainspotting, is of course also a great novel. If you love the characters (and you will), then read Porno. I didn't enjoy it as much as some of his other novels, but it was worth it to follow Rents and Begbie (my favorite character). I haven't read Skagboys yet (what is it with prequels these days?).
I am a huge fan of short fiction, so I loved If You Liked School You'll Love Work and the Acid House, but as a short story writer, he can be a bit uneven, YMMV.
Crime is a masterful novel, in my opinion. Very different from his other work, if not thematically, then at least presentation-wise. Probably my second favorite after Filth--it has some tie-ins with Filth, and the same bleak moral palette.
I have Transubstantiate on my TBR list as well, I have to get it on my kindle so as to keep my hardback virginal.
As I Lay Dying by Faulkner is another good example of mulitple POV's , as is The Handmaid's Tale. An option is to write in epistolary form, ala Frankenstein, or for a modern example, Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Either way, I would be curious about how the POV impacts the tense choice and subsequent readability. The only way to know is to just try it and see. What do you have to lose, right?
Hi, I'm new here. Writers are awesome, you people are great. Keep it up :)
I've really enjoyed Orhan Pamuk's narrators. In My Name is Red each chapter is narrated by a different character or object to very interesting effect. In Snow you end up meeting the narrator after the story he is telling ends, and his story of searching for clues about his friend and ultimately, the writing of the book in your hands, begins. I really liked it :D These are not exactly the same as your idea but the fluidity and artistry of Pamuk's POV switching came to mind as I read your post. Good luck, enjoy :)
Very interesting Jackson! I've never heard of Orhan Pamuk, but after a little reasearch, I am going to try reading his stuff. Thanks for the tip!
Glen Cook's Black Company series do a great job of this although most times it is between books not chapters. Different characters have different writing styles, go into different level of details, and even get better over time as writers separate from his improvement as a writer.
I hope you enjoy reading his stuff, Jeffery :)
If it's done in a chapter switch or with some kind of marker to show the reader that things have changed, then it usually comes off fine. I've read some people try to switch tense without giving me a clue that they were going to do it, and it always reads like the writer has made a mistake. I really appreciate a consistant POV within each chapter.
If you break it up into chapters, then anything goes and I'd be interested in reading what you come up with.
some people think Transubstantiate was a mess, but it definitely shifts POV a lot. it not only shifts around to seven difffent first person perspectives (seven characters) but every three chapters it does something else: a flashback, a flash forward, and a scene where it all goes from first person to third, all of the characters in one room, even a chapter of nothing but email/letters/postcards, which is as close as i get to second person. not sure if it is smooth of not.
i see you're in Finland, i'd be happy to send you a PDF arc of the book if you want it, AA. pm me or drop me an email at wickerkat@aol.com.
