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Multiple lead characters 3rd person
The novel I've been working on for more time than I care to confess has a fracturing family at its heart.
Its in third person narrative but the third person in question varies, so the lead voice shifts from chapter to chapter.
Its not an overlap of the same situation re-told by different people .. each has their own problems.
It would be like Jo in Little Women dealing with her love for the professor; the next two chapters might be Meg's story.
is this too hard for the reader - or - anyone know of a novel that follows that style?
Comments
I don't think it's too hard for people - I suppose depending on how many characters - and I would expect there to be some overlap/linkage so that there is cohesion to the novel not just several completely separate stories. But otherwise, why not?
I'd go one further than Heather and say that I think you still have to have a protagonist even if you're telling the other characters' stories around him or her. I'd do that by opening the book in the protagonist's pov and making sure that the other characters' chapters all show a strong link with the protagonist.
p.s. next time I go upstairs I'll check the author and title of the book I'm reading (never read her before and can't remember her name offhand!)
I've never read this author before and I won't be rushing to do so again. The book is pretty rubbish, but it does show how to change points of view in the third person, so you will find it helpful.