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The other two, being her husband and son, have problems of their own. Brian, her husband, is seeing a psychologist, and her son is being bullied. It is because of this that I have been writing with the 3 viewpoints. But I'm not enjoying it much to be honest. If I changed to the single viewpoint, and had Samantha in every chapter and scene etc, would it make it more dramatic for her to discover her families problems, rather than me show them through Brian's and Alex's viewpoints? The reader would already know what was happening if I keep it as it is, so would it work if they found out when she did?
My main concern in switching to a single viewpoint is that I can't show the feelings of my other characters i.e. I won't be able to describe their innermost thoughts etc. They have so much going on, and I wouldn't be able to follow their lives. I can obviously show things through dialogue etc, but is that enough?
Basically, Samantha goes through a traumatic time, and I now feel that going to other characters and getting inside their heads takes the emphasis off how important the character of Samantha's is.
I can give a few examples of the problems I think I would encounter. I am currently writing a scene where Alex is at school. With a single viewpoint, I couldn't do this. So as a result, I couldn't show the bullying that he is subjected to. Samantha would have to see changes in his behaviour etc, and eventually she would find out about it. As well as this, I had written a build up to her attack, which consisted of her attacker walking with his girlfriend. I think this would have to go as well.
Its things like that I am most concerned with. Can it all be done under one single viewpoint? I hope it can be, but any advice would be very much appreciated.
Maybe if you try writing some of Brian's and Alex's scenes with them telling (or avoiding telling) Samantha what happened and her trying to fill in the gaps in her mind, trying to get more out of them, worrying whether it will change things - and relating it all to her own problems - you would get a feel for how well it goes with your story.
Every time you ask a question about this novel the better it sounds, so I wish you all the best with it. Please keep us in touch with what you decide.
Thank you for your message and kind words. From the start, I had planned for all 3 characters to go through different experiences. But they would avoid telling each other their problems i.e. Alex doesn't tell his parents about the bullying and Brian doesn't immediately tell his wife that he is seeing a psychologist. And the whole basis of the story lies with Samantha. The assault will turn her into a different person, and with damaging unknowns going on around her, it will lead to a family in crisis.
There's a part I didn't talk about, which was the fact that Samantha and Brian have a 2-year-old daughter. She will play a vital part in keeping Samanthas faith in life (I am basing the 2 year old, who is called Rebecca, on my second cousin.)
If I can do it all under one viewpoint, I'd prefer to do that. I had also written a scene where Brian goes to see the psychologist, so I would have to take this out also. It may seem like I would be cutting a lot out of the novel, but he will eventually tell Samantha about his visits, and will spring the surprise that he wants her to join him in the next one.
I know where I want the story to go. I have it all in my head, and what I am seeing is through Samantha's eyes. I'm finding it very difficult to write from the viewpoints of both Brian and Alex. It doesn't feel natural somehow.
I have a few ideas on how I can incorporate some of my existing scenes under her viewpoint. Obviously, it will mean quite a bit of re-writing, but I think it will be worth it.
Another way to express the husband/son's views and feelings would be to have Samantha find out about it second hand from someone else - like her son's teacher for example. This way you could keep her viewpoint while focusing on someone else's emotions.
Good luck, it sounds like you will have more fun writing it all from her POV so I'd stick with it - and let us all know you get on.
I was interested in what you said here:
"So far as I'm aware, it is common to include scenes where s/he is not present every now and then, in order to offer info to the reader - plenty of books do this without detracting from the central character."
When you say info, what kind you you mean? Is it things about other characters or is it used as a chance to talk about the setting etc?
Any advice on that would be great. Thanks.
I've just read your posts and it seems as if we are having similar problems. I'm working on a novel told from the viewpoint of a sixteen year old girl, who is also the central character. When I first had the idea for the book, it came to me in her voice - I have never considered writing it from any other point of view. I am 20,000 words in and struggling, because, like your characters, even though she is the main character, dramatic events are taking place elsewhere in the book, i.e with other family members and its getting v. difficult to sustain the narrative from her POV. So, yesterday, I tried writing a dramatic scene involving her brother in omniscient 3rd person POV and it had really seemed to work. I had tried 'reporting' these events through her but because of their dramatic nature, it just did not work. I don't know if I will be able to sustain this pattern, and am not sure if it will work with other scenes, but it certainly seems to have a freshness (and seems to allow me more freedom of expression as a writer, because I am not tied to writing in her voice...) so try writing some scenes like this and see where it takes you, you may find that they fall into place naturally and then you can edit later on.... Hope this is of some help.
If you want to talk about this in future, please feel free to post again, I know what you're going through!
Best
Lizzie
Thanks for your post. I could relate to a lot of what you said. When you wrote the dramatic scene involving your main character's brother, did you look apron it all from above? For example, did you only include the action, and not what her brother was thinking or feeling?
I'm finding viewpoints in general very interesting, but also frustrating. I have an example to show you. In my novel, I might write something like this:
'Samantha narrowed her eyes, and looked at him forcefully'
First of all, it's not the best example. But the thing is, would saying the above be staying in Samantha's viewpoint? Can she know herself what her eyes are doing, or does it sound more like the sentence is from another character's point of view? I might be sounding picky here, but I think it's the little things such as this that are very important.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
When I wrote the scene involving the brother, I used an omniscient 3rd person voice, and described not only what happened, but how he felt too. If you are using this means of telling the story, the person who you are talking about does not have to know about his or her feelings so if I said something like:
'And on that dark, November night, Robbie found something deep inside - a courage so intense that it threatened to overwhelm him.'
I don't have any professional expertise in writing, but an omniscient narrator, is, by definition, all knowing, and can tell the story from, as you put it, 'above.' So by using this device, don't you avoid the issue of narrator/character having to be present in each scene?
I hope this makes some sense, and please, if I have this wrong, I'd appreciate any advice from fellow talkbackers...