Guys, I’m torn.
I can’t decide if my novel should be single or dual POV.
BENEFITS TO DUAL
I love my male character’s perspective on things, especially on my female character.
It’s totally his story too. He probably changes the MOST.
There are a couple scenes that idk how I’d manage NOT from his POV.
DRAWBACKS TO DUAL
It will for sure be more difficult.
He has so many secrets I need to protect that I’m worried the first half from his POV would be too uneventful. (I have to protect those secrets till the right moment.)
Any thoughts? Lob em at me.
JACKIE LEA SOMMERS 
I have this same problem with my second book! I’m reading Burial Rites at the moment, and I love the way about 1/3 of the story is told from the main character’s first person POV, and the rest is told in third person from the POVs of several others. Interesting tactic, but it seems to have worked well for her. *looks at Kent’s giant list of awards*
Wow. Somehow I feel like my editor would never let me get away with that. Ha!
I don’t know how she does it, but it’s working so far!
I am a big fan of multiple perspectives. Can paint such a more complete picture that way, and lead the reader to profound realizations about the nature of objectivity and subjectivity.
It is definitely a challenge, but would it work for you to be more fluid with the perspective shifts? Rather than having one solid half of one character and a half with the other, what about using the best perspective for the job on a chapter-by-chapter basis?
I’m working on a story where shifts in perspective are a stylized part of the narrative. I am designing small symbols for each of the characters, and that symbol signifies a change to the corresponding character’s perspective. It would be totally easy to mess this up, but I’ve been at it for years and I think it will work for this story (hope so, hehe).
Just lobbing. Rock on, Jackie!
Whoa, that sounds intense! Best of luck to you!!
I’m just curious, but what are the pros and cons of using a single POV? Because looking at what you wrote above, you make a good case for doing dual POV. The only “cons” seem to be, well, dual being difficult to write, not it being wrong for the story.
Whatever you do decide, good luck!
Good thoughts, Melissa. I guess I’m not as worried about it being hard as about it being wrong for the story. I’m trying to make it work, but it feels forced and, to be honest, a little hard on the readers to get only secrets for half the book from that POV. I think I might have a compromise though!
If you want inspiration on how to keep secrets while telling a story from a single perspective, then I recommend The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner if you haven’t read it before. For dual perspective I recommend its sequel The Queen of Attolia though it focuses for on the males perspective than the females.
Focuses more not focuses for. Hate it when I don’t catch mistakes before posting.
Thanks for the recs!!!
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