How many cameras do you need on set? How many POV characters in a novel? What is the benefit of having two dozen characters a la George R.R. Martin vs. just one, a la Patrick Rothfus? How wide the angle of the lens, how broad the scope of the tale, should one strive for an epic or settle for quiet meditation?
I've never written a novel with more than two points of view. I tend to possess a character like Captain Howdy and then ride them all the way home to the conclusion. I tried writing a 3 POV novel entitled Mother Maiden Crone, and ended up chopping off the Crone section 20,000 words below the sea because it just wasn't working. The result was 2 POV and a novel entitled THRONE. Which worked.
But now, ah, now, my next novel, my next challenge, a true desafio! How many, my friend, how much is enough? One novel or a series. One main location or several cities. A continent? A world? Do we start small and view the world through a limited eyeglass, or pull back and gaze upon its vastness with a view non parallel?
I could have the rebel priest. I could have the orc silverback. I could have the high caste noble. That's 3. Do I need more? One for the people, one for the enslaved, and one to wear the crown. Each sympathetic if properly drawn. Each...
What if... hmm.
Gene Wolfe gets by just fine with one POV.
3 POV could easily become 6. The rebel priest and the slum lord, the orc silverback and the captain of the guard, the high caste noble and his Machiavellian other. 6 could become 18, 18 could become...
Do I want to write A GAME OF THRONES? Do I want to write THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN? Do I want to write PERDIDO STREET STATION? Why is it so hard to write a novel that is nothing but my own?
4 comments:
You already know my thoughts on this one. Blo(o)d from the Mountain is crying out for multiple viewpoints.
Just because another author has done something well doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. On the flip side, just because another author has done something poorly also doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Perhaps a key to writing in your own voice is to ignore the question of whether or not you are writing in your own voice?
In an epic story, I think multiple points of view work really well. Because, as you say, there's sometimes too much story left out when you stick with one or two characters--they can't necessarily provide the breadth you'd need to build a world. But generally speaking, I think it's best to use only what you need. Less is more.
It's so hard to write a novel that is entirely your own because no one ever does. We absorb everything around us, and inevitably there are moments where we stop and say 'Wait, is that me or is that someone else?' Style (and even content) can be purely original and suck absolute ass. It's also composed of what we absorb. What makes it 'yours' may just be the process of choosing what to take and what to leave behind, how to present it and how not to, what to add and what to subtract. Enjoy the process of sifting, because that process is the thought that becomes voice.
@Will - Yes. Blo(o)d from the Mountain does indeed cry out for expansion, multiple view points, and in fact a serious rewrite on all fronts. The sheer amount of labor involved is what has made me push it to the bottom of my to-do list, but--yes. That, if anything, has the makings of an epic in it.
And you're right. There is after all nothing new under the sun. The problem lies in trying to find my own course when plotting and not being pulled in one direction or another by the magnetic achievements of authors I admire. But perhaps your formulation is correct--in my very choices I find my voice.
@Averil - Exactly. Less is more, which is why such epics as GAME OF THRONES and WHEEL OF TIME seem to have spiraled out of control. I think I'll take your advice and go for fewer rather than more POV's, while still taking enough of them to tell the tale correctly. But ah! What is that magic number?
@Kai - Beautifully put. And it seems to simple and elegant when you phrase it that way. However, I tend to lose sight of such sense when I'm down in the trenches, shoveling muck and trying to find my way to the other side. But fundamentally: yes. Need to focus on the enjoyment, and let the devil take the rest!
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