Tuesday, April 3, 2012

How Do You Feel About Multiple POVs?


I won’t deny it. I love books with multiple points-of-view. Not only do I love reading such books, I like to write stories with multiple POVs.

However, I’ve noticed that a sizable majority of agents I’ve spoken to over the past year tend to shy away from multiple POV books, particularly for first time authors. Now, this is only what I’ve encountered in my own experiences so I could be off. Ironically enough, I’ve found that most readers I talk to love multiple POVs, so it astonishes me somewhat to hear so many different agents remarking how they prefer to sign books written from a single perspective.

How do you feel about multiple POVs in a story? Why do you prefer to write/read one way or the other? Have you found some agents more willing than others to consider manuscripts written with multiple points-of-view? 

14 comments:

  1. I like books with multiple POV's, so long as they are distinct voices. I think it takes a writer with a gift of voice to pull off more than one POV.

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  2. I love multiple POV stories too and I frequently write books that way. Sometimes, certain characters, as awesome as they may be, are not the right ones to tell certain parts of the story. If that makes any sense.


    M.J. Fifield
    My Pet Blog

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  3. I just read a debut author's novel that had multiple POv. Loved it, but the characters were all quite distinct.

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  4. I write multiple point of views, usually two, although my next book will take on three. Since that's what a lot of people like to read, it surprises me agents wouldn't want it.

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  5. I prefer not to write in this way but whatever works for the individual is great IMO.

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  6. I really enjoy multiple POV and the one I'm querying now is. I like them because I really find it fascinating to be in a character's head and then 'see them' through someone else.

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  7. I like multiple POV's too, although in books like George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series, I can get a bit disengaged sometimes.

    Weird that agents are shying away from it.

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  8. Personally I like the multiple POV but in today's world it's gone out of fashion, which is a shame.

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  9. I like multi povs, but you're right, they don't seem very popular any more.

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  10. I like multiple POV but I have heard that they are not very hot now. I read a book with 2 POV, it was a mother-daughter POV, I really enjoyed it.

    Mark, I liked your 4 POV's too. But I am just one of your readers. Agents have difference preferences and its them we worry about.

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  11. I like multiple p.o.v.s, especially in mysteries. Although I like single p.o.v.s too. I guess it all comes down to what works for the story. I tend to write single p.o.v., because I write for children, 12 and down, and most agent and publishing advice is to keep the p.o.v. simple so that the younger readers can keep track of the story better, maybe going at most to two alternating p.o.v.s. But I've noticed lately that for YA, multiple is coming back. In fact a lot of things are coming back, that used to be big no-nos, like narration instead of the constant showing through dialogue and action. I think things run their course in the publishing world, and then it all comes back to readers wanting a good story well told, no matter how you tell it.

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  12. Hello Mark:
    We should most certainly be on the side of Multiple Points of View, believing that they do become a catalyst for discussion and, very often, consideration of ideas which might well be overlooked.

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  13. I enjoy reading multiple POV's as long as the head-hopping is easy to follow, and I find that it adds more depth to my novel-length WiPs when I can tell a story from various perspectives.

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  14. Yes, and right now it's the bane of my existence. Just that my current WIP has paralleling storylines that do tie in together. I was getting so confused that I had to finally do separate outlines by POV to help me.

    Now I just need to get off my butt and get back to it. lol

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