Sparx

Ive been developing my writing style for the past months now, so once i have finished developing my style and voice i can begin writing my first novel in a series ive been planning for 2 years. However, i have been reading a lot of fantasy novels and i realise that most good authors write in thrid person limited were they use only the viewpoint of one character and comment on that character's thoughts and actions and don't head-hop to other characters.

This is a problem for me because my story contains three portragonists and i decided to use thrid-person limited omiscient point of view. Is it a bad or more precisely will this hinder my chances of being published if i have three points of views in my story even if i don't change the point of view in between scenes but after every chapter or scene. My story just can't work if its not written in third-person limited omiscient without the narrator swtiching from three points of view during different scenes.

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pgoroncy

There is nothing wrong with switching points of view in a story. Switching from one character to another at chapter breaks is actually quite common.

As pointed out here: http://www.writingforums.com/showthread.php?t=61496

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suzakugaiden

This isn't really wrong or hard to do, but It's not something that I, myself, like. The main problem is that it just feels cluttered.

glennstewart

I read of your dilemma regarding point of view, head hopping, etc. First and foremost I would say buy Steve King's "On Writing," and get rid of all other books on writing, that is if your goal is to write a piece that's viable in the marketplace, and further, if you don't want to spend a lifetime getting there My last novel, which I recently sold, has various points of view, and while it is not the simplest form, it isn't that hard either. You just have to make sure the reader knows what's going on. In some cases I even tell the reader that the viewpoint is changing, and why. I'll even presume, since I got paid for this novel, to show you what I mean...the following is the opening...the opening sentence that is....

Dear Reader,
This is a story of four boys and a little girl. I think of them as my children, they’ve been with me for so very long. Never mind who I am. Josh Stuart, one of my boys and the teller of the story herein, will get to that.

The key is not to overthink it when you could be writing Best of luck, Glenn

Banzai

To be honest, I much prefer the use of different viewpoints. I think it adds different elements to the story. In the story I'm working on at the moment, I switch between viewpoints quite frequently. My intention is to give different accounts of the same event/person. For example, I don't want my main character to have a "hero" stereotype, where he can do no wrong (because that is not him at all), so I describe some of his actions from the perspective of characters who don't particularly like him, so the reader gets all sides of the story. Sorry if that was a bit rambling, but I don't think that switching viewpoints is a bad thing at all; it only enhances the story.

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mwd

Switching POVs is just fine. It's only head-hopping when you do it in an instance where it would be jarring to the reader, like if you have one sentence in Bob's POV then the next one is in Bill's. The main thing is that you transition from one character to another (and if you're only switching POVs between scenes/chapters, that's your transition right there) in a way that lets the reader know who they're currently focusing on.

Red Misery

Forst and foremost, SK's On Writing is £57.99 (I don't know Us price). Second of all, he wants he own style not SK's. I doubt you have read every book on writing, so don't tell him to throw them away for SK's.

Erm, wow. First of all, I'm not purposely disagreeing with everyone today. But mwd, I have seen it done without confusion. I guess it is the quality of the writing?

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pgoroncy

Wow, that seems like a lot. In the US its only $7.99.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...43455967&itm=3

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Fantasy of You

Damn! Fucking hell! What the fuck!!

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mwd

It was just an example of a way in which you can usually go wrong. If they managed to do it well, then it's not head hopping. Head hopping has negative connotations, so if you do it well it's no longer head hopping. And of course it's always the quality of the writing, I'm just saying to be careful. The fact is that if most people tried switching POVs constantly between sentences, the reader would put the book down. Now if your name is Thomas Pynchon you can violate POV as much as you want, but if you're not ...

Edit: Not sure where you got that price for On Writing. How about: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...teway&v=glance ???