Thread: Which character gets the lead? (Or, whose point of view should I use?)

I have a story I'm working on, and I can't decide which of the two main characters' point of views to use. I like both characters, I think both are relatable to the type of people I'd expect would be reading my novel, and the characters are fairly equal in terms of importance to the story. I prefer to stick to a single view point when possible because I think it's simpler, but I'm beginning to think I should just write this one from two different perspectives.

Thoughts?

How do YOU choose what character to make your main one when you have more than one viable option?

It depends. Are you writing this in first person or third person? If third person, then I'd say you should write from both perspectives.

Originally Posted by InsanityStrickenWriter

It depends. Are you writing this in first person or third person? If third person, then I'd say you should write from both perspectives. Do whatever version you feel reads better though.

I am writing in third person - for the most part, I don't like writing stories in the first person.

Give writing both perspectives a try, and if you don't think it works, then try and figure out which perspective is easier/gives better results and use that one.

The characters often choose for you, and you'll know when that's happening because they'll pull you where the stories needs to go rather than you push them to where you want.

For now don't worry about who gets top billing in the story. As the characters develop they will prompt new ideas you didn't originally think of, and that's rather cool when it happens.

Do you have an outline? Is your story actually complete in your head? Do you have goals/challenges/conflict/reward/etc?

Originally Posted by khobar

Do you have an outline? Is your story actually complete in your head? Do you have goals/challenges/conflict/reward/etc?

I do have an outline, I'm very big on them. The meat of the story is complete in my head, so right now I'm working on figuring out the "point A to point B" type of details, as well as actually writing. I have part of a draft plus some scraps that I wrote before, but I've made significant enough changes to the story that I'm not using them. Writing those is how I developed a better sense of the characters I have now, though, so they're definitely useful.

It's funny that you ask if I have conflict and challenges, because that was what was wrong with the original draft of it - the conflict was too forced, and obviously just there to develop the characters. Even when I was writing those scenes, though, it was like the characters themselves were telling me they didn't buy it. I couldn't make the characters feel real because their motivations made no sense, to them I like it much better now, and I'm hoping that the writing will come easier now that the plot makes more sense.

You're in a very good position, story-wise. It's a lot easier to get the story right when it's in your head than trying to endlessly force it into submission once it's written down!

Keep in mind you may have more in your head than just your specific story. Back-story, for instance.

Will the writing come easier? Yes. As you develop your skills and gain confidence, you'll spot writing issues more easily. You've already got a good start by recognizing that "the conflict was too forced," and that the forced conflict was "obviously just there to develop the characters." Sounds like you've got some good instincts so I don't think you'll have any difficulty with character POV.

Good luck.

You could try using both. With the book I'm currently writing and serialising on Amazon Kindle, I started out with the intent of only focussing on one character's point of view. Since then I've expanded, with focus on two major characters now, and smaller sections of focus when I need to examine something from a different perspective to propel the story. It just depends on how you need to push the story forward, and what makes for interesting reading.

The characters often choose for you

This. ^^ My story has a handful of characters, and it's third person but basically from the perspective of the one guy. The other main character is the guy's love interest and I wouldn't want to do anything from her POV because it would eliminate the mystery and confusion the main guy goes through in dealing with their evolving relationship.

It all totally depends though. In my opinion as a reader it's always better to stick to one POV unless there is a good need to use other POV's (something you can't show or say otherwise). But that is just my personal preference and others might feel differently. I agree with others that you can try writing some scenes out both ways and then just choose what feels right to you later.

Use this opportunity to maybe do something better than just have one point of view

with 3rd person it seems like POV does not matter as much. you can have the book follow many characters if you want. you can be straightforward and follow it chronologically.
but i think it is more interesting to have the different POV be different in the time the are happening but to maybe not giving the reader a definitive clock, but they can see the overlap and be like "oh"

POV is more important in 1st person i think. many books do 1st person pov of multiple characters and it is interesting how one character interprets the same events as other characters

i only have interest in writing 1st person (i like unreliable narrator's and things being outside of the view of the narrator)

so i have this book i am putting some ideas to. Problem was, i wanted to tell the story from 2 characters. how to do that? just write the story with multiple narrators seemed like it was not something i wanted for this book.

So, how to get these 2 narrators? so i have a primary narrator telling the story in the present. he finds a diary. this diary is from the other narrator i wanted to use. then it became, my primary narrator is reading this diary and some of the same stuff is happening now that happened to this narrator from the diary. Is the diary even real or just something invented by the primary narrator?

in short, the idea for a story i had became a lot better after finding a way to solve this multiple narrator problem.

mmm, I like 3rd person more, you have more freedom. plus you can swap form pov to pov which i find usefull.