Same story, different POV / Advice

[Writer61]

Next up on my writing schedule is a whole story told from a male POV. The one after is the same set of events from the female POV. Previously, I have done this on a smaller scale (a few scenes in two separate series) and got myself into a few tangles (a plot point and a failure to keep gender consistent).

So, I wonder if anybody has advice on writing two pieces like this.

In case it matters, the stories are also destined for different series.

 

[Omenainen]

No advice, but I did this once. I think it’s an interesting exercise in seeing if the plot makes sense from the opposite perspective or if one character is just a prop for the other one.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

If the POV changes will follow section or chapter breaks, then I would write them separately and combine them when done.

It would make it easier for me to stay in the specific character's thoughts if I focused on them one at a time without the influence of the other. I would be able to flip back and forth as scenes dictated, but there would be two separate files until I had it all fleshed out.

 

[TheWorldBuilder]

Similar to Bobby's suggestion; if I'm doing a long and complex SRP I will keep a number of OpenDocument files going for plot, characters, locations, etcetera and a colour-coded master which mirrors the entire ongoing story in alternating red and blue scenes.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I did this once with three stories, without planning it ahead of time. I tend to write slowly and always TRY to think things through for a logical reason for people to do things or for the sequence to unfold. So, it was a good exercise after writing the husband's POV in "Unique Rewards of Yoga", then two weeks later writing the same story from the wife's POV in "Unique Rewards of Yoga - Her Story."

In the first one, the wife is invited to attend a Friday evening yoga class, and she asks if her husband wants to attend with her. But he has an early morning tee-time for golf the next morning and says go have fun without me. They're my favorite "swinger" couple, and he once gave his wife a hall pass card to use for sex without him with her. Little did he anticipate how she'd use her hall pass.

After the second one with her POV was well received (relatively, rated in Loving Wives at 3.88/302), I wrote "Unique Rewards of Yoga - Beginnings" to show how the whole situation came about by showing it from the yoga studio instructor's POV.

But those were all done without pre-planning, and I was just trying to write a good, consistent story and thinking through the logistics in the first one.

 

[CalBishForNow]

I did this with Part 3 and Part 4 of my first series. They overlap. Part 3 follows the FMC's POV. It starts when she and the MMC get to a party, follows her perspective minutely until she leaves for the night, and ends the minute she wakes up in the morning. Part 4 follows the MMC's POV. It glosses over most of the party but covers a few things she missed and follows him through events that happened after she left. Then it switches back to the FMC for events shortly after she woke up in the morning. Then back to the MMC for some events after he woke up.

It turned out fine. It was a little more challenging than usual, but not the biggest problem with those stories. That series includes at least two other events where switching perspectives could be useful or interesting, but it never occurred to me to use. Now that you mention it I'm tempted to do another one just for its own sake. Lots of potential.

 

[Writer61]

If the POV changes will follow section or chapter breaks, then I would write them separately and combine them when done.

They will be in different series, one featuring the MMC, and the other the FMC.