Question concerning first and third person

[nakdsub]

I have a small dilemma. I am writing a 4 part series having to do with the pain of divorce. The first two episodes I wrote from the husband's stand point in first person. The third, although the husband will still be the main character, will feature the wife more prominently through out the story.

I just happen to think...how am I going to do that in first person. It really has to be done in third person. Would it be strange to write the first two stories in first person, one episode in third person then finish with the 4th chapter in first again?

Has anyone done this?

 

[PennLady]

People switch POVs in Lit stories all the time. I'd say there's no reason you couldn't do the wife's chapter in first POV, where she's the narrator, or third person where she is featured, as you said. I guess it depends in part on whether you want the husband's POV as well. But I've read plenty of stories, here and in print, that switch between POVs.

In a few of JD Robb's (aka Nora Roberts') books, she'll switch between the usual third person and first, where the first person is the bad guy. So it can work.

 

[bronzeage]

The POV switches in every line when we write dialog. It's a series of shifts between on first person POV and then the other.

There are several techniques. Dialog or internal monologue are the most common. A character can even have a conversation with themselves:

Jake stood before the bathroom mirror. "What are you looking at?" he asked his reflection.

All that really matters is the reader understand who is speaking.

 

[SevenSquared]

Personally I would be turned off by a story that switched PoV half way through. Unless it was structured in such a way as to facilitate that (such as one where chapters are written alternately in the first person PoV of the two major characters for example).

 

[sr71plt]

I do it sometimes. With my writing partner, Sabb, as Shabbu, we do it in every story. Pulitzer Prize winner Carol Shields did almost exactly what you are talking about in Happenstance.

 

[Hotcappucino]

I'm currently reading the novel Innocent, by best-selling author Scott Turow, in which he alternates every chapter between first person & third person POV (with two different characters). Not only that, the first person POV chapters take place about a year in the past while the third person POV takes place in the present, so it jumps back & forth from past 1st POV to present 3rd POV. It was a bit confusing at first, but I've gotten used to it. I'm anticipating the two POVs & time frames to gradually come together towards the conclusion; I'll have to wait to finish the book to see if those switches in POV and time are effective in telling the story.

 

[Handley_Page]

It strikes me that the contrast works well if his story and hers are both in the first person. THe reader will get a better feeling of the inside of each head.

just a thought

 

[sr71plt]

It strikes me that the contrast works well if his story and hers are both in the first person. THe reader will get a better feeling of the inside of each head.

just a thought

Yes, I agree. Otherwise it will seem like the narrator is taking sides--feeling for one and only describing for the other. (Of course that might be the effect you want to convey.)