Reading articles like this Using Third Person Multiple POV. It’s a pile of work, and I’m not utterly consistent here. When I read something like this, Sometimes it makes me think I’m doing things wrong.

A significant fraction (¾, maybe more) of The Forge is from the mage’s POV. But. There are some things which happen when the mage isn’t present, so, we’re using Third Person Multiple POV.

Within a chapter, I try to avoid switching. Within a scene, I don’t think I ever switch. (I’d like to say “never”; I’m pretty sure each scene has one and only one POV; I haven’t made a checklist to be sure.)

I’m not a fan writing in Third Person Objective, even though it seems more appropriate for #EpicFantasy genre fiction. I feel some important internal state would be difficult to convey while sticking to purely objective narration. In The Forge, the Mage tends to be aloof because they’re hyper-aware of social ranks. This would mean each small shift in attitude would require some external action, perhaps a long conversation with a confidant. It seems easier to switch POV and reveal internal states more directly, The Red Knight is bound by vows and is kind of a jerk; in their case, it’s all objective narration or told from someone else’s POV.

Book II will be different; the knight’s role in the story shifts. And Book III will be even more different because vows get broken.

My vision for the series is to switch POV’s in order to tell the larger and more complete story. I read about the difficulties of 3rd Person Multiple, but I don’t think I have much choice.

Bonus. Read-aloud to my partner seems to confirm the POV switching isn’t breaking anything. They can follow the story. They have useful questions and complaints. I think it’s working.


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