I'm about 80 pages into a novel by an extremely popular author (Nora Roberts). It's a suspenseful, enjoyable novel, but here's my beef with some of these popular authors (the other that comes to mind is Jodi Piccoult)...
It has been pounded into my head by my ex-English teacher mom and writing instructors (and other writers) that you should NOT have multiple points of view in a single chapter (and that, further, you should limit how many points of view you tell the story from, period).
In this book (and the Jodi Piccoult one I recently read), the point of view not only changes from chapter to chapter ('Last Chance' changes by chapter but only between TWO characters) ... it can shift from paragraph to paragraph! As a reader, I'm not ready for it - it interrupts the flow of the story when I have to backtrack a paragraph or two to make sure I understand whose 'head' I suddenly jumped into.
Is it just me, or have other writers (and readers) noticed this?? Is it just the immensely popular authors that can get away with this??
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Hi Tracey,
ReplyDeleteYour books sounds awesome! Congrats on your success!
It seems that we can't get away with changing POV constantly but the best-selling authors can. :)