I don’t come across this that often, but it’s still annoying to see it when I do. It’s when an fanfiction writer has one chapter in the main character’s point of view, and then the next chapter will be of another character’s view in the same scene. It’s not a horrible thing to do, but I do wish that they pick a character’s point of view and stick to it. Some writers can do an excellent job in balancing it out, but it can go wrong when they keep repeating everything over again.
The writer basically goes back and repeats the previous scene with a different character’s perspective. That’s annoyingly repetitive and pointless because nothing new is being introduce to the readers. More so when the only thing that changes is the name of the character and one or two thoughts they had about the situation. For example:
Her beautiful golden honey eyes stared into my emerald green eyes. For a moment it felt as though time had stopped, but she smiled and leaned closer.
“Stay with me,” she whispered gently. “I can’t imagine my life without you being at my side.”
“Neither can I my love,” I said.
My hand moved along the line of her jaw until my fingers twined in her hair. I cupped the softness of her cheek against my palm, and my thumb brushed against her lips with tenderness.
Just imagine that entire example being repeated again, only the pronouns are switched and some minor changes happen. So you get something like this…
His beautiful emerald eyes stared into my golden honey eyes. For a moment it felt as though time had stopped, but he smiled and titled his head closer. I leaned closer as well.
“Stay with me,” I whispered gently. “I can’t imagine my life without you being at my side.”
“Neither can I my love,” he said huskily.
His hand moved along the line of my jaw until his fingers twined in my hair. He cupped the softness of my cheek against his palm, and his thumb brushed against my lips with tenderness.
As you can see, nothing really changes and the readers get nothing new from having this scene repeated in another character’s perspective. Even worst is when it’s an entire chapter of just that. It’s a waste, and I’ve noticed that this problem happens the most when it comes to romance stories.
If a writer does decide to do something like that, they need to make sure that when repeating a scene with another character’s point of view that new information happens. For example, maybe the main character’s point of view was compromise with an illusion, sickness or whatever else and while the readers believe that what the main character saw was real to them, it’s not what really happen according to another character’s point of view.
In short, don’t repeat scenes or an entire chapter in another character’s perspective if there’s nothing for the readers to gain from it.
 DamnBlackHeart · Fri Oct 13, 2017 @ 12:06am · 0 Comments |
