Main characters disappearing for 100+pages

[Pyan]

I'm the type of reader that can really get invested in the MC....If I then have to get invested also in the other character, and you take that one away too, to go back to the first, I would feel cheated twice, and eventually I would stop caring, maybe put the book down

So am I - and that's precisely why I've abandoned GoT, never read any of them again after the first time, (unlike LotR, which I've calculated that the next time will be the forty-first time) and have never watched an episode of the TV series.

 

[Ihe]

I think GoT is a bit different because those constant changes are ingrained in the style and structure. The problem for me is mostly when there is a defined MC, and then gets sidelined by new people. I should make a distinction there: it wouldn't be too big a jump if the second MC is someone we know. If the second MC is brand new, the change becomes more difficult to swallow. If you absolutely want to do it this way, I would suggest having the second MC (the one who will replace the main protagonist) have some chapters here and there before becoming the focal point. Have the reader warm up to the replacement before going through with the swap. Likewise, have the main protagonist here and there during the replacement's tenure.

I'll also say that only having the MC in the intro and the climax parts of the story will rob him/her of any emotional impact/stakes, as it is during the middle bit that the MC confronts the bigger conflicts and tribulations that build character and rapport with the reader. A the same time, the replacement MC will have a rushed intro and no climax, so you will be robbing him/her (and more importantly, the reader) of the personal resolution to his/her conflict--you will leave his journey unfinished, even if he is a secondary character at the climax. The more I think about it, the less I like that structure you're going for, because no one wins: The first MC loses connection to the reader, and the second loses resolution and emotional payoff.

 

[Toby Frost]

I think Brian makes an important point: why is this guy disappearing from his own story? The conclusion I'd draw (rightly or not) was that the story wasn't his at all, but an ensemble story where the plot was passed from character to character like a baton. If this was the case, I would at least find a way of having him work with another sympathetic character for a while, so that the baton was passed to the other character as smoothly as possible.

Personally, I wouldn't do this - not because it's wrong, but because it raises the chances of the book not working with readers, and at the beginning I'd say that the writer needs every advantage that they can get. But that's cynicism speaking rather than art, and I'm sure a lot of people would disagree.

 

[tinkerdan]

One problem that might come to mind; arrives there when I consider the Three Act Structure.
The first act is to introduce the character and the inciting incident.(Plot point one)
The second is character development or character arc.(Plot point two)
The third is climax and resolution of subplots.

In your story you have the MC with potentially the inciting incident leading to them disappearing from the story.

This means that the second act is hanging loose unless you start over with some inciting incident for the new set of characters or the present character that is carrying the story.

This leads to the potential for the climax and resolution to look like Deus ex Machina. Because there is a potential for having missed out on all of the second act vital to developing the character's abilities to resolve everything. Even if you used the introduction of the missing MC as a Prelude or Prologue

So it is either that or perhaps a sort of nested story where you start by doing a really quick, but tight, two act of the MC until they disappear.

Then a three act framing story is set into it; however that would work best if the inciting incident is that they find they need to locate the MC as quickly as possible and then they go through the whole nine yards of development to get there and have a minor climax and resolution to their part is when they locate him. So if that part of your story has nothing to do with the described plot lines then there might be some issues with the story as a whole.

If it does follow my wild plot conjecture, then the final act of the original story might work out alright since the first part established the first and second act. This means that you need to tightly establish those first two acts to create a plausible final climax and resolution.

 

[DelActivisto]

Personally I'd prefer the story swap back and forth between a couple POV characters, or the main character and world building. I'd be wondering when the main character was coming back for quite a while, eventually give up, and then wonder why he/she came back.