Main POV becomes unconscious.

[msstice]

Hi Writing friends!

I have a main character ("A") that I will follow for most of the story in close third person POV. There is a relationship between "A" and another character "B" that I develop through the story, but I usually follow "B" through "A"s eyes.

"A" falls unconscious at a point and is rescued by "B" . What do I do for the unconscious period? Right now, I've switched to close third person for "B".

Thank you!

 

[JJewel]

Sounds about right, that is what I do if a second goes off to commit the crime while the first stays back.

The other solution is to have B talk about it afterwards?

Or finally and a bit off track, I did a story with three combatants and a mob of monsters in one of the scenes and I just labelled / headed the switches like so.

Talpan

Eldritch

Carla

Carl

Talpan

Carla

And as my heroes went down the list got shorter, since each could not see what the others were doing. Until only Carla was left alive and the remaining talpans ran for it.

 

[Venusian Broon]

You could ignore the B character's PoV and just have the A charcter wake up, then spend a chapter or two working out what happened when he/she was knocked out - if you want to keep it all in A. It could be an interesting way to introduce doubt - does A trust what B said actually happened?

 

[Ori Vandewalle]

If it it works in the story, you could also have A not completely unconscious, so you get scattered, confused snapshots of what's going on, followed by the eventual return to full consciousness and B filling A in on what happened.

 

[HareBrain]

If there are any other periods when you go into B's POV, I'd do that. If it's the only one, it might look a bit strange, so you could consider Venusian Broon's idea.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Yeah, what @Venusian Broon said.

 

[The Judge]

Is it necessary to know exactly what happens while A is unconscious?

If just a general idea is enough -- eg B arrives with a squad of marines, kills the baddies and rushes A to hospital -- then I'd just have the bare facts related to A when he's once again conscious, or have him reflect on what he's been told, or just thank B and his men and let the reader fill in the gaps ie keep it in A's POV.

If on the other hand for plot purposes the reader needs to know all the ins and outs of what goes on and if B has been a POV character at least once already (preferably more, and better still that he'll have POV scenes again) then use him. Otherwise, I'd think seriously about another way of getting the details out there eg there's video evidence that A can watch or B writes a full and detailed report which he reads. If there hasn't been a POV scene from B himself, but there have been scenes from C and D, then you might get away with this single POV from B now, but as HB says, otherwise it's going to seem strange.

 

[JJewel]

Suspect we are running out of letters in the alphabet?, what if E to J meet up later at the pub and in comes K to V?

 

[Wayne Mack]

An alternative to switching perspective might be to have the main character ask for details after awaking. It might be interesting if the awaking character has to ask different individuals to get pieces of the entire picture. Just a thought.

I just saw that @Venusian Broon said the same thing first.

 

[-K2-]

Why does it seem that 3rd-limited/close is nothing more than 1st-person with pronoun changes.

What follows is a personal rant and does not apply to @msstice 's question...

I've held to close third fairly well in my current work, but I break it up with PoV character narration and even a flat out detached narrator who only addresses the PoV character. In a couple chapters I could go 3rd-omni, but it's not needed for the one or two sentences by another character simply visually observing--without opinions--the PoV character.

I've altered this and the other chapter to fit the close-3rd mold, but frankly I'm tiring of it since in many cases it simply detracts (doesn't add) from the story. If I wanted it in first person I would have written it as such. Time I just write...

K2

 

[tinkerdan]

As mentioned by some.
It is only important to change POV if in fact something that the reader needs to know happens that can't be relayed any other way.

The other thing is; how do you feel about breaking the pattern and making a single chapter-scene through a different POV?

I've been recently reading some Gene Wolfe novels and I was amazed at the number of times the main character POV would say something like Nick tells me I'm being a sh*t, rather than to have dialogue since the character Nick is right there. I think that this could work here if what happens is only of minor importance in respect to the POV could wake up and then mention some things that B has told them. That way you might cut out any lengthy dialogue with that character.(If that's what you are worried about.)

It really doesn't matter any more than how you decide you want to handle it--however I think the matter of importance is of greatest concern.

 

[msstice]

I sympathize with @-K2- 's statement. However, after looking at how people critique pieces I believe that most people feel more compelled by fewer POVs.

For this story, I'll follow the advice that most others gave, which is to stick to "A"'s POV and back fill the story. In this case, (following a suggestion by @The Judge ) I can very plausibly say there was a record of what happened. Also, @Venusian Broon , B is, for innocent reasons, an unreliable observer, so this will add more drama.

I have a feeling, having A backfill what happened to A and B is going to be even more dramatic than seeing it live with a rapid change of POV.

You're all amazing, as usual, thank you!

 

[Ursa major]

what if E to J meet up later at the pub and in comes K to V?

That's when you get: ZZZzzzzz....

Why does it seem that 3rd-limited/close is nothing more than 1st-person with pronoun changes.

That is, in effect, what a very close 3rd person narrative is, but 3rd person narratives don't have to be that close.

And even when they are that close (or approaching it), some very close 3rd person limited narratives allow a paragraph or so of introduction to a chapter/scene to, well, set the scene/provide some context, before going into the strict 3rd person narration.

I suppose the key is not to confuse the reader so that, for example, they get pulled out of the narrative (unless, of course, that is what the writer wants).

 

[Juliana]

For this story, I'll follow the advice that most others gave, which is to stick to "A"'s POV and back fill the story. In this case, (following a suggestion by @The Judge ) I can very plausibly say there was a record of what happened. Also, @Venusian Broon , B is, for innocent reasons, an unreliable observer, so this will add more drama.

Ooh, I love an unreliable observer!

I have a similar issue in my current WIP, as there's a scene where the rescue plan is for the MC to heroically fall asleep (there's dream magic involved). The way I got around it is the other character with the dream powers meets her in her dream and just sort of goes 'finally! I've been walking around in your ridiculous dream for ages!' and then gives my MC a quick summary of what's happening in the real world as they make their escape.

 

[Ursa major]

to heroically fall asleep (there's dream magic involved)

Just so you know: some of us can fall asleep heroically without the aid of dream magic.

 

[Astro Pen]

The main point of first close is that you don't know what is going on outside your direct experience. That is actually the delight of writing in it!
Go back and stay who you are or chaos will ensue as the perspective bubble you have crafted bursts. That I guarantee

 

[Juliana]

Just so you know: some of us can fall asleep heroically without the aid of dream magic.

I absolutely volunteer to fall asleep heroically right now, in fact!

I have a feeling, having A backfill what happened to A and B is going to be even more dramatic than seeing it live with a rapid change of POV.

@msstice looks like you've got a solid plan in place!