Friday, October 19, 2018

Distant versus Close POV in Fan Fiction

Decisions, decisions

One of the decisions I had to make when writing Hogwarts and the New Headmaster was the choice of voice. When I first started this project ten years ago, I scarcely knew what voice was, let alone what mine sounded like. It wasn't until I had written off and on for a year or two before I discovered my voice. It was then that I made the decision to try and match Rowling’s voice to the best of my ability, partly because I had discovered my natural voice was similar to that of Rowling’s (although not nearly as polished) and partly because fanfiction doesn’t feel real to me if doesn’t sound as if the original author wrote it. 

Once this initial decision was made, however, there were still more questions to answer. For example, Rowling’s style changed noticeably over the course of seven books, and I had to choose which book’s style I should emulate. 

Rowling wrote with a distant, at times almost omniscient, point of view. She would often describe things from the narrator’s POV as opposed to Harry’s. She’d tell us things Harry couldn’t know unless he was a mind-reader, she’d hint at future events, and occasionally come right out and say something that was obviously her speaking directly to the reader. I personally had no problem with this. I thought it was one of the more endearing aspects of the Harry Potter books, and from what I understand, the use of a distant voice was the norm for British middle grade books. 

As the series progressed, however, she began moving away from this style a little (at her editors’ suggestions?). She still maintained a distant third person POV, but she cut back on the author intrusions. And instead of telling us things Harry couldn’t really know, she resorted to the use of filter words like “seemed” and “appeared” to tell the reader what she wanted them to know. 

For example, instead of writing:

Firenze turned his head very slowly to face Dean, who realized at once that he had said something very offensive.”

which suggests Harry must have read Dean’s mind in order to know what he had realized, she would now write:

Firenze turned his head very slowly to face Dean, who seemed to realize at once that he had said something very offensive.” 

The addition of “seemed to” makes it sound more like Harry’s guess as opposed to actual knowledge. It wasn’t a perfect solution—“seemed” and “appeared” began popping up everywhere in her later books—but it did the job. 

I eventually chose the fourth book as the style to match. It bridged the gap between her earlier middle grade style and her later urban fantasy voice. I thought that would be the end of my decision-making, but it wasn’t. While I was in the process of learning about how to write fiction, it seemed every article I came across on POV insisted that today’s readers wanted a close POV. The closer the better. Distant POV was so last millennium, they said. They even went so far as to say that the Harry Potter books, if released today, wouldn’t do nearly as well. 

I never quite believed that. As I’ve already said, I thought her storyteller voice was one of the charms of her books. But after hearing the same advice spouted over and over again, I began to believe it. And over time, I began moving Hogwarts and the New Headmaster toward a closer POV, assuming that’s what the readers would want. 

Now I’m not so sure. 

My critique partners and I have debated the question of whether I should stay with Rowling’s distant style or tighten it up for today’s audiences. I don’t think we’ve come to a firm answer yet, but I find myself leaning toward the conclusion that readers who enjoy reading Harry Potter fan fiction might prefer the original distant POV. 

So what do you think? Should I stay with the distant POV of Rowling or shift it to close POV for today's readers?

ChemistKen

BTW, the second chapter of Hogwarts and the New Headmaster is now up on Wattpad.


14 comments:

  1. The conventional wisdom that reader only want a certain POV will hold until some noteworthy book comes along and does something different. Then the conventional wisdom will be that everyone should write in that new POV. I say do what feels right for your story.

    I do like the idea of modeling your writing on Goblet of Fire, though. That happens to be my favorite of the seven books.

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    1. To be honest, it was the movie of the fourth book that really grabbed hold of me and eventually led to this story.

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  2. I've never read the books, so can't comment on her distinct style. But distant third person/omniscient is not my preferred style of reading. I like regular third person.

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    1. Even though I have always enjoyed a little sotryteller voice in younger grade books, I've been focusing more on limited third person in my own story.

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  3. I like the firsts book best. first 3. I can't remember if it was the 4 or 5th book really dragged and I made myself finish just because I love Harry Potter and I wanted to know what happened.

    Because I love Harry Potter, I crave something new yet all the world touches of her universe.

    Really looking forward to seeing Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindwald. I rewatch the first Fantastic Beast one all the time, that surprised me that it has become my favorite.

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    1. I'm looking forward to it too, although I admit that I liked the Harry Potter movies better. Maybe it's because I already knew the story, but mostly it's because Rowling had so much crammed into her books that they could fill the HP movies with so many little details--details that were missing in the Fantastic Beasts movie.

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  4. Now I need to go back and reread the series to observe the change in voice throughout!!!
    That's a tough call. I like both styles of pov (always have) - but I'd be tempted to stay in her style for this

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  5. I vote distant POV. Found your blog off of Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog. I actually just started reading Harry Potter a few month ago. I'm on the 4th book so it's ironic that I stumbled upon your blog.

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  6. I read this with interest, Ken. I must admit, I hadn't noticed change of voice but now you mentioned it the words appeared and seemed shout out at me. It's a difficult, I was told by an editor early on in my writing not to use the authorial style as it was outdated, but as we know this is a subjective business and I think you should just go with what feels right to you and your story.

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  7. It's a tough call, even tougher when you're not sure what you want to do. I think you can go either way, because your story is fun and the voice has been thoroughly enjoyable.

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  8. Some (not a lot of) new authors being published today are doing omniscient, or mostly third-person with a little omniscience, but it really depends what your publishing goals are. For fanfic, I love the idea of emulating an author's voice.

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  9. Yes, when writing limited POV, one often has to resort to "seemed" and "appeared." I often wish there were more alternatives to those! But I prefer writing limited POV because readers then feel like they're right there with the protagonist.

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  10. I would say write in the POV Harry Potter fan fic fans want to read it in. If you know, then go that route for sure. I would just go with whatever you are most comfortable with, if you can't really tell. It's fan fiction, after all.

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  11. I agree with the comments above. People love Harry Potter and that means they love the voice it's written in. I don't really like omniscience as a reader since I've become a writer. Maybe because so many say it's a no-no. I actually see it a lot in British novels.

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