Writing Reflections-Point of View Chapters
Oh my god they found me.
Hey. So with this last chapter people are enjoying/also surprised at the Punch-Up point of view and I figured I’d do a post just talking about the value I see in point of view changes for Paper People and in my other writings.
I think, especially when it comes to first person, I need to first start with the Percy Jackson series.
For those not in the know, the Percy Jackson series was written in first person and was meant to offer the perspective of a “regular teenager” view into this fantastical world of Greek gods and myth.
It’s a good fun time. Though I think the first books exemplifies the weakness of a story to tightly held to one persons point of view.
To do proper foreshadowing, the main character needs to hold an idiot ball. Percy had prophetic dreams, dreams about his enemies, odd conversations and little details all seen and noted, but then is either blindsided or passive in those plot elements playing out.
Additionally, there’s a lot of action scenes whet other characters are described as bad asses, doing incredible feats of strength, combat, and magic. While Percy’s self described actions boil down into simple “I somehow get the other hand and throw him across the…”
This is a weakness that the author, Riordan, addresses and fixed in future series, with my personal favorite of his being his Egyptian Gods series, switching PoV between a brother and sister, allowing an external “oh my god, what the fuck, he’s jumping off the top with a steel chair!!!1!” And an internal “oh my god, what the fuck, I’m so high up, and this chair is super heavy, this is stupid stupid stupid…” but it’s a consideration for having stories that are 100% one characters PoV.
Even series like the Dresden files struggles with this in later books, where it’s obvious that the author wants the readers to be aware of a scene but they can’t let the main character know.
So diversifying point of view = pretty good. Gives more freedom.
Now we get to Dispatch/Paper People and Robert Robertson himself. The set up and premise is so solid. New Dispatcher starts and gets to learn all the SDN weirdness and meet all the
Wonderful
Heroes on the Z-team.
But knowing people is a two way street and Robert is a fascinating character. Powerless, Scrappy, Fat happy dog but the most depressingly sparse apartment with only a plastic chair for furniture.
So we, the readers are hungry. We want to know more about this man whose kicked of brutal shipping wars across the internet and we want to know how others are preserving him. Between the time jump and the changing of bonds, we have a whole god damn ensemble cast of characters who go from “who TF are you?” To “we are a team, we have each others back, and Mecha Man’s like… a real super hero!”
(Irl me writing chapters)
Paper People does a lot. It’s worldbuilding, novelization, cannon reinterpretation and it’s all told through Roberts POV. And it’s fun. I wouldn’t be writing over 100k words if it wasn’t fun.
But with that choice there’s two or three things missing.
One, there’s the issue of scenes and knowledge that Robert shouldn’t know/shouldn’t be present for. He’s a smart cookie and if I have him see all the puzzle pieces then he’d make connections long before I’m ready for him.
Things like Courtney’s encounter with Toxic, the overview of Blazer’s insecurities and a couple background/foreshadowing things that are in the background of the current interlude chapters.
And Two, it gives more context to other characters actions and behavior. Blonde Blazers interlude was almost entirely this. Showing her train of thought, explaining more on her position in SDN and how she got there. Reaffirming that, while she struggles as a manager and make choices that cause harm, he has the best intentions.
And three, it lets us look backwards. From the outside in on our POV character Robert. One of my favorite parts of this most recent chapter is how Punch Up gets defensive, thinking that Roberts intentionally skipping him over for an assignment because of how people view his height, only for Robert to correct without a thought.
And it’d truly be without a thought. If this was Roberts POV it wouldn’t have been brought up. There’s all those little interactions that you may not thing much up, but for your friends, your family, it defines your relationship and how your perceived.
Last thing I’ll say on PoV shifting is that, depending on what’s happening in a plot, the main characters point of view is not always going to be the most interesting. It’ll be the villains, the random person on the street, or a supporting characters. It’s why 3rd person is so prominent and why tv shows and movies regularly have scenes of the other characters, random civilians who get eaten by the horror monster in the graveyard (almost any horror or csi crime show) , and when the camera chooses to follow other characters, it gives radically different vibes and insights into the same familiar world. (Lower Decks from Star Trek and some episodes of community)
