Hello,

I'm stuck.

I have just introduced a new narrator - in third person - to my book. On page 4, I think. Trouble is, he's only going to feature for about 4 pages, then be replaced by another.

My wonder is whether you can narrate from a particular viewpoint - particularly so early in the book - and for the character involved NOT to become a main character. If you see what I mean. I think perhaps the reader will be expecting him to be a main character, when actually, he's just a passing by person, who just happens to be significant in my main character's history.

What do you think?

I'm afraid I think your gut feeling is right and that it sets up readers' expectations as to his importance. Presumably there's a particular reason why you want to do this?

<Added>

Sorry, have just realised you said third person which is certainly more 'doable' than if it were a first person minor character narrating...
Will you ahve other minor characters offering their twopenneth worth?
sorry, this is prob no help at all:)

You can certainly have a narrator who isn't a main character. Peripheral characters can provide good broad commentaries, and can be less biased in their perceptions then mcs (or not: the choice is yours).

But changing a narrator so early on, and not to have him speak again, is another matter. My instinct is to say that might lead to a disjointed effect, but without seeing it in context it's impossible to judge. Who's to say it might not be exactly the right approach for your particular novel? I think you should try it and see if it works. After all, if the switch doesn't stand up, then it's not going to be an outfacing task to re-write the first four pages from another pov, is it?

I agree with others that it would usually be a bad idea and not work. However, I can imagine circumstances where it could perhaps work.

For instance, off the top of my head, if you were writing a murder story, but wanted to make it different, you could create a plot where the murdered person narrates for a short time and then is cut off, and the narration left hanging for obvious reasons. Then other characters would take over and try to solve it.

(I think that idea is partly based on Lovely Bones, but of course that isn't quite how it's handled there, because she continues to narrate after death.)

So if your plot makes the brief narration crucial and justified and relevant then it might work well. However, I think it would probably not be a good idea if it was just a convenient way to tell something which no-one else can see and you want to get in.

Deb

I'd agree with Kate that at the moment it's probably suck-it-and-see. If you do stick with such a brief narrator, I think you'd need to make it clear that they're bowing out. The last thing you want is for the reader to be waiting through the whole novel for that narrator's to pop up again and have some significance when actually... he never does.

One thing I've only recently realised is how readers have to invest a certain amount in a narrator and their point-of-view (I don't necessarily mean PoV in the technical sense), and that it asks something of them when you switch and ask them to start again with a new narrator.

Emma

Yes, I think that's true, Emma. My gut is also telling me that the pov-shift so early when he's not going to be a main character is wrong. My main character is narrating in first-person, and I had this idea that her back story could be third-person written from any old bunch of viewpoints, but I don't think that will work.

Perhaps I will just turn this chap into the main chap. There's really no reason why not.

I love being back at the laptop after my nearly-a-year off!

<Added>

Oooh, look. And now this is a highlighted post. I'm practically a celebrity.

I agree with the others that (speaking in general terms) the POV of a non-main chap is a device to use in a limited way and with discretion. It can be good for achieving a particular effect: creating distancce, shifting perspective. Can be great. But in general, not a main tool in the box, I reckon.

Rosy x

Agree with the others. If he is going to have a say you need to make sure he's suffering from a terminal disease at the very least.

I've solved the problem. He's become a main character.

Thanks, everyone.