I’m currently reading a novel called THE CARRINGTON AFFAIRS. This Indie book by Susan Gooch tells the story of an Arkansas politician’s affair from three different perspectives: his wife’s, his mistress’s, and his love child’s. If you like dramas about wealthy families that give 1980’s DALLAS and FALCON CREST vibes, definitely check out Gooch’s book. You’ll enjoy it!

Do I like the novel so far? I do, in the same way that I like Bravo’s Real Housewives TV. The country club world feels unrelatable, but I’m fascinated. Still, as a writer myself, I’m compelled to question Gooch’s creative choices. When it comes to Gooch’s book, what nags at me is her decision to retell the same incident from multiple points of view. Granted, I’ve seen this structure before.

I’m a big fan of Anita Shreve and her novel TESTIMONY, which is about a sex scandal at a prestigious New England boarding school. Like Gooch’s book, the plot of TESTIMONY unfolds through a series of interviews with a journalist and is written from multiple perspectives. Although I love Shreve’s novel and would love to replicate many aspects of her writing in my own work, I’ve never written a novel scene from different POVs.

It’s not that I don’t see the value. In today’s world, where people seem to form opinions before they’ve heard a single fact, describing the varied kinds of struggles and motivations people experience is super important. Especially since we all have our own take on situations. If you have siblings, then you know what I mean. Kids can grow up in the same family and view their childhoods vastly differently. That said, my first writing teacher told me to choose the character with the most at stake in a scene and write from that character’s perspective. This writing rule has stuck with me, and I have yet to break it.

Why? I can’t shake the feeling that authors might be choosing to write scenes from different points of view because their premises aren’t meaty enough to sustain an entire novel, or maybe they haven’t figured out how to develop their plot past the murky middle. I’m not saying this is true of Gooch or Shreve. But the question remains: should you ever write about an incident from multiple points of view?

If you can write characters with distinct internal voices and dialogue, if each retelling provides the reader with new and compelling information, and if you don’t head-hop within scenes, then sure. Go for it. A single-incident/multiple-pov novel might just work for your readers. MIGHT being the operative word.

Consider this. YA author Stephanie Meyer’s breakout novel, TWILIGHT, was significantly more successful than the retelling of the same story, MIDNIGHT SUN, which is written from the vampire’s point of view. TWILIGHT sold over a hundred million copies and became a global phenomenon. MIDNIGHT SUN sold a million copies the first week, but then its sales petered off. Could it be that readers aren’t super-interested in reading the same story more than once, even if it’s from the perspective of a vampire or a country club mistress?

I don’t know about you, but I’m sticking with my writing teacher’s rule… WRITE FROM THE POV OF THE CHARACTER WITH THE MOST AT STAKE…at least for now.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you ever written a single-incident/multiple pov novel? Have you read MIDNIGHT SUN? Leave a comment!