In the modern day trend of first person or single third person narratives, I sometimes feel left out because I tend toward dual viewpoints. (Sometimes I do write single third person. Sometimes I write first person. Sometimes I write more than two viewpoints. But dual is my favorite.)
And even within dual viewpoints, I feel a little left out, because I would say a majority of dual viewpoints are romantically inclined, and mine are all mixed up. I do a lot of friends, or sometimes siblings. Sometimes I do lovers, but not a lot.
So! What’s the appeal of dual viewpoints?
Well, there’s a couple. Staying in a single viewpoint of course limits your ability to show anything that happens outside that person’s field of view. That’s kind of personal preference, however. Some people like to give a fuller view of all the events in a story. Others prefer their readers to find things out with their protagonist.
It can allow you to add more depth to a story because you have multiple people, each with their own goals and plans, affecting the plot.
(And involved in their own subplots.)
But why I tend to like them is because I love exploring relationships. And yes, everyone has relationships, even in first person or single third person narratives. But having two people, involved with each other (in whatever manner), and watching how their relationship grows and changes over time–that intrigues me. Because people aren’t the same. And even if they’re two halves of the same relationship, they’re not going to approach it the same. Likewise, people will not react to the same event in the same manner, and it’s also interesting to see how that affects a relationship.
What viewpoint combinations do you like as a writer/reader? Are there any that you just can’t stand?
