: Re: Writing a first-person novel where the MC gets temporarily taken out of commission? I've decided that this novel would work best as a first person POV, and I generally wouldn't like to give

@LarsenBagley300

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Since the character becomes possessed and it becomes impossible to follow his POV with a 1st person narrator, I'd suggest switching not to a different character, while maintaining the 1st person, but to a 3rd person narrator. I'd further suggest keeping the third person narrator as either limited to the main character (as a sort of out of body experience) or as an omniscient narrator (but as impartial and objective as possible).

I know you said you feel the story is not literarily deep enough or emotionally charged to merit such a change, but I do believe this is the best option regardless because you avoid the jarring experience of having a new POV in 1st person. Moreover, it will always be a bit jarring to get out of first person, but since the possession is jarring in itself to the narrator, it might just work.

I also think it will work best if the 3rd person narration is encased in a separate chapter of its own and if the tone is dispassionate, or at least clearly different from the normal tone. This should underline how lost the main character is, overcome by the possession, and thus requiring an alternative narrator that, in a way, also possesses (or takes over) the rightful narrator.

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