: Is it okay to switch protagonists between books, if the main protagonist is a hidden "actor"? On my research I stumbled upon this question and it matches somehow with my question, that lingers

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I disagree that the protagonist can be a true man-behind-the-curtain, only giving orders to other characters. Yes, this character knows more than the the other characters, but is this character undergoing tension and growth?

It seems that the characters that are being given the orders are the real protagonists. An example from fiction is James Bond. M gives him orders, but James is the protagonist.

In the Laundry Files books, especially the early ones, Bob Howard (the protagonist) is constantly being given orders and mentoring by people/beings that work behind the scenes, but he is still the protagonists.

The protagonist is a fictional creation. He isn't necessarily the hero, nor is he necessarily the character giving the orders. He is the character that is undergoing dramatic tension and (hopefully) growth. He is the character that the reader (again, hopefully) cares about. By this definition, he must be visible to the reader.

Even giving hints, it is rare that a character working behind the scenes will be developed enough for me to care about. The only one that I can think about is Mike from Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress."

As for changing protagonists, there are many ways to do this. Some writers do this every book, some do this when the original protagonist has become too powerful (in some way) to fit the role the author wants. Some do this when they want to explore a new part of a world.

One of the later Miles Vorkosigan stories jumps to Miles' mother as a character and you learn more about her marriage to her father than you ever expected. By doing this it explores things that could not be explored if the writer had still used Miles or his brother as protagonists.

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Once we love a world we want to explore it and its people. But we need to love the world first, and the pacing needs to be right.

I'm currently reading a book by an author I've read since i was small. This series is set on a world that's easy enough to fall in love with, and we've seen different parts of this world (different classes, characters, etc.) Usually there's a trilogy following each class on the planet. All good. The protagonist sometimes switches between books but major characters are brought along.

That's all fine, because what is constant is the world and the struggles in the world. Most importantly, enough threads are brought through, characters are still maintained, just not as PoV, and new information is brought in at an appropriate pace.

But, in this new book, the author goes way too far, for me as a reader. There is serious head hopping between characters, and every few pages is set in a new part of the world with different characters. I suspect the author is showing a global dynamic in play - a global crisis - In the streets of the city, in the countryside, in the palace, in the craft halls, in the farm fields, on the seas, in the universities ...

It's so annoying. I invest in a farm scene and read for three pages and begin to root for the characters and then boom I'm on a boat in the middle of the ocean. OK, I can handle the switch, we'll get back to the farm boy, right? No not yet, we have to go to the opera hall next. Or the gas station.

So, pace your stories and make me love your world, and I'm happy to explore more of it. And keep some characters riding through, because we probably fell in love with them as well. Don't push it too hard or too fast. Don't yank me around. Think of your storytelling like a courtship with the readers. Think about pleasing and enticing and satisfying, while introducing the new angle, and the readers will be happy to come along for the ride.

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I wouldn't say that the premise that you shouldn't switch protagonists between novels is an absolute truth in the first place.

What's so frustrating about reading about new characters? Doesn't one do that every time one picks a new book? Isn't that what one picks a new book for? So two books happen to be in the same setting. Why should they necessarily also follow the same characters?

Terry Pratchett, in his Discworld series, switches protagonists between books a lot. Sometimes the old protagonists later have another book all their own, sometimes they appear in the background, sometimes they walk out of the story entirely. I wouldn't want to read 40 books all about the same protagonist - that would be extremely tiresome. But I greatly enjoyed reading 40 books set in the same world, following different characters in different situations.

Ged is not the protagonist of all Earthsea books. Cat is not the protagonist of all Chrestomancy books. Old Man's War switches protagonists between books. Foundation gives you a new protagonist for every period - more than once in the same book. Different protagonists allow for different stories to be told, different POVs, different understandings.

So it seems to me that if your overarching story demands a switch of protagonist, then it would be served best by a switch of protagonist.

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