: Re: Switching tense and point of view between the chapters I'm writing a story told mostly in first person point of view in present tense where the narrator alternates between two characters from

@Gonzalez219

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I don't think the problem is a "limited point of view", many good stories are told in first person; and many stories are told in third with a limited narrator: They only know the thoughts and feelings of a single character.

I think the problem is that first person makes the reader feel like they are THAT character, and switching "personalities" every chapter is alienating. One chapter I'm a shy guy, the next chapter I'm a womanizer? It feels schizophrenic, like a multiple personality disorder.

I don't think I would like it either, it sounds too disorienting. Then stack that with switching tenses whenever you feel like it -- That is also disorienting. I think it would be too confusing to follow, and I'd put it down. Books should be easy to read, when your technique gets in the way of the story, the technique detracts from the story.

I suggest you provide a narrator, NOT one of the characters, with limited omniscience; i.e. they can't see the future but do know the thoughts and feelings of everyone. Perhaps you could alternate chapters focusing on one character at a time. Tell most of the story in the immediate past tense; like everybody else; it feels like it is happening now.

If the narrator needs to give a history lesson (told in past tense), they can do that in exposition.

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