Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: How do you feel about books with multiple narrators?

Ah, now this feels like the kind of question that might come up at my writing group!  I frequently enjoy (and often write) at least two point of view characters (or narrators).  It’s a common practice to write a novel from the alternating points of view of the two romantic leads (I knew immediately how a triangle would turn out in a romance once, just because of this).  Sometimes that’s been the case in my own books, though not always.  I guess it always has been the case that my two point of view characters are the pair that forms the most significant relationship in the book, romantic or otherwise.

Huh, I actually never thought about that before…

Three narrators is perfectly reasonable too, and maybe four…though the more you add, the more complex it becomes and the harder it gets for the reader to keep track.  That can go badly sometimes in ensemble cast novels, with six, eight, ten narrators.

That higher complexity is definitely something we’d warn about in my writing group, if someone was thinking about how many POV characters to write (the question has come up often).  Two other things: it’s crucial to make it very clear to the reader when a POV is switching.  I generally do chapter breaks, sometimes just a scene break (but a clear one).  It’s equally crucial that different POV characters have different voices.  If they all sound the same, the reader will have a much harder time keeping track (and possibly grow bored besides).

But if those pitfalls are avoided, and if all is written well, then I like multiple POVs just fine.  But I like most storytelling choices, if they’re done well!

 

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is:  Can you read and watch TV or listen to the radio at the same time?

The very thought of reading and watching TV makes my head hurt a bit.  I can do a lot of things while watching TV (write my rent check, knit scarves, do some very basic email sorting…) but not reading.  They use too much of the same parts of my brain.  I use to be able to write while watching TV, but I lost that ability somewhere around after college.  It may be related to the ability to write novels while listening to class lectures (I was masterful at that, and no teacher ever caught me–I’d just keep two sheets of paper on my desk, one for writing and one for note-taking).  No class lectures, no opportunity to practice writing while listening.

Anyway…no reading while watching TV.  In theory I think I could read while listening to music, but I don’t.  I use to while studying, and I listen to music while working…but not while pleasure reading.

I can read while waiting in line.  I can read while walking–not something I do, particularly, but I have done it.  Much easier to avoid bumping into things than you’d think (I mean, I can see around the book…)  I can “read” while driving–audiobook only, of course!  But I can’t read (visually) while riding in a car without getting sick, one of the very minor tragedies of my life.

Do you combine reading with any other activities?  Anything you’ve tried to combine it with, and found you couldn’t do?