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I am writing a novel with about 12 subdivisions. About 4 of these are from the point of view of non-protagonists.

These non-protagonists form a group which unwittingly brings the protagonist something [X] that significantly alters the flow of the story. In order to not make the appearance of this X seem like a weird coincidence, I start the novel in chronological order at a secondary location from the view point of the non-protagonists.

The non-protagonists have very developed backgrounds (same as the main character) and they seem to become dear to my test readers (particularly one of them which was supposed to be extremely peripheral). But originally I didn’t plan to show their internal (to each person) conflicts. I used them mainly for humour, action, clarification of the world and plausibly providing X. Since I am writing each view point with very hard limitations to his knowledge, there are lots of things that I cannot make the protagonist explain.

But often I discover new conflicts of interest and dilemmata that would torture my non-protagonists. When I am writing from their perspective, should I give in to the temptation and show these dilemmata to the reader, at the risk of increasing their cumulative screen time to 50%? Or should I try to switch view points in such a way that the conflicts of the non protagonists remain in the background and the protagonist remains the only person whose dilemmata get a lot of screen time?

Ludi
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As an author, you can write anything you want. And no one knows what will sell and what won't. You have three possible approaches to your story that I can see, and there are bestselling examples for each of these approaches, and an equal number of non-sellers as well:

  1. The whole story is told from a single viewpoint. What happens when the viewpoint character is not present, he or she learns from other characters (they tell it to them) or by encountering the effects of those events (they see the results).
  2. The story is told from multiple viewpoints of an ensemble cast of multiple protagonists, all of whom are equally important and get an equal amount of "screentime".
  3. The story is told from one major viewpoint with short digressions into the viewpoints of minor side characters.

Each approach tells the same story and each approach can be equally successful, but each makes for a completely different reading experience and attracts different readers.

I would choose the approach that:

  • I like to read and/or
  • I find easier to write.

Ideally both.

Ben
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