DOs and DON'Ts of a Fallout fanfiction

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Here's a question pretty much every writer asks themselves. Do I write in FPPOV or TPPOV?

It's really a hard decision to make. I completely understand if you are all kind of nervous about making it.

Thankfully, I'm here to help!

First person POV isn't hard to write. It feels easier to many people, as you can describe the character's feelings in a more natural way. But it also comes with the disadvantage that you can't switch it around. This character has to be the absolutely main character if you write from their point of view. (It is also the POV that feels more natural after playing the Fallouts from 3 and later.)

[Fun fact: for my Fallout novelizations, I'm using FPPOV for 3, 4 and NV and TPPOV for the rest.]

Third person POV, on the other hand, gives you a bit more flexibility as a writer - although it is admittedly a bit harder to manage. First of all, you can describe the character's appearance, which is awkward in FPPOV. Second of all, and this is probably the most important, you can switch it around if you want. That's good if there's more than one very important character in your fanfic.

Now, some of you may be wondering why I'm so on and on about this whole changing POVs around thing. The answer is rather easy:

You don't change POVs if you write in the first person.
You just don't. It looks awkward and confuses the reader. I can't really think of any published books that do that, except for the Kane Chronicles, either. Besides, it's irritating.

Let me show you an example:

This really bugs me. I don't like this.

Now, changing the POV isn't stricte a mistake, but this not the correct way to write it.

First of all, do try not to change the POV when you write in the first person. Only if you absolutely have to. It's more natural in the third person. Rick Riordan is a great example of a writer who does that (ignoring the fact that I've already used his book as an example). His first book series, he wrote in the first person without changing the POV at all. The second one, when he started changing the POV, he wrote in the third person.

And good old Uncle Rick does one more thing that's very important: he knows when to change the POV. It's actually very easy, if you remember one thing: you don't do it mid-chapter. That's pretty much it. One chapter's about Jason and the next is about Piper, but it changes as the chapter ends.

Now, how to choose which characters are the ones to get their own POV? This is, thankfully, something I've got some experience with!

I tend to start by thinking about not what characters I want to include, but what event I want to show. Then, I think about which character would be most involved in that event. They are usually the best choice for the scene.

Of course, you shouldn't just choose a character completely out of the blue, either. I think five different POVs throughout a book is already a lot. Try to use the same characters, only changing them from time to time.

I'm rambling here, so let me clarify.

In my AOT fanfic Write My Name On Stone, I had eight different characters whose POVs I used. Each one of them was completely different, I made sure of that. I didn't choose characters with similar personalities, and I tried to avoid having them all in the same place. Writing a multi-thread story is a whole lot easier when you can swap POVs any time you want!
Through most of the story, I maintained four threads: Hanji-Armin, Levi-Mikasa, Erwin-Melissa and Jean-Eren. I did my best to swap the characters often enough so that all four actions would go forward.
I also did a pretty smart thing (can I boast? Sure I can. It's my book), if you haven't noticed. While pairing these characters, I always had one who would be more prone to reflecting upon stuff and one who would just act. In this way, I could control the pacing of my story in a better way! Neat-o.

Also, one more thing: you don't really want to write the main character's POV.

I know perfectly well how this sounds. It sounds ridiculous. But it makes perfect sense, to be honest. I'm not telling you to throw their POV out completely - it just has to be rarer (and, I remind you, this is only advice for people who use multiple POVs) than others. But the character shouldn't. The character stays almost all the time, and through being seen by many different people, we get a better image of them. We feel like they're always there.

I did a thing in my Star Wars fanfic Torn Asunder. Han Solo was the main character. He got the most character development and he was the one who made the most important decision in the ending arc. I used his POV only once through the entire story - and that was only because it was a scene in which he was the only character (I mean, Leia was unconscious so). And you know what? It worked. It really did.

But it all depends on the type of story you're trying to paint. If it's very, very multi-thread, you should go on and don't be afraid to change the POV. In that case, use the character who is going through the most important part of the action at the moment and you'll get the most dynamic story.

Writing Left Behind, I ended up with something more or less like this:
✒Stephen's POV
✒James' POV
✒Charon's POV
✒Stephen's POV
✒Cutler's POV
✒Cutler's POV
✒Stephen's POV
✒Danse's POV
✒Arthur's POV
✒Cutler's POV
and come on. Let's be honest - looking at this, it's hard to figure out who's the main character!

And that is exactly what you're aiming for.

This is where I repeat the mantra of "show, not tell." You what to show who's the main character, not be slapbang like "hi, this is the character who has the most POV and therefore you should take notice of him." That's a cheap trick.

Anyhow, I hope I cleared some confusion, if there was any. I'm fully aware that I can't really explain stuff and I'm a terrible teacher, but I'm trying my best to make this book as useful for you guys as I can 🙋

Cheers!