I am currently writing my first novel (YA/Urban Fiction) and was wondering whether it is worth continuing with my original idea of writing from different character POVs? The world my story is based in is not nearly as complex as Middle Earth or Westeros and I have a feeling that differing POVs really only work on large scales like these.
And, if I do write from different POVs, does each chapter need to be a different character? Can I have two chapters in a row from the same POV? Is my protagonist still as present if other POVs occur in equal measure?
Thoughts?
It's your book - you can tell it any way you want, so long as you don't confuse your reader.
One POV throughout can be very limiting - you can only tell the story through one pair of eyes, and can never describe anything that s/he cannot see or hear or know.
Adding a different POV can open out the world and scope of your novel. The important thing is not to change POV in the middle of a chapter; remember that the one POV rule applies to whichever of your characters is taking centre stage at the time.
Never have the line, 'What Jack didn't know was' if we're looking through his eyes.
It's worth going through your novel chapter by chapter and noting the POV of each one, and making sure that you cut out anything that doesn't fit the brief.
You can have several different narrative voices and there's no reason why consecutive chapters can't be by each of them.
Lorraine
I agree with all that Adrian wrote. HOWEVER I would suggest that you consider the following possibility:
Don't have a #1 protagonist. Life isn't like that! Too many books train us to believe that we're the most important person on Earth. That there are central characters and everybody else is secondary. Break the mould! Have each of your characters important in their own right. Check out some books by Marge Piercy. Good examples are "Small Changes", "Gone To Soldiers", and "Three Women". Each character goes her or his own way, makes decisions that the others wouldn't make in a thousand years, but their lives are braided together. (Another book of hers is, in fact, entitled "Braided Lives" but it's been over 35 years since I read it, so it's not fresh in my memory. And my favourite adult novel of all time is her "Woman On The Edge Of Time" but that one DOES have one main character...)
Young people, in particular, need to learn that the Universe doesn't actually revolve around them... OR their favourite movie stars/music groups/book characters.
Make your readers care for (or about) ALL your characters.
Again: 2 or 3 chapters in a row from the same POV is perfectly acceptable.
Melvin Burgess won the Carnegie Medal for Junk. His chapters are written from different character POVs. It's worth a look to see how he succeeded.
Each chapter doesn't need to be a different character. It depends on where you're at in your story, and what character would best advance the plot and storyline.
My advice may be obvious, but there are many ways you can ensure that your novel remains protagonist-centric throughout. Have your characters talk to each other about the protagonist in chapters, when he or she is off-stage. You can also keep the focus on the protagonist by using characters streams-of-thought. A sub-plot may also involve the protagonist in some way.
I hope that helps.
Good luck.