Mixing perspectives

Orion101

Hello,

Wondering if anyone has experience with blending 1st and 3rd person perspectives in a single story. I'm mustering to combine the linked ideas from two novelettes into a novel. The biggest problem with first person was that I couldn't easily reveal something that the narrators haven't seen and this caused problems - mainly by obscuring the plot. Also really liked how the character's mind can be better revealed in first, but I'd like to try to work with the two - at least it would be a learning experience.

Think Dracula combines 1st and 3rd (going to re-read it soon) - would an approach like this be i) workable and ii) appealing to publishers?

cobsie

Is there any other reason for mixing the two, besides for plot purposes? Might it not be easier, technically, to devise a way to have the 1st person know about the plot point instead? There are lots of ways to find things out, other than witnessing them, I mean. Mixing the two points of view might be really challenging, especially if the story wasn't written with that in mind. It might be a sort of artificial framework that ends up obscuring your story, instead of revealing it. If you wrote the story from the very first with the idea that there would be two points of view, it would probably be more cohesive, more of a whole. I think

EileenG

I would stick to two third person POVs. You could stay close inside their heads, give enough internal monologue that it feels like first person, but you still have the freedom to go outside their heads when you need to.

Orion101

I guess both perspectives have their advantages, so I was hoping a combination might be more versatile. I guess gaining experience with something new also. The biggest thing may be a unhealthy attraction to the path of greatest resistance : ) Thanks for your suggestion.