In a multi-pov story, does the most important main character have to be introduced first?

[RandomSimpEvent]

This is just from my personal reading experiences, but it seems to be an unspoken rule that when you have multiple protagonists with alternating POVs in a story, the most important protagonist is introduced first.

Would this be a weird rule to break? I'm currently playing around with the structure of my novel and trying to decide where best to introduce each main character. I have one character whose plot threads take a while to pick up and as such we don't get his POV right from the get-go but by the end of the story his plot kinda overshadows the others, which is why I say he's the most important protagonist.

Would this be jarring to readers? The other characters all have their own plotlines to follow which all constantly intersect with each other, but they are kind of eclipsed in comparison.

 

[Zach777]

I don't think it would be weird to break. I wouldn't recommend starting with a character that has no or very little importance to the plot, but pick the character who makes sense to start with. Sometimes it might be better to start with a less important character if their introductions helps launch the main plot of the story.

 

[PadreTX]

At first, I thought the main character's point of view should be first. This is the starting point, and the story flows from there. The story may switch to another point of view, but I am expecting the story to soon switch back to the first one. If not, then I am wondering what the point of having that first part.

After thinking about it, I could see starting with other point of views, then these parts flow to the main character if done right.

Hopefully I am explaining this in a clear way.

 

[Steve Harrison]

Three of my four novels have been written from multiple POVs and I can't say I have given this question any thought. None of them have opened with the most important character, and the first started with a character who doesn't appear again until the end of the book.

Like everything else in writing, nothing is written in stone and whatever works, works.

 

[Wayne Mack]

It is not uncommon to have a story open with an initiating event that does not involve the main character. This can be an interesting approach, because the reader now knows something that the main character does not and the reader has a sense of anticipation concerning how the main character becomes involved. For example, "Star Wars" opens with Princess Leia being captured; Luke is not introduced until later. Many mysteries open with a murder scene and the main character gets pulled into it later. I would not delay too long in introducing the primary character, but he or she does not need to be present on the first page.

 

[RandomSimpEvent]

I forgot to mention that my question is excluding prologues since a lot of times the prologue is from a different POV. I'm talking moreso about actual chapter 1, and even a few chapters beyond that.

 

[Oligonicella]

Short answer, no. One of my stories has a secondary character who is the first fourth of the book. Then you meet the focal point of the story, and Porro basically disappears except for mentions and a brief injection into the action. Then gone again and finally around the last fourth, my main protag of the series shows up.

You need to know who Porro was and then did what he did and why people reacted as they did.

In the end, he's dead and you only hear about it. A one off character overall.

 

[sknox]

You say this is something you have observed. That's fine, but why do you think a pattern you've observed is actually a rule?

It isn't, so go ahead and write what you want to write. You can't violate a rule that doesn't exist.

 

[Swank]

Definitely. It's in the rules. Page 12.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've read many mystery novels where the main character—the detective around whom the whole series revolves—doesn't turn up until long after the story is in motion: the set-up for the murder, the people who will be witnesses and suspects introduced, and the murder committed. Then Inspector Alleyn (or whomever) turns up with his team, several chapters in, to investigate and solve the case.

I don't see why that wouldn't work as well for a story in another genre, especially if your main character has no reason to be part of the action until the plot is already thickening.

In other stories, that same detective might be in at the very beginning and actually be there at the death. It depends on what works for the plot. Which, now that I think of it is a rule, if one can call anything in writing an actual rule: How you should structure your story and introduce your characters depends on what works for that particular story.

Or in other words: If it works, it works.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I don’t think they need to be in it, but do think there needs to be something to point me to who the MC will be

 

[sknox]

In writing, there are no rules.

That's a rule.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I would look at this from a slightly different angle. Instead of focusing on characters, I would be concerned about plot arcs. As a reader, I find it most rewarding if plot arcs are resolved in the opposite order from which they were introduced. The first arc introduced should be the last one resolved; the second arc introduced should be the next to last one resolved. Use the PoV most appropriate to introduce the primary arc and don't worry which PoV may get the most face time in the story.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Thinking about the classics it is often a very long time before we meet the most important character. How much time do we spend with Renfield before we finally meet Dracula for instance, or how many chapters go by before Ahab turns up in Moby Dick? And do we ever even meet Rebecca?

 

[Swank]

Thinking about the classics it is often a very long time before we meet the most important character. How much time do we spend with Renfield before we finally meet Dracula for instance, or how many chapters go by before Ahab turns up in Moby Dick? And do we ever even meet Rebecca?

Yeah! How about some domestic moments with Sauron?

 

[paranoid marvin]

At the beginning of your story, the most important thing is to engage the reader and hook them in to reading the rest of your story.

Who the most 'important' character is can be open to interpretation. In Moby Dick, is it the whale, Ahab or Ishmael? In Dracula the story is told from several viewpoints.

Havung said this, I think the reader will build a natural affinity with the first character you introduce to them, so it's important that you treat this particular story/character arc considerately.

 

[ColGray]

At the beginning of your story, the most important thing is to engage the reader and hook them in to reading the rest of your story.

This all the way. If the opening isn't engaging and a potential reader puts the book down, the rest of the characters are irrelevant. The opening character needs to be engaging.

A sub-point to that is the genre expectations and style of multi-POV. I'm sure there are lit analysis terms for this but, i don't know them so I'll use my own mental terminology. Modern Thriller & Mystery genre expectation is that the book opens with the murder/inciting event, not the MC. With 1 and 2 here, it's a multi-POV but with a primary MC.

1) Single POV MC + Multi-POV Flavoring
The book primarily focuses on a single POV but has short forays into other POV's to provide the reader with additional flavor, information or reaction to how the MC is engaging with a development. Example: Silence of the Lambs. Clarice is the MC but there are ~9 other POV's in the book, with three recurring (Jack Crawford and Dr. Lecter: good and evil mentors, Buffalo Bill: Killer)

2) A Plot (50%), B Plot (30%), C Plot (20%)
TV drama breakout where there are three main POV's, each with an unequal share of the plot. The A Plot POV is the MC and then the B and C Plot POV's exist to underscore, juxtapose or twist the A Plot. Example: City of Brass by SA Chakrabarti. The MC owns most of the book's POV, but then Shaffa and the child of the main antagonist come in with the B and C plots to flavor and twist the A plot. Example 2: Early books in the Wheel of Time. Rand is the A Plot MC and then other characters fill out the world with B and C plot involvement.

It's a tried and true methodology that feels expansive while controlling POV creep. Generally the most common in SF/F.

3) Even Distribution / Even Distribution + Flavoring POV's
There are multiple POV's and each has a roughly equal share of the vast majority of the book's POV with some minor POV's added for flavor. The plot is furthered by each POV character's interaction with events and the interplay of those characters, rather than a single character pushing the action and showing reactions from other characters. Example: Game of Thrones (book 2 onward). Book 1 has 9 characters and by Book the last there are like 30 and many of the POV's do not overlap outside of arch-plot interactions (ex: Jon and Jaime).

Challenging style to execute well but lends an air of danger -- ex: ASoIaF where the multi-POV enforces the view that any POV could die at any time, for any reason, and the story will continue without a drag. Popular in SF/F (First Law Trilogy is another good example).