# Fiction authors writing more novels based on same events from another character's perspective **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014 "2018-02-17T19:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/21 "2018-02-17T22:59:32Z")
Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet has three books narrated in some way by different characters, describing the same events, and then a fourth that carries forward (he was consciously mimicking x,y,z,t coordinates when he wrote them). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/22 "2018-02-17T23:01:34Z")
Just wanted to say “Thanks, all”! I’m rereading \*Ender’s Shadow, \*and I’m on the waiting list for the audiobook version of _Dragonsong_ (first book of McCaffrey’s retelling from a kid’s perspective). And even if it wasn’t a “legal” post, I’m going to start reading some apocryphal Gospels (doesn’t one of them have Toddler Jesus making birds out of dirt and breathing life into them just for fun?) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/23 "2018-02-17T23:04:11Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > That will teach me to try and be clever without reading properly first. Don’t feel bad, I jumped in with Jean Rhys’s _Wide Sargasso Sea_ retelling of Charlotte Bronte’s _Jane Eyre_ backstory before I realized I’d misread the OP and had to edit it out. Some of Ursula K. LeGuin’s later Earthsea fiction might qualify for this category, as she revisited Earthsea wizarding culture and its take on gender roles. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/24 "2018-02-17T23:07:36Z")
There was a British writer who wrote mysteries in the world of horse racing, and while I don’t believe he did exactly the same story from a different perspective, some of the situations did overlap in various books. I can’t think of his name. It was NOT Dick Francis (or his-whoever is writing those books now) but there were similarities. He was compared to Dick Francis. Obviously, not as a big in the mystery world. And of course someone has already mentioned Lawrence DUrrell. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/25 "2018-02-17T23:09:54Z")
Michael Moorcock did this with his Eternal Champion stories. In _Sailor on the Sea of Fate_ and _The Vanishing Tower_, Elric meets Corum. _The King of the Swords_ depicts the encounters from Corum’s point of view. As an added frill, their timelines are twisted. On the ship, Corum remembers meeting Elric at the tower. At the tower, Elric remembers meeting Corum on the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/26 "2018-02-17T23:12:09Z")
Another one I thought of: Sharon Draper has a young adult series about a group of friends who went through high school together, one book from the perspective of each boy. They don’t overlap completely, but there are some key events that show up in all of them. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/27 "2018-02-17T23:25:56Z")
Evan O’Connell wrote the story of the life of _Mrs. Bridge_ and then wrote the story of the life of _Mr. Bridge_ to create a sort of double exposure of their marriage and life together. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/28 "2018-02-17T23:37:32Z")
FWIW, I’ve found the trope for that–[P.O.V Sequel](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/POVSequel). ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/29 "2018-02-17T23:47:29Z")
I need to get caught up on my Scalzi, I really liked Old Man’s War. I liked parts of the Enderverse, some of it bored me though. The parts written about the assorted characters that aren’t Ender and what happens to them after the war were ho hum. Piers Anthony’s Incarnations series was enjoyable when I was younger, but I tried reading some of it just recently and couldn’t. I think I’ve aged out of his target demographic. Generally though, I like reading different perspectives of events from the various characters in the story. I find it tiresome though if they just rewrite the original story from a different perspective, I think it works better if its just a few isolated incidents in the new characters own distinct and different story line. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/30 "2018-02-17T23:51:28Z")
_The True Game_ series and the _Jinian Footseer_ series from Sheri S. Tepper overlap in time and events. Though at one point in the second series the first person narrator says something like “This part of the story has already been written about elsewhere, so I won’t repeat it here.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/31 "2018-02-18T03:10:36Z")
A little surprised that no one’s mentioned this yet, but Heinlein in his last published novel, **To Sail Beyond the Sunset** , revisits scenes from **Time Enough for Love** , told this time from, the POV of Maureen Johnson Smith LOng that were originally told from the point of view of Lazarus Long (as Ted Bronson). She also re-tells scenes from “The Man Who Sold the Moon” and “The Roads must Roll”. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/32 "2018-02-18T03:10:51Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > FWIW, I’ve found the trope for that–[P.O.V Sequel](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/POVSequel). Ooh, great link! A lot of good info, and commentary on the phenomenon. And I like the label for it too! So what do you think? Lazy writers milking their hit for more money? Legitimately fleshing out a fascinating subcreation? A little from column A and B? Other? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/33 "2018-02-18T03:24:10Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Ooh, great link! A lot of good info, and commentary on the phenomenon. And I like the label for it too! How I found it (and a tip for finding other specific tropes): I looked up the page for something that I knew used the trope (in this case [Ender’s Shadow](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/EndersShadow)) then looked at the trope examples until I found one that matches. If there is a trope for an idea and a page for that specific piece of media, you’ll usually find what you are looking for. > [@](#): > > So what do you think? Lazy writers milking their hit for more money? Legitimately fleshing out a fascinating subcreation? A little from column A and B? Other? Like anything, it can be interesting if it is done well. But I personally haven’t really run across much of that specific trope (the Card books, the Rice books) so I haven’t had enough exposure to be tired of it. So no strong opinion on it one way or the other. One other instance that I thought of originally is BttF 1 and 2, where in 2 you get Marty and Doc’s point of view of what Marty and Doc were doing in 1. (Hey, they were novelizations of both!) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/34 "2018-02-18T03:31:41Z")
The [Conquerers’ Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquerors%27) by Timothy Zahn did that in the first two books. The first was from the human perspective the second from that of the aliens, with quite a bit of the events overlapping. The events look quite different from each side. ---
**Author:** ![moojja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@moojja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moojja)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/35 "2018-02-18T03:34:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Another one: \*Interview With the Vampire \*and _The Vampire Lestat_ largely overlapped, Rashamoning each other. Only one chapter really overlapped. Most of _The Vampire Lestat_ is about Lestat’s life before he met Louie, and and what happened to him afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/36 "2018-02-18T03:37:02Z")
It’s even quicker if you know two or three examples of a trope: Then you can just search for all of them together. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/37 "2018-02-18T03:44:13Z")
David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels started out as a fairly straightforward series of science fiction novels, and then branched and expanded into a large cluster of novels and short story collections both by Weber himself and by co-authors about different parts of the “Honorverse,” including multiple interlocking novels addressing the same events as they happened and affected different galactic quadrants. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/38 "2018-02-18T04:53:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > FWIW, I’ve found the trope for that–[P.O.V Sequel](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/POVSequel). That’s a good link, it led me to (and i ended up reading) “The Martian Invasion Journals of Henry James”, a short story by Robert Silverberg. Quite fun. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/39 "2018-02-18T05:08:48Z")
James Ellroy…Dudley Smith in a novel, the LA series and in Perfidia to name just one. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014/40 "2018-02-18T13:18:15Z")
While it’s not the same author, there’s a re-write of the scifi-horror classic “The Thing”, written from the point of view of the alien, called “Things”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-authors-writing-more-novels-based-on-same-events-from-another-characters-perspective/809014.md?page=3)