# My Idea for a Short Story/Novella **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891 "2012-11-13T15:22:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/1 "2012-11-13T15:22:53Z")
I have an idea. Instead of having a single protagonist throughout the entire plot, each chapter has its own protagonist. Some are sympathetic, others… not so much. Each protagonist’s story contributes to the overall plot. Are any of you aware of any similarly-structured stories? Do you think it would work? Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/2 "2012-11-13T15:24:31Z")
_Naked Came the Strange_r did that back in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/3 "2012-11-13T15:31:20Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I have an idea. Instead of having a single protagonist throughout the entire plot, each chapter has its own protagonist. Some are sympathetic, others… not so much. Each protagonist’s story contributes to the overall plot. > > Are any of you aware of any similarly-structured stories? Do you think it would work? > > Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon uses that structure. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/4 "2012-11-13T15:58:50Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon uses that structure. Game of Thrones is 5 books, a couple novellas and some short stories that more or less does that. One reason why despite the pretty decent writing I dislike it intensely. I hate books I need to keep a sticky note in reminding me who is who. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/5 "2012-11-13T16:09:13Z")
This movie, in some sense: _Slacker_ (1991, U.S., dir. Richard Linklater) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/6 "2012-11-13T16:11:24Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I have an idea. Instead of having a single protagonist throughout the entire plot, each chapter has its own protagonist. Some are sympathetic, others… not so much. Each protagonist’s story contributes to the overall plot. > > Are any of you aware of any similarly-structured stories? Do you think it would work? Asimov did an award-winning novel – THE GODS THEMSELVES – where three spouses in a polygamous marriage so rotate for each chapter of the book’s middle portion: one is the protagonist, and then the second, and then the third, and then the first one again, and on and on, and on and on, for a novella-length story. (So why did I say it’s a novel? Because that section comes after the opening chapters – presented somewhat out of order – showcasing yet another protagonist, and contributing to the same overall plot; it’s all then followed up by yet _ **another** _ other protagonist taking the stage in the closing chapters.) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/7 "2012-11-13T16:16:48Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Game of Thrones is 5 books, a couple novellas and some short stories that more or less does that. One reason why despite the pretty decent writing I dislike it intensely. I hate books I need to keep a sticky note in reminding me who is who. I thought the OP was suggesting that there would be no going back to previous protangonists - which is what happens in Godbody. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/8 "2012-11-13T16:17:02Z")
[Sometimes A Great Notion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sometimes_a_Great_Notion) _"The novel uses the technique of having multiple characters speak sequentially in the first person, with no announcement that the first-person speaker has changed. A first reading can be confusing, but subsequent readings reveal that Kesey always provides a clue, quickly referring to the previously-presumed first character in the third person. "_ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/9 "2012-11-13T16:21:48Z")
IF I’m reading you right… well, the idea is pretty old. As far back as the 1860’s, Willkie Collins used the gimmick of multiple narrators and multiple protagonists for each chapter of the same story in \*\*\*The Woman in White \*\*\*and _ **The Moonstone.** _ Some of the narrators are good, decent people that we root for… but a few are evil, and some are wholly unlikeable, even when they’re not criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/10 "2012-11-13T18:00:29Z")
It’s also been used in video games. In _Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem_, you play as a series of viewpoint characters stretching from a Roman centurion in 26 BC to a college student in Rhode Island in 2000 AD. The sequence isn’t strictly chronological, instead skipping around as various characters interact with different elements of the antagonist’s plan, with a frame story of the most modern character experiencing their stories. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/11 "2012-11-13T18:07:56Z")
Recently, Nick Hornby has done this. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/12 "2012-11-13T18:10:02Z")
I would think **The Sound and the Fury** fits the bill. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/13 "2012-11-13T18:21:15Z")
It’s not exactly an idea. It’s a device, and one that has been used by numerous authors before this. The good news is that this, plus an actual idea, equals a book proposal. ---
**Author:** ![wuthering\_lows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a4c791/32.png) [@wuthering\_lows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wuthering_lows)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/14 "2012-11-13T18:32:58Z")
To the OP… Only way to find out if it’s good or if it’ll work… Is to write it. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/15 "2012-11-14T07:37:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I have an idea. Instead of having a single protagonist throughout the entire plot, each chapter has its own protagonist. Some are sympathetic, others… not so much. Each protagonist’s story contributes to the overall plot. > > Are any of you aware of any similarly-structured stories? Do you think it would work? > > Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express “Haunted”, by Chuck Palahniuk, does something I think is pretty close to what you mean, and does it quite interestingly. “Number of the Beast”, by Robert Heinlein, also switches POV from one character to another, with first-person narration, periodically. I enjoyed the book, a lot of people don’t. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/16 "2012-11-14T09:10:38Z")
I haven’t seen it but isn’t this the way Cloud Atlas is done? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/17 "2012-11-14T13:36:00Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > It’s also been used in video games. In _Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem_, you play as a series of viewpoint characters stretching from a Roman centurion in 26 BC to a college student in Rhode Island in 2000 AD. The sequence isn’t strictly chronological, instead skipping around as various characters interact with different elements of the antagonist’s plan, with a frame story of the most modern character experiencing their stories. Dragon Warrior IV/Dragon Quest:The Chapters of the Chosen employs a similar structure, where each part of the game is divided into “chapters” and in each chapter you play characters in one part of an over-arching story arc that comes together in the final chapter. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-idea-for-a-short-story-novella/640891/18 "2012-11-14T14:49:25Z")
> [@wuthering\_lows](#): > > To the OP… Only way to find out if it’s good or if it’ll work… Is to write it. Planning on it. I’ll post it on my blog when it’s done, then share it with the Dope.