So, I'm reading this Nora Roberts novel (Blue Smoke, for those of you playing at home). And I'm noticing something that I wanted to run by y'all, as readers and writers yourselves.

Nora has this habit of shifting POV from paragraph to paragraph, bouncing the POV from hero to heroine to bad guy to mother to sister to friend to WHOMEVER.

This bothers me, somewhat. I'm not sure if it goes against something that I was taught in a class or if it's something that comes out of reading so much fic, where POV is very carefully moved, if it changes at all.

As I see it/interpret it, Nora's doing this to make sure that what she wants the story to say and what she wants you, the reader, to know are presented. The problem that I have with this style is that it doesn't seem to be very... "show not tell".

She wants us to know how Bo(!), the studly carpenter, feels about Reena(!!) the Mary Sue-ish main character and so she jumps to his POV and tells us. Then, in the next paragraph, we get what Reena's mom thinks about Bo and so on. I'm not sure if I'm as clear about this as I want to/need to be but basically, she's taking an easy shortcut to tell her story instead of (in my mind) using the craft of writing to paint us the picture she wants us to see.

So, I'm asking you for your opinions, ideas, thoughts, etc on the subject.

Please, take the following poll and add any additional comments.



Poll #1239785 FIRST POLL EVER!!! WOOOO!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

Have you ever read a novel by Nora Roberts?

Have you read Blue Smoke?

Have you noticed changes in POV from paragraph to paragraph?

If you did notice, did it bother you?

Is a shifting POV of this type something that would keep you from reading a story/book?

When you write stories, do you maintain a constant POV?