This is something that has run rampant not only throughout Wattpad, but throughout all amateur writing sties. It is a rookie mistake that became really famous from I believe the last book of The Twilight Series, "Breaking Dawn", when Stephanie Meyer switches between Bella's perspective and Jacob's. This is probably what started authors thinking that that was okay and people reading those people who switched narrators thought it was okay, and so on and so forth.
To be fair, it is okay do it on some occasions. Such as when there are two protagonists in a book and you tell the whole story through one character's perspective and then halfway through the book, at the end of the story told by the first protagonist, you restart the story. This second time around will be told by the second protagonist. This will only work if what happens in the story is dramatically affected by what this character does when the first protagonist isn't looking.
Say the first time around the first protagonist's brother accidentally gets killed by a hit and run driver. Then the second time around it is revealed that the second protagonist had hired a hit man to kill the first protagonist's brother. That second time around produces a massive plot twist for the story, but chances are your story won't have that kind of shock value.
What many people don't understand is the point of First Person is for the reader to put themselves into the shoes of one character and experience the story through that character's eyes, knowing only what that character knows and seeing only what that character sees. Experiencing multiple narrators and perspectives removes the mystery of the other characters from the reader.
Most likely what you should be using is Third Person Omniscient, which is when the narrator is not in the story and describes to the reader what happened (or happens) during the story and knows everything that is going on including what each of the characters are thinking. Of course the narrator doesn't have to say every thought that goes through the characters' minds or every little action each of them does, only what is of interest to the reader and the story.
There are other kinds of third person such as Third Person Objective and Third Person Subjective (or Third Person Limited, as it is often referred to in schools). Third Person Objective is when the narrator tell everything that is happening in the story at face value and doesn't describe the thoughts or feelings of the characters. Third Person Subjective is when then narrator only tells the thoughts of one particular character, often the protagonist, but not always.
I know that it may seem hassle to have to redo most of your story, and I understand that it can be a lot of work, but it is better to change it when you are just beginning than regretting it when you're a hundred chapters into it.
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The Don'ts of Wattpad
Não FicçãoA list of writing problems common among many Wattpad writers that I have complied over a year of critiquing.
