Can a book be written entirely from the perspective of one character? Would it be considered boring for readers?

A question that haunts me.

I think it can, but possibly at a cost. Probably 80–85% of stories do follow a single protagonist. Before about 1950, almost all of them did. The other 15–20% are probably structured as ensembles or in some other multi-protag structure. Those are cool, but not as prevalent.

I’ve written a trilogy in first person single protagonist. I do definitely worry that it might not hold the reader’s attention the way a single 80,000-word novel might.

That’s also what has driven me to get it as good as I possibly can. But yeah, this keeps me up at night.

But … each volume has a full and complete story arc, and can stand alone. The trilogy also has an overarching story arc. It is, in reality, one story. There is resolution at the end of volume one and volume two as well as where it would be typically found at the end of volume three, without stealing it from volume three (the earlier resolution is resolution of secondary genre stuff).

Volume two is not a sequel of volume one, it’s different, similar to how Tolkein did much the same thing in LOTR. Volume three is different than volume one or two. Yet, this is not anthological, it is one concise, coherent story with the same three main characters on a single chronological timeline. It has a global main genre and two secondary external genre arcs, as well as two minor secondary external genre arcs and four internal genre arcs.

I think I kept it interesting all the way through. And there are a couple breaks—each volume has one chapter where the followed protagonist is either the main protagonist's lover, or his best friend, which does give it some variety and breadth. So it’s 97% single protagonist and 3% multi.

There does NOT seem to be any moments where the story sags (which took 9 years to accomplish). There are peaks and valleys, but broad, high peaks and short, shallow valleys. And without valleys, a story can only be flat, so there is a lot of variety, and anything that happens in a secondary genre arc resonates strongly with the main story arc, so it isn’t scattered and does not wander. It’s coherent and easy to follow.

The main problem might be that as ‘wonderful and likable’ and consistent as a main character might be, even though there is significant growth, that keeping him or her beloved by the reader is a real chore for a story this long. But the story does not drop in quality over book two or book three, and it has a real ending.

So, I feel as if I’ve checked off all the other boxes. But, will that be enough? No work of art is ever perfect. Will Scorsese call and want to turn it into a 3-season series on Netflix? Not likely. You never know.

What I do know is that when long stories, such as TV shows that run for over five seasons, start to droop in quality, it’s not usually due to viewers falling out of love with the main protagonist. It’s usually that the writing stops holding up. Keep the writing held to a high standard, and you should be golden.