So, two questions.
1. What point of view (POV) do you use (primarily)?
2. For those of you who used 3rd Person with multiple characters serving as the POV, how do you choose which character's POV to use in a scene? I'm fiddling with this on a scene right now and thought it would be interesting to hear other's thoughts.
Neither of those is an easy question, yanno. But here goes:
1. I use 1st and 3rd limited, primarily, Maybe a slight preference for 1st because I like that it's easier to give my characters voice that way, and because I like unreliable narrator li, and I've written YA, where it's common. I've rarely used 3rd omniscient — I prefer the immediacy of a limited POV.
2. Since I also write multiple 1st person, my answer is the same as for 3rd. I struggle with this, but my best explanation is , whichever character either has the most invested, emotionally, in the scene or the character who will be the most charged or affected by the results.
Though sometimes it's that, I've been with one character for "long enough" and it feels like it's time to switch. Or I've no idea what the scene is doing yet because I haven't written it, so just guess. Or whatevs.
Do I sometimes chose wrong in the first draft, and need to change POV when I revise? Yup. I rarely need to change the POV for the entire scene — more common is, I guessed wrong when to switch. Usually how easy it is to do this tells me , changing is the right thing to do.
Though sometimes it's that, I've been with one character for "long enough" and it feels like it's time to switch. Or I've no idea what the scene is doing yet because I haven't written it, so just guess. Or whatevs.
Love this! I so know what you mean!
Expanding a little bit on that "long enough" comment: I spend a lot of time thinking about cadences — not just the rhythm of sentences or paragraphs, but also scenes and POV switches. If all the scenes are about the same length, it feels monotonous. I like to keep switching things up, and one way is to switch POV for a paragraph or two (often to make a joke) before moving on again.
It's like how, after a couple longish paragraphs, a single-sentence one gives that one sentence a lot more emphasis. That's using the cadence of paragraphs to punch something up. By timing your scene breaks and POV switches, you can do similar things.
I tend to use 1st or 3rd omni, depending on how I want to develop the story. Now I do tend to use 3rd omni more often as it allows me more freedom in moving the plot along from different people and places.
I write different stories in different POVs
1. First Person - I use this for stories like romance and coming of age, where the progression of the main character is the point of the story.
2. Third Person - I use this when the progression of the story arc is the point of the story. This tends to be for sci-fi and action stories. In these, I still generally follow the main character and don't go into other characters heads, except in small interludes. The exception to this is when it's an ensemble piece and not a single protagonist.
Thanks. I'm working on a series that is between a team story and an ensemble. Could you point me to one or two of your works that are ensemble? I'll go look, but, just in case it's not obvious, or you've got a favorite...
I currently don't write any ensemble stories. While several have large supporting casts, there is still a main protagonist, so the third person view follows that main protagonist, except for occasional switches, such as setting up the hook at the beginning.
I use this for stories like romance and coming of age, where the progression of the main character is the point of the story.
That's most of what I write …
Primarily — 3rd limited (occasionally 1st-person, but almost always 3rd-limited).
I often have multiple POV characters in my 3rd-limited stories (by scene). I never gave much thought to why I choose one over the other. It just seems natural for the reader to live the scene through a particular POV character. I guess it's the character who has the most to gain or lose in the scene.
Yeah. I usually know, also. For me, it seems to be which character is driving the action, or the character who is most affected by the action. That usually seems to be the head I want the reader in.
Thanks.
