Writing a novel with multiple characters' POV

[Blackout]

As the title mentioned, I want to write a series with POV of multiple characters. I'm not talking about something like Chapter 1 is from A's POV and Chapter 2 is from B's POV, though. Rather, I want to convey the thoughts of A, B and other characters in the same chapter, sort of like watching a reality show where the camera constantly switches from A to B to C and back to B again. Do any of you have any advice on this?

 

[Glitched]

Write in third person, and frame your story to highlight when a specific person is writing. If you want to share there thought's, do so before or after they speak on the same line/s, preferably in italic. Also nice pfp.

 

[RepresentingPride]

As the title mentioned, I want to write a series with POV of multiple characters. I'm not talking about something like Chapter 1 is from A's POV and Chapter 2 is from B's POV, though. Rather, I want to convey the thoughts of A, B and other characters in the same chapter, sort of like watching a reality show where the camera constantly switches from A to B to C and back to B again. Do any of you have any advice on this?

I don't remember much who use the first Pov like that, but there often a small break in the chapter when they swap Pov.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

It's called Third Person Omniscient Narrator.
Only way to fly.

 

[Succubiome]

I do something sort of adjacent to this in An Inclement Proposal, where I basically just have an omniscient narrator talk about the character's feelings and thoughts all the time as the narrative progresses.

 

[John_Owl]

As the title mentioned, I want to write a series with POV of multiple characters. I'm not talking about something like Chapter 1 is from A's POV and Chapter 2 is from B's POV, though. Rather, I want to convey the thoughts of A, B and other characters in the same chapter, sort of like watching a reality show where the camera constantly switches from A to B to C and back to B again. Do any of you have any advice on this?

I don't remember much who use the first Pov like that, but there often a small break in the chapter when they swap Pov.

I write like that. I use a chapter break *** between. it can show a break in scene or a small time skip (such as a character sleeping mid-chapter or walking from point A to B with nothing of note happening). I've also seen it used to swap POVs. and i've used it each way.

 

[melchi]

Just be careful that it doesn't go into 'head hopping' territory.

 

[Mortrexo]

Bad idea, honestly. A story, usually, unless it is a very long saga that has been ongoing for who knows how many chapters, needs someone or something for the reader to relate with.
If you speak about Julia in chapters one to four, then present Oliver from chapters five to 10, and then go to Sebastian from chapters 11 to 17, and then go to Anthony in chapters 18 to 20, and then return to Julia in chapter 21, people will eventually forget what happened with Julia, and it is a mess to follow.
Remember, you are writing a Wbnovel, not publishing a finished book, so you need an anchor for readers to remember. Otherwise, they will stop reading for a month, return, and suddenly read about Fernando, who is fighting a dragon, when they remember Sebastian was serving tea a few chapters ago.

Edit: Nvm, I just read the otehr comments. Multiple POVs, or writing the thoughts of different characters, is normal, and you should do it if you want to give depth to the narrative UNLESS you are writing a 1st person story.

 

[Notadate]

I moved.
Jareld moved.
Hareld watched Jareld move as I sat.
Jim watched Hareld watch Jareld move as he sat on his bum, I was slipping away.
I watch Wimbledon slipping into the darkness after watching Jim with annoyed expression sitting down, looking at Hareld watching Jerald as Jerald moved. My back was hurting from the incoming doom

 

[Cortavar]

That's a good way of telling a story if you're going to have an ensemble cast. It's probably not the easiest way to write, but it will lead to great results.

The one saga I immediately think about written in that style is Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. A cool thing he did was switching his writing style slightly when switching the POV character. Siuan Sanche passages were full of nautical metaphors, as she was a fisherman's daughter, for example.

If you alternate frequently between characters, a separation of some kind is appreciated by your readers. And a clear(ish) indicator of who you're following in the first few sentences is also very helpful.

You can skip the POV character's introduction, follow mysterious individuals or drop the barest hint of from whom's point of view you're telling the story, those are valid ways of writing, but they're narrative spices: add too much of them to a story, and it'll become unreadable. Once in a while is fine to keep your readers on their toes.

 

[Ai-chan]

As the title mentioned, I want to write a series with POV of multiple characters. I'm not talking about something like Chapter 1 is from A's POV and Chapter 2 is from B's POV, though. Rather, I want to convey the thoughts of A, B and other characters in the same chapter, sort of like watching a reality show where the camera constantly switches from A to B to C and back to B again. Do any of you have any advice on this?

This thread is not a writing prompt. Should've posted in

Discussions & Writing Tips​

 

[Blackout]

This thread is not a writing prompt. Should've posted in

Discussions & Writing Tips​

my bad.

 

[Terrate]

Might be good if you managed to establish your one "Main" POV and while you write things on what they can sense, the other characters might see and have a differing opinion on things that your main pov sees.

This is a round white ball, it's soft to touch but with a solid interior.
Main pov continuously stroked the white circular object.
Other Pov saw it and thought with a questioning gaze, Why does he continuously knead that Cotton?

So in essence Our main Pov learned that it's a ball, while other pov just thought he was weirdly kneading cotton.
That could show character, maybe other pov also figured out that main pov was actually holding a ball by analyzing how the main pov's gestures and facial expression.

I don't know how to explain it better.

 

[FatElf]

As the title mentioned, I want to write a series with POV of multiple characters. I'm not talking about something like Chapter 1 is from A's POV and Chapter 2 is from B's POV, though. Rather, I want to convey the thoughts of A, B and other characters in the same chapter, sort of like watching a reality show where the camera constantly switches from A to B to C and back to B again. Do any of you have any advice on this?

As someone who doesn't enjoy multiple povs too far apart from each other, here is some suggestions:

• Put a divider to indicate a change in pov. Something like a breakline will do.
• Make sure, the reader knows, as soon as possible, who's pov they are following.
• Make it third view limited, or first person, and stick with that. Don't do omniscient narrator, it is too impartial and breaks the immersion. I think third person limited is the best choice here, only describe what the pov in question can hear, see, feel. No head-hopping.
• Don't make the povs too far apart in moments of tension. If you have managed to build tension, don't waste all your effort by changing to a pov on the other side of the world that has nothing to do with the tension you've build. Even if it has, try to keep it local until you get a moment of lul in the narrative and can swap to another place safely.

Well, that's it. Hope it helps.
Cheers and happy writing.

 

[Praybird]

I kinda do something like this? I just write in normal third person most of the time, but on occasion, I'll literally get into a certain character's head and write out what they're thinking. And I don't exactly limit it to a single character so, as others have said, it may come across as head-hopping or confusing.

The way I circumvent that is, I don't do it back-to-back with different characters and I make it extremely obvious which character's thoughts are being written out. If I re-read it and it doesn't seem obvious, I scrap it. They're usually following the said character's single line of thought and continuing it as a narration, or as you said, a really short timesnap of the character's head like a reality show for comedy purposes.

 

[QuercusMalus]

I've seen this done a couple ways.
'My life as the Villainess- All routes lead to Doom' does the alternating viewpoints. First it's Katrina's view, then whoever she was interacting with retelling the scene from their view. It's a neat idea and highlighted just how out there and oblivious she is, but I felt they used it too much- after awhile it just felt like a way to pad the story out, and there was so little variation between some characters I would have times when I forgot who was talking and have to go back to check.

There was another author, I can't remember who, where each chapter was swapping back and forth between the two leads. What made that interesting was that the 'author' is actually a husband/wife team, so each took a character, so you got distinct styling for each. Sometimes it was different scenes, but when they showed the same scenes, they usually had different start and end points, so character 1 covers scenes A-D, character 2 covers scenes C-F, and so on.

I felt like the second worked better, it gave you the contrasting view on certain scenes where knowing a characters view added to the story.
But the distinct voices are key here, otherwise it gets muddled.