Swapping POV for only 1 Chapter

[Devor]

Trying to figure some things out . . .

If your story is 3rd Person Limited, how appropriate is it to swap POVs to another character for just one chapter? How many chapters do you think you can get away with swapping to a new character, say, in the course of 20 chapters?

I have a lot of characters whose head I think it would be fun to get into, and who may take part in important scenes the MC shouldn't be available for. And this seems like the best way to express those events.

What do you guys think?

[BeigePalladin]

I think it would work fine so long as you swap to an intresting character, and there's a reason for the change of view point/the changing has been consistant throughout the tale.

so as you suggets, swapping to someone else when the MCs not there to tell that tale sounds like a good plan.

if you'd swapped for one chapter with the MC still there through it all and swapped for only one chapter in the whole book, it might be a bit of a problem (unless the reader dislikes said MC, but...) but since you gave a reason for the swapping it should ork fine

as the the question of how many times can you change viewpoint in 20 chapters; 20 or more*. so long as it dosen;t sacrifice characterization, getting an event throuhg the eyes of several people can be a refreshing change, and you can still develop the strength of a character without them needing to be the viewpoint

hope that helps

* for a good look at what I mean here try reading the dragonlance books. there are times when the view point character will change per paragraph.

[Caged Maiden]

That's something I need to give more thought to. So far, I have written on pretty much instinct alone. And in my normal stories, I usually pick one MC and stay in their head, switching POV little if at all.

But I am working to complete a stand alone novel which switches viewpoint sometimes three times per chapter. I don't find it at all confusing, and it is obviously to show multiple, unconnected yet simultaneous scenes at once, but I love it. I love watching a story unfold from three sets of eyes.

[MatthewCEarls]

I think it all depends on how often that character is seen/heard from and if that character is either a) going to play a prominent role and have other chapters told from his/her POV or b) has already had a chapter told from his/her POV.

I wouldn't do it for just one chapter As a reader I would expect each POV character to play a prominent role or I might get to the point of "Now, why am I being told the story form this perspective again?" I think it definitely works if you have several chapters for each POV character though.

[Eeirail]

I would limit it to maybe half and half, if you have two main sides that is, you could half and half the book. But do not sacrifice important details about the characters.

[Butterfly]

I'm doing it. Didn't plan to, but some characters have more movement in my chapters than others, and some have to deal with different goals, tasks, etc than the others. So, when the MC is doing very little, a lesser but still important character takes over. It means that pretty much every chapter is a different POV, though there are a few consecutive POVs across a couple of chapters. I have three primary POV's and one lesser.

My main problem is trying to balance it all out, so the most important character gets the most airtime I also have one chapter written from my villain's POV - and I'm hoping it's going to make a major impact right at that particular moment in the story.

[Feo Takahari]

If you can, try to set up a pattern. For instance, one approach is to set up a goal that will conclude the story, then have the viewpoint character be whoever is acting to reach that goal. (You see this a lot in video games.) Another is to have a specific item that the story revolves around, and use the perspective of whoever holds the item.

My approach for Eternal was to have one introductory chapter from the point of view of an ordinary human man, drawing the reader into the setting, then write every subsequent chapter from a demon's perspective. Even when a human protagonist fights a demon antagonist, we see things from the antagonist's viewpoint. This has the added bonus of preventing the reader from seeing inside the head of the most confused and conflicted character, leaving them to be as mystified by him as the other characters until his backstory is revealed. (I had to cheat on this in a section where only humans talked with each other, but I followed the spirit of the restriction, and I think the pattern worked overall.)

[Penpilot]

If your story is 3rd Person Limited, how appropriate is it to swap POVs to another character for just one chapter? How many chapters do you think you can get away with swapping to a new character, say, in the course of 20 chapters?

If it's just one chapter, regardless of how appropriate it is, you can get away with it. Even if the reader hates the POV shift, the story will survive that bump. It'd have to be mighty off putting to lose the reader that way if the rest of the story is good.

Now if the intent is to do it more than one time, establish the other POVs early in the story. Jump to a different POV for a chapter early on just to show the reader that the story won't be just from one POV, so when the shifts happen, they won't be surprised in a bad way. In terms of 20 chapters, as long as the main character, assuming there's only one main character, gets the bulk of the screen time, it doesn't matter. That's one of the strengths of third limited. It's easy to shift POVs between chapters without it being jarring. In some ways writing in third limited, shifting POVs is expected.

I have a lot of characters whose head I think it would be fun to get into, and who may take part in important scenes the MC shouldn't be available for. And this seems like the best way to express those events.

What do you guys think?

If the MC isn't available and it's an important scene with info that can't be conveyed any other way, and it's a one scene shift, I think it's fair game, but explore all your other options thoroughly to make sure this is absolutely the right and only choice.

In terms of getting into a character's head because it's fun, there are other ways to get a character's thoughts without getting into their heads. Without shifting POVs, finding ways for them to converse/argue with the MC about other people and things can be a fun way to reveal opinions and ideas they carry too as well as a way of enriching the characters and their relationships.

[Steerpike]

Trying to figure some things out . . .

If your story is 3rd Person Limited, how appropriate is it to swap POVs to another character for just one chapter? How many chapters do you think you can get away with swapping to a new character, say, in the course of 20 chapters?

I have a lot of characters whose head I think it would be fun to get into, and who may take part in important scenes the MC shouldn't be available for. And this seems like the best way to express those events.

What do you guys think?

Devor, I do not believe there is any such thing as "appropriate" or "inappropriate" with respect to an issue like this. There is no approach that is inherently right or wrong, and no one way that you have to deal with these issues. If you are mulling over different approaches and are not sure which works best, take a stab at a few of them - the ones you find most appealing as the author. You can change POV to a new character as often as necessary or desirable, and the only thing that really matters in the end is whether it works for the story or not. That is hard for anyone to determine other than by reading it, so as the author you are in the best position right now to determine whether it is workable.

I wouldn't shy away from it, particularly if you feel it is the best way to dramatize the events where the MC is not present. If the characters speak to you in a way that makes you feel it would be fun to get into their heads, then your enthusiasm over that approach will likely be embodied within the end result. If you choose an approach that is less appealing to you as the writer, because you're worried about whether it is OK or appropriate to write the story the way you really want to, I think you will do yourself a disservice. Go with your vision for the story. If you decide, after trying that approach, that it didn't work as well as you'd hoped, you can always go back to a single POV. In the mean time, you'll gain valuable insight about these other characters, and it seems to me that will be helpful any time those characters are involved in the story, whether you are in their POV or not. Don't be hesitant to pursue your vision of the story - there is a lot to gain by it, and really nothing to lose.

[The Dark One]

If you do it well, it doesn't matter what you do. In my opinion, the main reason to change POV is to deal with things the main character doesn't know. If you want the reader to know, at that point, then you have no choice but to change POV. In my first published book I switched to 3rd person for one very short chapter. There was no other way of getting important info to the reader and the rising tension (and humour) over the next little while was entirely based on the reader's knowledge of the MC's ignorance. The publisher was uncomfortable about it and wanted me to change simply because it was unusual and 'not the done thing'. I managed to convince him it had to stay and not a single reader has ever mentioned it.

Plenty of other writers do it. Irvine Welsh does it constantly without bothering to make it clear whose head you're in at any particular time. One of my favourite books (The Stone Cage) changes POV for the penultimate chapter and it's really effective. Also gives quite a profound insight into the MC as seen by his antagonist/colleague.

I've taken it a lot further in my recently published book. There are numerous switches of 1st person POV but I use different fonts to distinguish them which becomes important when scenes are described from multiple perspectives - even changing mid-sentence. The publisher had no problem with this because it works.