AJ Stevens
Minstrel
As I plot my way through my work, it occurs to me that my POV is a little, well, all over the place. What does that mean? Well, it means I perhaps lack consistency in terms of my narrators, and I'm not sure how big a problem this is.
Having thought about it, I suppose there are a few things I can do, but I was wondering if there are specific techniques that any of you use. Perhaps primary, secondary and tertiary narrators, who have respective levels of 'screen time' or something like that.
Broadly speaking, I have between two and four 'scenes' per chapter, a scene being defined as a change in POV or a significant break in time/change of location. With a couple of exceptions, the POV changes from scene to scene. Furthermore, at the start of the book, I introduce a number of different plot lines, or threads, which I plan to see converge over the course of the book. The effect of that is I have six or seven different POVs before switching back to the first one, and thus far, I have twelve or thirteen overall. I'm a bit worried about a lack of continuity.
Some of those will get cut or combined or switched on second and third pass, for sure, but in a work of, say, 100,000 words, how many POVs is an appropriate number as a rule of thumb? I went through a few novels I've read and found it's usually between eight and twelve, but it seems structured. So, three primary POVs, four secondary and then other little bits here and there.
Thanks in advance.
Having thought about it, I suppose there are a few things I can do, but I was wondering if there are specific techniques that any of you use. Perhaps primary, secondary and tertiary narrators, who have respective levels of 'screen time' or something like that.
Broadly speaking, I have between two and four 'scenes' per chapter, a scene being defined as a change in POV or a significant break in time/change of location. With a couple of exceptions, the POV changes from scene to scene. Furthermore, at the start of the book, I introduce a number of different plot lines, or threads, which I plan to see converge over the course of the book. The effect of that is I have six or seven different POVs before switching back to the first one, and thus far, I have twelve or thirteen overall. I'm a bit worried about a lack of continuity.
Some of those will get cut or combined or switched on second and third pass, for sure, but in a work of, say, 100,000 words, how many POVs is an appropriate number as a rule of thumb? I went through a few novels I've read and found it's usually between eight and twelve, but it seems structured. So, three primary POVs, four secondary and then other little bits here and there.
Thanks in advance.