how do I change perspective?

[Yaron P]

Hey guys , I don't really know how to change perspectives between my characters ,do write something like "Third view point" or " name first view point" .

 

[pmmg]

Generally, its best to have one perspective per scene or chapters. And not change unless there is some hard break, and/or some indication.

Martin did this by naming all his chapters after the POV it would be in.

 

[Yaron P]

Generally, its best to have one perspective per scene or chapters. And not change unless there is some hard break, and/or some indication.

Martin did this by naming all his chapters after the POV it would be in.

that is a great idea .hm hm

 

[Foxkeyes]

A good book with tips on perspective is Characters & Viewpoint by Orsen Scott Card

 

[Prince of Spires]

In the end. perspective is just the illusion of being in someone's head. So, you change perspective by going to someone else's head. Most often these days it's done by either entering a scene break or starting a new chapter. But you by no means have to do it that way.

James felt the weight of his sword in his hand. "This is the day you die!" he shouted, though he felt less confident than he pretended to be.

Marting laughed. What a silly kid he thought. "Come on then, let's get this over with."

There, I've changed from one character to the other without anything in between. It's as easy as that. Of course, you want to do this intentionally. And as said, most often it's best to stick to a single character's thoughts in a single scene or chapter. This is because it's easier to get a reader invested in a character if you're very deep in someone's head. Doesn't mean you have to do it.

Naming a chapter after a viewpoint character is an easy way to signal this to a reader (and it means you don't have to come up with chapter names...). If you don't do this, then most readers will by default assume that the first named character is the viewpoint character of a chapter. Again, you don't have to do this. It just means that if you don't, then you have to work a bit harder to make the reader understand what's happening.

 

[Yaron P]

In the end. perspective is just the illusion of being in someone's head. So, you change perspective by going to someone else's head. Most often these days it's done by either entering a scene break or starting a new chapter. But you by no means have to do it that way.

James felt the weight of his sword in his hand. "This is the day you die!" he shouted, though he felt less confident than he pretended to be.

Marting laughed. What a silly kid he thought. "Come on then, let's get this over with."

There, I've changed from one character to the other without anything in between. It's as easy as that. Of course, you want to do this intentionally. And as said, most often it's best to stick to a single character's thoughts in a single scene or chapter. This is because it's easier to get a reader invested in a character if you're very deep in someone's head. Doesn't mean you have to do it.

Naming a chapter after a viewpoint character is an easy way to signal this to a reader (and it means you don't have to come up with chapter names...). If you don't do this, then most readers will by default assume that the first named character is the viewpoint character of a chapter. Again, you don't have to do this. It just means that if you don't, then you have to work a bit harder to make the reader understand what's happening.

Thank you , I'll keep that in mind

 

[Malik]

Most importantly, when choosing a POV, understand that the POV you choose will affect the information the reader receives. Before you choose to write in omniscient, you need to understand what it does.

A novel written in omniscient third can and will reveal different information to the reader than a novel written in limited third. Omniscient is there so that a character not in the novel can tell the story, either indifferently (Third Person Omniscient Objective) or as a character in their own right (Third Person Omniscient Subjective). Third person omniscient subjective--which is the voice I write my novels in--feels very much like first person, except the narrator never uses "I." POV shifts in third person omniscient subjective feel like someone telling you a story and doing perfect impressions. It is excruciatingly difficult, and takes years to master unless you're a savant. (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is written in third omniscient subjective. The Princess Bride is a frame narrative with most of the novel told in third person omniscient subjective, and chapters and asides written in a homey, casual mishmash of first person subjective and interior monologue.) Anyway, that narrator is there to reveal--or not reveal--information to the reader in order to drive home the point of the story, or the chapter, or the line, or whatever.

Similarly, a novel written in any of the first-person voices will reveal different information to the reader than any of the other first-person voices, and completely different information than a novel written in any of the third-person voices. We won't go into all the different POV's right now. See the link to my blog at the end of this for more.

The point here is, you need to know what your novel or short story or whatever is about--not just the story, but the subtext, i.e. what the story means--and then choose the best way to deliver that information. A lot of fiction dies on the vine because the author chose the wrong POV at the outset. They hit a mark somewhere in the middle and realize there's no way to get to the point, or the subtext has wandered off because of character development they didn't intend, or the story suddenly feels boring because it's not relevant to the main character, or any of a thousand other reasons--many of them may not even be reasons that the author sees because they don't know what to look for-but it almost always comes back to POV.

Whole thing on POV on my blog.

 

[Super Fantasy]

Characters may have their own perspective of a scene in a novel.
This can increase the variety of emotion in a scene.
Or they can all think the same way about what is happening around them, and thus create a emotion that all of the characters and the reader to delve in together.

 

[pmmg]

Most importantly, when choosing a POV, understand that the POV you choose will affect the information the reader receives. Before you choose to write in omniscient, you need to understand what it does.

A novel written in omniscient third can and will reveal different information to the reader than a novel written in limited third. Omniscient is there so that a character not in the novel can tell the story, either indifferently (Third Person Omniscient Objective) or as a character in their own right (Third Person Omniscient Subjective). Third person omniscient subjective--which is the voice I write my novels in--feels very much like first person, except the narrator never uses "I." POV shifts in third person omniscient subjective feel like someone telling you a story and doing perfect impressions. It is excruciatingly difficult, and takes years to master unless you're a savant. (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is written in third omniscient subjective. The Princess Bride is a frame narrative with most of the novel told in third person omniscient subjective, and chapters and asides written in a homey, casual mishmash of first person subjective and interior monologue.) Anyway, that narrator is there to reveal--or not reveal--information to the reader in order to drive home the point of the story, or the chapter, or the line, or whatever.

Similarly, a novel written in any of the first-person voices will reveal different information to the reader than any of the other first-person voices, and completely different information than a novel written in any of the third-person voices. We won't go into all the different POV's right now. See the link to my blog at the end of this for more.

The point here is, you need to know what your novel or short story or whatever is about--not just the story, but the subtext, i.e. what the story means--and then choose the best way to deliver that information. A lot of fiction dies on the vine because the author chose the wrong POV at the outset. They hit a mark somewhere in the middle and realize there's no way to get to the point, or the subtext has wandered off because of character development they didn't intend, or the story suddenly feels boring because it's not relevant to the main character, or any of a thousand other reasons--many of them may not even be reasons that the author sees because they don't know what to look for-but it almost always comes back to POV.

Whole thing on POV on my blog.

Nice article on the 'While think on POV'. You have a great presentation and delivery, I can almost imagine you on stage delivering this as a speech or lecture.

 

[Super Fantasy]

To me, characters might need the same perspective on a specific scene or a different perspective on another scene.
Variation among groups of characters is important because all the characters are different and all the scenes are different.

 

[pmmg]

To me, characters might need the same perspective on a specific scene or a different perspective on another scene.
Variation among groups of characters is important because all the characters are different and all the scenes are differen

While it is true that all characters will perceive a scene differently, unless the story lends itself to showing them all, I feel it would be too cumbersome to make sure scene get multiple perspectives. In a murder mystery, for instance, it might be that each person knows a little bit, and finding what they all know together is the payoff. In many stories, the stuff needs to move forward and without good reason, some perspectives have to get left behind.

 

[Super Fantasy]

True, although I was thinking that a simple scene such as explorers discovering a ruin or something.
Perhaps one person had the perspective of the ruins being mysterious although another might be reminded of his or her previous adventures among other ruins.
And another character had not seen ruins before and might feel that the ruins are very interesting.
Thus different perspectives among all of the characters.