When do POV changes seem jarring?

[Netardapope]

I have a novel in which I originally planned to only use one POV. However, I realized the best way to develop the antagonist was to occasionally switch the POV to him and after that I included another POV. This time, the POV cam around chapter 18. I've already done a few other chapters with that POV and I only planned on using it until the character had joined the main hero's party. Is that something that would distract you? And was the last POV brought on too late?(in case anyone is wondering, POVs in my case have entire chapters dedicated to them, I don't swap them in one chapter)

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[MineOwnKing]

I'm doing the same thing in my WIP.

It's the only way I can think of to include an ensemble cast smoothly.

I have a protagonist that takes up many of the chapters, but she's a small part of a bigger story.

I need to show the other stuff going on and third person omniscient can get confusing to a reader looking for POV.

I think it will work.

I've been careful not to leave the protagonist in a cliffhanger chapter. I think I've made it meld together pretty good.

I think it's nice to take a break between the characters in a long novel.

 

[FifthView]

A late-entering new POV can be jarring. In fact, it usually is. But if it's made interesting, the reader will usually be forgiving. This is a case of, "You didn't know you wanted this, but you did."

This time, the POV cam around chapter 18. I've already done a few other chapters with that POV and I only planned on using it until the character had joined the main hero's party. Is that something that would distract you?

I think there's a danger whenever you create a new POV for merely mechanical reasons. Say for instance something important to the plot happens outside the view of the main POV and the antagonist POV, and you want to show it for adding tension to the whole thing. Or, revealing secret information hidden from those two in order to attempt to add tension to their POV chapters for the reader that those two characters don't feel because they don't know that information yet.

This could be especially jarring (and a little hit-the-reader-over-the-head) if the late-entering POV is used for mechanical reasons and then that POV is simply dropped when that purpose has been met.

There's nothing inherently wrong with adding a new POV character late—but you do have to make it interesting and, best case scenario, you keep that POV around for the remainder of the book (or until dead.) It should be a significant/important inclusion, not mechanical.

Now, if that new POV character fulfills a role as a betrayer, a hidden informant, a disguised antagonist, you might be able to get away with dropping his POV after he joins the hero's group, as long as you've firmly established his role during his POV chapters. I.e., as long as the reader's experience of that character matches the main POV hero's—seeing the surface behaviors—while the reader knows by then there's more to that character.

 

[Netardapope]

A late-entering new POV can be jarring. In fact, it usually is. But if it's made interesting, the reader will usually be forgiving. This is a case of, "You didn't know you wanted this, but you did."



I think there's a danger whenever you create a new POV for merely mechanical reasons. Say for instance something important to the plot happens outside the view of the main POV and the antagonist POV, and you want to show it for adding tension to the whole thing. Or, revealing secret information hidden from those two in order to attempt to add tension to their POV chapters for the reader that those two characters don't feel because they don't know that information yet.

This could be especially jarring (and a little hit-the-reader-over-the-head) if the late-entering POV is used for mechanical reasons and then that POV is simply dropped when that purpose has been met.

There's nothing inherently wrong with adding a new POV character late–but you do have to make it interesting and, best case scenario, you keep that POV around for the remainder of the book (or until dead.) It should be a significant/important inclusion, not mechanical.

Now, if that new POV character fulfills a role as a betrayer, a hidden informant, a disguised antagonist, you might be able to get away with dropping his POV after he joins the hero's group, as long as you've firmly established his role during his POV chapters. I.e., as long as the reader's experience of that character matches the main POV hero's–seeing the surface behaviors–while the reader knows by then there's more to that character.

What if it's used to introduce a main character who's going to stick around for the rest of the book, just not from her POV? (Also I feel that the POV reveals aspects of her character, such as her out look on life, so would it count as mechanical if it's used to further character?)

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[FifthView]

Without seeing it in use, it's hard to make any firm answer to your question. There are no universal rules. With that caveat...

If you are adding the POV mostly to reveal character detail, that could be mechanical. If I had a character that I intended to have no POV chapters but decided to throw in a couple or three chapters because I felt I needed to flesh out that character, I'd feel like I did that for purely mechanical reasons, a shortcut when I could have fleshed out those details within the other POV characters' chapters by changing the narrative and interactions.

As a general principle, I think that adding a new POV late in a book can be jarring, and making that jarring situation enjoyable requires making that POV interesting. But once you've made that POV interesting, then dropping that POV for the remainder of the book while keeping that character around could be disappointing or irritating for the reader.

But that's only a general principle and you could throw that out if you think that using your approach is the only way to achieve some of the effects you want to achieve.

 

[Netardapope]

Without seeing it in use, it's hard to make any firm answer to your question. There are no universal rules. With that caveat...

If you are adding the POV mostly to reveal character detail, that could be mechanical. If I had a character that I intended to have no POV chapters but decided to throw in a couple or three chapters because I felt I needed to flesh out that character, I'd feel like I did that for purely mechanical reasons, a shortcut when I could have fleshed out those details within the other POV characters' chapters by changing the narrative and interactions.

As a general principle, I think that adding a new POV late in a book can be jarring, and making that jarring situation enjoyable requires making that POV interesting. But once you've made that POV interesting, then dropping that POV for the remainder of the book while keeping that character around could be disappointing or irritating for the reader.

But that's only a general principle and you could throw that out if you think that using your approach is the only way to achieve some of the effects you want to achieve.

Now that I think of it, there's a certain character we would never meet unless I used the pov. The character in question plays a part in how the pov character gets her driving motivation, I'd think that this would justify the pov change somewhat but I can certainly see where your coming from. But I have faith that the POV is different enough from the rest of the narrative to be interesting. So I guess I'll have to trust in the quality of my writing as you stated earlier.

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[Demesnedenoir]

I have zero problem with POV changes chapter to chapter, unless they are pointless. I can see where it could get carried away, but so long as you are willing to kill your babies if they don't work, write 'em and see what happens.

 

[NerdyCavegirl]

I love reading from multiple POVs, major characters, "minor" characters, earlier in the book or later, just as long as the differences between POVs are clear and the transitions aren't too frequent. I'd say maybe once a chapter, maybe every half-chapter.

 

[Deleted member 4265]

What I've noticed from reading other books is that I'm okay with a new POV being introduced much later in the book so long as I'm already aware its a multiple POV story. If your first 18 chapters are all one character and then you suddenly switch perspective, it will be very jarring just because the story was presenting itself as a single POV narrative. If however you switch POV between two or more characters, say every three or four chapters, then the reader is used to having multiple perspectives and adding in a new one isn't going to confuse them.