Point of View Jumping.

[Charoshi]

Hiya, everyone!

I'm currently working on Chapter 9 of my fanfic, and I ran into a bit of a conundrum.

Quite simply, I'm at a point in my chapter where I want to show the viewpoint of one character, and than show the viewpoint of another character over the same incident. What is the best way to tackle that? Just a simple transition, or would that make the sequence hard to read?

For example, I usually use something like this ______ to transition points of view, or settings in the chapter. If I did that, and essentially had parts of the same dialogue in each section, would that be too confusing? Is there a better way to handle it, or is it not that big a deal.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Ysavvryl]

Hi!

Showing the same scene from a different point of view is no problem. I find it a nice thing, as you can show how different people react to and interpret things. Use your usual transition. A handy trick to use with this is to have a point of reference which indicates that this is the same scene from another POV. For instance, in ClicheStorm, I used Ghetsis' first speech as a reference point for showing the same scene from two different points of view. But it can be something simpler than that, such as a clock showing a particular time or a background character saying or doing something distinctive. The background thing doesn't even need to mean something, so long as it's a useful reference.

 

[Air Dragon]

A cruder way of handling it would be the "Megamorph" approach. Whenever you're about to change POV, insert a scene break (*** or whatever you use - sorry, I forget) write the character's name in bold caps and write from their POV. It's helpful, but less elegant than Ysavvryl's solution.

Just an idea.

L@er!

 

[Gelatino95]

I wholeheartedly agree with the advice of the others. Adding on to that, just make sure you don't skip around too much (try having continuous sections of POV rather than just short bursts that switch off every now and then). For one, you don't want to confuse people with the sequence of the story, but you also want people to be able to lock into and identify with the personality of whoever you're telling the story through. That's the point of showing things from different viewpoints, after all.

I'm not sure if that was clear enough. Let me say it a different way. You want to make sure that there is enough material present for the reader to identify with the speaker, so make sure that your separate POV sections aren't too short.

 

[Charoshi]

I was kind of leaning towards the simple transition myself, where I just use my normal scene break. I just didn't want it to be messy, or easy to get confused by. I'm glad that's not the case.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!!! It makes this chapter a lot easier to write.

 

[matt0044]

I think you should have an omnipresent narration that can describe anything and NOT limit you to one Point Of View. Not to mention you could describe the person's POV via the narration. I've read many novels that did this well so they could explain things in greater detail. First person narration is fun to read since there can be humorous lines and commentary like with Kyon in the Haruhi Suzumiya novels but there are limits like important events occurring without us seeing due to the lack of the protagonist's presence (show, don't just tell) and more.

But hey, it's not my story. Do what you think is right and knock yourself out.

 

[Charoshi]

I think you should have an omnipresent narration that can describe anything and NOT limit you to one Point Of View. Not to mention you could describe the person's POV via the narration. I've read many novels that did this well so they could explain things in greater detail. First person narration is fun to read since there can be humorous lines and commentary like with Kyon in the Haruhi Suzumiya novels but there are limits like important events occurring without us seeing due to the lack of the protagonist's presence (show, don't just tell) and more.

But hey, it's not my story. Do what you think is right and knock yourself out.

It's not really a first person narration, but my protagonist up until this point of the story, has gotten primary focus, and anytime I've gone into someone else's head has been in a different scene. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be overly messy doing it the way I had been. I agree with your idea though, it's why I prefer 3rd person to 1st in stories like the one I'm writing.

Thanks for your suggestion though. It gives me a little more perspective to look at.

 

[lovetheangelshadow]

There are many ways to play this. For example in a W101 story I did where it is told between two brother's POVs I used two different typefaces. For Peter I used the normal type setting and for Lamont I used Italics. I also made a clear point of using two seperate dialiects. With the exception of the final battle between them I did go lengthy when I was using a certain bro's POV

Now Mr. Matt0044 made a good point about using a chap's POV via narration and this I use in Shadow X Shai'ra. Example is everyone knows the main protagionist under his alias Shadow but his rival knows him by his true name Gabriel so whever I write Cael scenes I make sure to use the name Gabriel and not Shadow

The overall point is what kind of tale ya want to tell and how ya want to tell it. Because both methods have viable points. All I wanted was to add some meat to what everyone else was saying