Inside Scoop

[11] Point Of View Changes

What are your thoughts on pov changes and do you use them? Why?

Vicky_Nfs: Usually fun to read but not always helpful to the story

A change in point of view is always fun for the reader. While reading a story you get all these questions and a simple change in point of view can answer them all. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s not so good for the writer, because how are you supposed to keep your readers interested when they know everything already?

Sometimes, though, changes in point of view can be important for a storyline. There are several stories where the changes in point of view simply ‘make’ the story. Nonetheless, some writers ‘abuse’ the magic that’s created by a point of view change. Also, there’s the matter of how you switch points of view – sometimes it’s necessary to go back in time a little, but usually when the author does that it gets really annoying.

As a writer though, it can be very helpful to write some parts in different points of view. It helps you to get to know your characters better and maybe it’ll even help you out when you get stuck with the story. But, it’s not because you wrote something that it ‘has to’ be part of the story. You can write the different points of view for yourself as help, and not let them be part of the story that your readers get to read.

To sum it all up: write certain scenes from different points of view, but – if not necessary/critical to the story – keep them to yourself. IF you do use them in your story, make them count; make them important and not boring by repeating whole scenes with every switch in point of view. But if you can write the story without the different points of view, I’d say to give it a try without them because there’s nothing better for your story than there to be some kind of mystery.

Emmiie: They should have reason behind them

I think it depends on many things, such as: how the author uses them, how frequently they are used, and why this character’s point of view is important or valuable to the story.

Sometimes, it’s nice to have options, or to be able to view something from another perspective. But at the same time, random point of view changes that aren’t really important can get annoying. In my opinion, everything in a story should have reason behind it.

So if you are unsure whether or not to change the point of view ask yourself, ‘How important is this to my story? Will Jack’s (first name to come to mind) point of view interest my readers? Is Jack’s side of the story valuable, does he know about certain events – or do something that could potentially make my plot thicker?’

I haven’t changed perspectives yet, but I do often grab interesting characters from one of my existing stories and give them a story of their own. And I do plan to change points of view later on in Love Me Dead, but this is mainly because to make the book work – I’m going to need to show both sides of the story in the one novel. But this shouldn’t be happening until later in that miniseries.

And for writers who enjoy changing points of view (even sporadically), my advice is to go for it—regardless of what others might think. You are the story teller. You are the only person who knows where you want your story to go…and what your story needs to have in it. Write whatever you want to write, don’t worry what others think. Write for you.

Leigh19: They add more depth when done properly

Point of View Changes, that's a hard question to answer. I like the idea of getting to see things inside the mind of other main characters in a story, but sometimes it can be overwhelming or too much.

Personally I remember the first books I've read with P.O.V changes- The Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz, the way she had several main characters and it constantly shifted throughout each of their pov's it had it's positive and negative effects on me. Firstly it annoyed me with all the back and forth particularly for the characters that I could care less about. Mind you I did enjoy seeing how certain characters thought and acted.

For myself, I have used P.O.V changes and find they are useful but it's not something I do all that much. It takes a lot of time and effort to change your writing from one P.O.V to another, especially when you have to place yourself in that characters shoes. You want to differentiate their thoughts and actions from your other characters because they are not all going to think and do things the same. I think that part about writing from different P.O.V's is fun and also it helps give you an understanding of why certain characters will do or say certain things in the story. The major issue about changing P.O.V's is to know how to do it properly. If you're able to successfully project the characters traits and personality to the readers and to give them a “feel” for the character than you've done the job properly. There is such a thing as overdoing it , if you find your readers are confused and asking questions because they didn't grasp what you were trying to project than maybe a few tweaks will be needed.

Overall I think that P.O.V shifts help add more depth to any writing so long as it's done properly.