My Writing Tips

Stuck in One POV

If you're writing a scene and everything's going along just fine, then you suddenly stop because you don't know where to go with that scene- this is for you!

Here's how to get out of that- write from someone else's point of view, especially if you're trying to make your story longer. The reason behind this is you can go over the same scene/events and get another character's thoughts, particularly if they're important to your main character (such as a love interest, best friend, rival, and so on). You can do this however you like, such as switching from 1st person to another 1st person (regular character to character), 1st person to 3rd omniscient (which means you as the narrator know everything), or 1st person to 3rd limited (meaning you stick with a character from an outside kind of POV, but still know everything inside their head).

My personal default is always 1st to 3rd omniscient, and that's okay. If you feel like your story has to stay in one perspective, that's fine. It may take a little while longer to stay in one POV, but don't be afraid to spice things up by changing the reader's perspective. If anything, it keeps them interested (if you like that sort of thing). Just be sure not to jump around too much if you can help it. Be careful and avoid switching POV's in the middle of a chapter, you might confuse your readers if they're going too fast. Instead, try your best to finish out the chapter/portion of your story before coming to a stopping point. Here, you can switch perspectives and keep going. 

Your stopping point can be just about anything, but preferably it should be something that's come to an end (i.e: a game, date, fight, or a scene change) then you can have your other character(s) review the even that just occurred and get what they think about it.

Happy writing! ^w^