multiple POVs in the same place and groups of people

[Dragonlady]

I've sort of accidentally ended up with multiple POVs in my current project and find myself dipping into both their heads when they're together, which I presume is not done. Any tips on deciding who to stick with/negotiating this? They live in different places but are together in many of the scenes. So when they're apart it's obvious, when they're together it isn't. So far at least the together scenes are on her home turf.

Another thing I struggle with his the logistics of scenes where there are groups of people together, when one pov character and his dad is visiting the other pov character and her family - two POV characters, a parent each, a brother, having dinner and a conversation for example. I tend to find it hard to work out what to do with people, if it makes sense, and how to indicate who is speaking, and even decide who is speaking.

 

[The Judge]

It is best to avoid head-hopping within scenes, unless you are writing omniscient POV and know how to do it. (Frankly, I've not got the foggiest, so I leave it well alone.) If two POV characters are in the same scene, then use the POV of the one who gives the best story eg perhaps the one with most internal conflict, or if that's more or less equal, then if you have a hierarchy of POV characters, choose the higher of the two. As a last resort, use the one you find easiest to write.

As for keeping within POV, think yourself into the character so that you only write what he/she would write -- try writing in first person from that character and that might keep you on the straight and narrow.

However, I do wonder if the fact you say you "accidentally" came up with multiple POV characters might suggest you're perhaps not in proper control of the story and you might want to think hard about whether all the POVs are necessary or even desirable.

Regarding scenes with multiple characters all talking, I think you need to be ruthless and ask yourself what the scenes are meant to be showing and whether you've chosen the best way of showing it. The fact that they all meet for dinner and have a blazing row might be important for the plot, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you must show the scene in its entirety, or even at all. What I'd suggest you do, though, is work out which scene is causing you the most problems and put it up in Critiques -- it's easier for us to help you with specifics (eg having characters pass the port around, using action instead of dialogue tags) if we can see what you've already written.

 

[CTRandall]

As The Judge mentioned, 3rd person omniscient can achieve this effect. Essentially, you can hop into the head of whichever character you like. One of the difficulties is keeping straight in your own head what the reader is aware of vs. what the other characters in the story are aware of. If you tell the reader about Char1's innermost secrets, Chars2 and 3 must remain unaware of those secrets and react to them. If you hop around from head to head to head, that can get tricky to keep control of.

Second, too much hopping about can get confusing or disorienting. I'm far from being an expert but I believe the most successful examples of 3rd omniscient avoid bouncing through numerous heads within a single scene.

With a nod again to The Judge, you might try writing a scene once from one character's POV and again from a second character's POV. I've found this a helpful device for exploring a scene and finding the best way to tell it.

 

[JS Wiig]

The book I am just finishing, “Homeland” by R.A. Salvatore, head hops in the middle of scenes, sometimes for just a paragraph, and with more that two characters. It’s not my favorite POV style, but he makes it work.

Not sure how you feel about dark fantasy, and I’m sure there are plenty other examples, but maybe check out some varying samples to emulate and see what works best for you.

 

[msstice]

When I asked the internet this questions several months ago, one popular answer was pick the POV of the character who has the most to gain or lose i.e whoever has the highest stakes. This made sense to me from the dramatic angle. I read an opinion once that in the Lord of The Rings, the POV character in a given part is the one who knows the least. I read the books so long ago, I've forgotten if this is true.

 

[Dragonlady]

Thanks all! @The Judge it's more I didnt' realise I would need it, some of the action will need to happen when the original POV character isn't there, so it makes sense to have two of them. I might take a chapter and write it in first person for both of them as an experiment to get a feel for them as you suggest @CTRandall . I'm on a research/planning/worldbuilding/back to the drawing board type break at the moment so can have an experiment. I don't want to try anything too complicated, i'm not sure enough of everything else at this stage. Your point about the multiple people scenes - for some of them I know what I am trying to accomplish but not really how to go about that in a way, I could try writing a scene in which it's discussed to get it in my head but then take it out and have characters reacting to it instead, if that makes any sense?

 

[The Big Peat]

I like third PoV omniscient, but I can't think of a good example where we see the PoV moved rapidly during a talking scene. Maybe some early Gemmell.

If you want to keep it to one PoV a scene, then I recommend

a) Picking the character with the most at stake as the PoV character
b) If both have an immense amount at stake, include the scene from both characters' PoV - maybe once as it happens, once with another character thinking about what just happened immediately afterwards. Guy Gavriel Kay's very good at that.

 

[Steve Harrison]

My solution to this has been to write the scene from the character POV I deem the best, per @TheBigPeat's comments, and, if necessary, backtrack with another POV that overlaps the scene and/or have the other POV characters refer back to the group encounter.

One of the things I like best about writing multiple POVs is relating characters' varying perceptions of the same event or another character.

 

[tinkerdan]

The best thing to do with different POV's is to analyze what you are writing and which POV works best for it.
Each character is different, or should be, that means that the scene will look different from each POV.
You could experiment with a version for each and read them back and it might become obvious which one needs to present the scene.

 

[Don]

One of the things I like best about writing multiple POVs is relating characters' varying perceptions of the same event or another character.

Yes! Ian Banks does this in Transition. Each chapter contains multiple POVs. A heading with a given character's name denotes the start of a new POV. It's great way to engage your reader. For instance, in a scene with both protagonist and antagonist POVs, not only does the protagonist's POV differ from the antagonist's, the protagonist's desired outcome is also nearly opposite the antagonist's.

Multiple POVs enable your readers to play the part of Preem Palver and read the minds of important characters. It delivers a superior omniscience experience.

 

[Ghuarran]

I just re-read 'Dune', and was struck by how often Herbert did this very thing. Many characters in some scenes, and many points of view in the overall flow of words. It can be a bit jarring, but it can work.

I haven't done any work with this, but I love Dune, and loved the writing style. It that case, it helped heighten the feeling of complexity for many scenes- politics and intrigue and the like.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

If it is a long scene and it wouldn't make it look too choppy, you can always switch POVs with a scene break (and then quickly establish whose mind we are in).

 

[Toby Frost]

I'm not sure how much this helps, but the crime novel I'm currently reading (The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow, published in 2005) pays absolutely no attention to the head-hopping rule and jumps all over the place. Further, Winslow doesn't use italics to denote thoughts, so it really is very hard to say who is thinking and when. That said, I've got used to it, and it doesn't seem hugely bothersome.

Generally, I'd stick with the point of view of the person who's driving the scene the most or is the most affected by it - but usually, the person doing the driving. If all someone can do in a scene is react with horror, that will get slow fairly quickly. There may be characters that you want to remain mysterious, or whose mental processes aren't very interesting, so I'd suggest keeping out of their minds.

Where characters are dining, most of the "action" will be conversation, so I'd focus on that, with occasional changes of food or people leaning forward, refilling drinks and so on to break it up (however, I recently read a review criticising a bar scene for the sheer number of times the characters got new drinks, so maybe don't overdo it). Dune has a good dining scene, and Titus Groan also does, although Mervyn Peake uses a very individual style.

 

[Thiswriterinme]

If you ever Google Search (or whatever your preferred search engine is) "switching character POV mid-chapter," you might be surprised by how many results come up defending head-hopping as well as advising against it. I had to do this several months ago, and I'll be honest, the results didn't really answer my question.

I've written several 3rd person-omniscient stories where I will take a similar approach to R.A. Salvatore as described by @JS Wiig. I'll write a chapter primarily from one character's POV, but as needed, I might drop into another character's head for just a paragraph. I'm not sure how well I pull it off, that's totally a question for another day, but you could always do it on a small scale so there is still a "main POV" that is clear through the majority of the chapter.

Apparently, a lot of romance genre writers really like head-hopping. I'm not exactly sure what their reasons are. Yet, I was told never to head-hop during sex scenes because it can make the whole thing more confusing. I don't read a lot of romance, so I can't say how often this is or isn't done in that genre or in those scenes.

Like a lot of writing debates/questions, it seems to come down to preference and execution.