Sometimes a story calls for more than one viewpoint. Whether it’s a thriller (think Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train), a family drama (like Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible), or even a beloved classic (William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying), this narrative device can add to and reveal multiple layers of your novel’s main plot.
However, it can sometimes be a rather tricky thing to pull off in a logical and emotionally authentic way. Read on for some things to consider before deciding if multiple points of view is the way to go for you and the story you’re trying to tell.
Does it make sense for your story?
This is the main question you should ask yourself and consider when it comes to writing from the vantage point of different narrators. As fun as it might seem to flex your skills as a writer, the truth is that most plots don’t require it—and many would actually suffer from it.
What is the story you’re trying to tell? Does the emotional meat of it come from making readers care about one or two central characters? If so, then multiple points of view are probably not going to add anything except confusion and a sense of detachment to the characters.
If, however, your plot hinges on giving readers glimpses into conflicting actions and emotions, it might make sense to write from different perspectives. Just keep in mind that this narrative device makes it more difficult for readers to root for one main protagonist since there are more options for favorite and least favorite characters.
Choose your point of view.
Once you’ve decided that this is definitely the way you want to structure your novel, now it’s time to decide which point of view you’re going to use. Most novels use the first-person POV for all the characters, which means that the action of each person’s chapters comes from their own unique voice and experience.
Another option, though, uses the third-person POV for all the characters, meaning each perspective will simply be an omniscient narrator focusing exclusively on one character for a certain amount of time, then shifting to focus on another.
If neither of these sounds appealing to you, you can always try a third option that mixes first-person and third-person POV. Typically this means that you would use first-person POV for the main character, then switch to third-person POV for the supporting characters, who are nonetheless still important enough to warrant chapters from their own points of view—if they’re not, you probably shouldn’t be using multiple POVs in the first place.
Separate your different POV characters.
The easiest way to write multiple points of view, for both you as the writer and for your readers, is to separate them by chapter. This can be as simple as titling your chapter after its respective narrator, which takes pressure off your readers to figure out exactly who is about to be speaking for the next section of book. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series makes great use of this method. Switching character POVs between paragraphs invites confusion and can often muddle the flow, so it’s highly advisable to avoid that move.
Make sure your characters are unique enough.
That being said, if your readers rely solely on your chapter titles that announce which narrator is about to speak, then that’s a major problem. It means you’re not making each character’s voice, mannerisms, and dialect distinct enough that they each represent different people.
Readers should read one or two sentences and immediately be able to tell which of the book’s characters is talking. The best way to do this is to ensure that each character you choose to have their own perspective is important enough to warrant such a distinction. If you find two characters sound too similar—or have points of view that largely overlap—consider combining them into one character. This doesn’t mean your plot can’t be particularly complicated or twisty; it just means that clarity should always remain your central focus.
Keep your focus on one voice at a time.
While I’m sure there are plenty of writers out there who do just fine hopping around from character to character during a single sit-down, I’ve found that it can really help keep those protagonists separated if you stick to one voice per writing session. This means you won’t necessarily write your plot chronologically but will instead write one perspective chronologically.
Spending an entire writing session on one character’s chapters can really give you the time and space to sit with their motivations, dialect, and mindset—as well as all the lovely attributes that make that person unique. Aside from how confusing it can get to keep all your intertwining voices straight, switching from one character to another in a single day (or however long you’ve dedicated to writing for that particular session) can wreak havoc on your momentum and subsequently stall any character development that you have been building up.
Andrea Moran lives outside of Nashville with her husband and two kids. She’s a professional copywriter and editor who loves all things books. Find her on LinkedIn.