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Q&A Switching perspectives for a single chapter in a first person POV novel, to do or not to do?

Patricia Briggs did almost exactly this in her Mercy Thompson novel Frost Burned. The series overall (this is book 8) is told in the first person from Mercy's POV, but in two chapters Briggs shifts...

posted 8y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:37Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23874
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:26:09Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23874
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T05:26:09Z (over 4 years ago)
Patricia Briggs did almost exactly this in her Mercy Thompson novel [_Frost Burned_.](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/044102002X) The series overall (this is book 8) is told in the first person from Mercy's POV, but in two chapters Briggs shifts into third person, and the story is told from the perspective of the main character's husband. She labels those two chapters "Adam." It's just those two chapters.

I would not write entire chapters in italics; it's visually exhausting. It's okay for sections, and I understand why you're doing it, but not for more than a page or two.

If you segue into this other character's POV for _one_ chapter, I'd call it "Interlude: John" (whatever the non-main character's name is) and write it from limited omniscient third. That way we get all of John's thoughts and feelings, but it's clearly not your main character, and the style is different enough that there's no confusion.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-07-19T09:53:14Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 1