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Q&A Scene switching and how to do it?

What you are describing reminds me of The Lord of the Rings, once the Fellowship splits up. Different chapters follow Frodo, Aragorn, Merry and Pippin. To avoid confusion, Tolkien always devotes w...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36312
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 · 2019-12-08T08:52:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36312
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:52:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
What you are describing reminds me of _The Lord of the Rings_, once the Fellowship splits up. Different chapters follow Frodo, Aragorn, Merry and Pippin.

To avoid confusion, Tolkien always devotes whole chapters, not parts of them, to each character. That is, a jump between characters never occurs in the middle of a chapter.

Furthermore, whenever there is jump, Tolkien clearly indicates right at the beginning of the chapter who we're following now:

> Pippin lay in a dark and troubled dream (_LotR, III, 3 - The Uruk Hai_)
> 
> ‘My very bones are chilled,’ said Gimli (_LotR, III, 5 - The White Rider_)
> 
> ‘Well, master, we’re in a fix and no mistake,’ said Sam Gamgee. (_LotR IV, 1 - The Taming of Sméagol_)

Etc.

Chronologically, Tolkien jumps back and forth with one line relative to the other, occasionally indicating what another group is doing at the same time. In other cases, different characters witness the same phenomenon from different places, giving the reader an anchor. This element helps maintain the unity of the plot.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-22T11:58:27Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 7