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Q&A How to switch pov characters mid-scene without jarring the reader?

I am writing a novel wherein there are many characters whose thoughts are key to telling it properly. In an earlier draft, I attempted to have any given chapter told from the point of view of exac...

4 answers  ·  posted 14y ago by StrixVaria‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T00:41:57Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/237
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar StrixVaria‭ · 2019-12-08T00:41:57Z (almost 5 years ago)
I am writing a novel wherein there are many characters whose thoughts are key to telling it properly. In an earlier draft, I attempted to have any given chapter told from the point of view of exactly one character, but that turned out to be problematic. Usually it led to chapters I found uncomfortably short, or I would wind up writing mostly about nothing as I forgot that character was no longer important for the current scene.

In my current draft, I decided to go with a pseudo-omniscient narrator to solve these problems. It could only step into one character's head at a time, but it would be able to switch characters mid-scene, if necessary, rather than waiting for a section or chapter break.

Some of the transitions from one character to another have felt a bit awkward, though. Most of the better ones I have involve dialogue; it's easy to switch the frame to another character naturally after that character has just spoken. Are there any other techniques that can make these transitions flow better?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2010-11-19T18:49:46Z (almost 14 years ago)
Original score: 11