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

Well, first off I would try to avoid that if you can, but that's not always possible, so here's one thing that I've found worked for me in the past. I had both characters looking at something and ...

posted 14y ago by Fox Cutter‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T00:41:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/243
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Fox Cutter‭ · 2019-12-08T00:41:58Z (almost 5 years ago)
Well, first off I would try to avoid that if you can, but that's not always possible, so here's one thing that I've found worked for me in the past.

I had both characters looking at something and thinking about it (and in this case, each other). I started with one character's thoughts, then moved to a mix of both of them as they overlapped, then finished in the other character's head. It took a couple tries to get it really working.

My real goal with this was to make the reader only realize that things had changed after it had happened, they would just find themselves naturally in the other character's mind and not question it. Though I admit it took a few tries to get it working.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2010-11-19T19:06:12Z (about 14 years ago)
Original score: 8