Welcome To The North Texas Romance Writers of America Website.

HOW TO MAKE A SEAMLESS

CHANGE OF POV ^©
by Gail Dayton

You understand close third person POV, right? You're in the person's head, feeling what they feel, hearing what they hear, seeing what they see, thinking what they think. I was going to look in one of my books and see if I could find an example switch, but I don't remember where they are, so I'll just try to make one up for you. No guarantees on the quality.

Minerva watched the man prowl the room. He moved like a caged lion, all trapped strength, feral grace wanting nothing more than space, freedom. Would he turn it on her in his bid to escape?

Okay, this is obviously in Minerva's POV, right? We're close inside her head, seeing her interpretation of the man, hearing what she's thinking. Now, as you get ready to make that POV switch, you BACK OUT of her head into what I call Objective Third Person POV, or Camera's Eye View. There may be a better name for it, but I don't know what it is.

This type of POV gives the reader NOTHING MORE THAN A CAMERA CAN SEE AND HEAR. You see actions, hear dialog, but you do NOT get thoughts or emotions from the characters, other than what can be expressed verbally or physically. I can't emphasize this enough. Do NOT give thoughts or emotions at this point, when you are trying to change POV. This works best if you have a few paragraphs of dialogue. Back to the example.

Minerva lifted her glass with trembling hands. 'What do you want with me?'

Carlyle looked at her, black brows drawing together in a frown. "With you? Nothing."

"Then why are you here?"

This is plenty. It allows the reader to (sort of) forget that you were just in Minerva's brain listening to her think. It gives a three paragraph space of neutrality between POVs. Now, all you have to do is slide into the other POV. You do it at the beginning of a new paragraph. You use the new character's name in the first, or at the very latest, the second sentence in the paragraph. (I've read books where the author switched POV but didn't use the name until the end of the paragraph and confused the heck out of me -- wonderful book, but I spent a good portion of it being confused.) AND -- this is a very important part of the switch -- you dive inside the character's brain to give us a thought or emotion. Example:

Carlyle lifted a trinket from the table as he considered the question. Why was he here? He wasn't sure he knew the answer himself. He turned back to Minerva, as beautiful as gossip claimed. Perhaps she was the reason.

You see? Now we're in Carlyle's POV. It's not a sudden switch which can be clear and non-confusing, but sometimes not as smooth as we'd like. Let me put the examples close together so you can read them in one smooth flow and see if you understand.

Minerva watched the man prowl the room. He moved like a caged lion, all trapped strength, feral grace wanting nothing more than space, freedom. Would he turn it on her in his bid to escape?

Minerva lifted her glass with trembling hands. 'What do you want with me?'

Carlyle looked at her, black brows drawing together in a frown. 'With you? Nothing.'

'Then why are you here?'

Carlyle lifted a trinket from the table as he considered the question. Why was he here? He wasn't sure he knew the answer to that question himself. He turned back to Minerva, as beautiful as gossip claimed. Perhaps she was the reason.

It seems smoother, of course, if you have a few pages of Minerva's POV coming before her last paragraph, and a few pages of Carlyle's coming after his first one. But this is nothing more than technique, and knowing exactly what constitutes Close POV and Objective POV. After that, all you have to do is make sure you're in one head, then strip all internal thought from your "switching paragraphs." It can be done with an action paragraph, but you have to be much more careful there to keep all internal thought/emotion from it. Then make sure to dive back into the next head.

I'm not trying to sound like a "know-it-all", but this is also the way Suzanne Brockmann changes POV mid-scene, and she’s a best-selling author with hardbacks coming out regularly. I discovered it independently, but I figure if it’s good enough for Brockmann, it’s good enough for me.

Return to Writing Tips