: Length of segments in rotating POV When rotating POV between multiple characters, how long should a segment in one POV be? I'm writing ensemble 3rd person and tend to like to let the story

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I’m working on a novel with multiple POVs, and my rule is one POV per section, where “section” means a part of a chapter that describes one scene, event, conversation, or such. Typographically, sections are separated by a blank line (or * * * at a page break), and the first line isn’t indented. I adopted this style from the books on my shelves; it seems fairly common.

I generally try to make it clear to the reader fairly early whose POV it is, by internal monologue or something else only that character could know, but there’s at least one short section where it’s not at all clear whose POV it is, and it doesn’t really matter.

As for length, a section is as long as it needs to be to achieve its purpose. One might run ten pages, another half a page. It depends on how the section fits into the overall work and what its purpose is: to advance the plot, to develop one or more characters, to set up a situation that will be resolved later, to resolve a situation set up earlier, to drop a hint about something.

I just write and read, rewrite and reread. If a transition or juxtaposition seems awkward, I fiddle with it until it's better. There are very few fixed rules in the writing game.

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I don't see the length of each segment done in a particular character's point of view as the issue. I've seen excellent stories split into many short glimpses of the world through multiple characters' eyes, and I've seen stories equally excellent split into just two halves consisting of Character A's view of the story followed by a contrasting second half from the POV of Character B.

What can be a problem with short sections in different POVs is failure to make the identity of each new POV character clear at the start of each section.

If you go for short sections, I recommend starting each section with either of

a single-word announcement of the name of the character we are following, or
stating the viewpoint character's name in the very first sentence.

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There's no one right answer. You have to write your story and let other people read it, and ask your readers if it feels too jarring. Maybe one POV per chapter is correct, or maybe your story requires a frequent POV shift. But there's no generic template or requirement.

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