: Should I switch perspectives every chapter, or only when I feel the character needs to have some thoughts? I was thinking about this a lot recently. I want to have my story a 3rd person

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You can do either "omniscient" or "character" POV. "Omniscient" is the easiest way to tell a story. However, this way the reader is disconnected from thoughts and emotions of any character. Writing from character's perspective gives the author more tools to develop that character - but this can be also more challenging, because the character needs to look genuine. This is specifically true for "multiple POV" novels. Some characters may come out very good, while others may seem two-dimensional, despite all efforts of the author.

"Character" and "omniscient" POVs can be also combined, just try not to confuse the reader. Often, most of the story is told though the protagonist's eyes, but once in a while there is a short chapter, coming in a manner - "Meanwhile, in a faraway land..."

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Techniques are always connected to the world you are writing about: if you have multiple morale conflicts, it can be a good idea to move from one PoV to another. If the conflict is more linear (i.e. a good guy vs a bad guy) or if the group of characters share the same moral vision, then you probably don't need that.

A story with a wide range of characters, such as the Song of Fire and Ice saga (i.e. GoT) moves across several PoVs who are the main characters. In that type of story, you have a complex world structure and you need to provide the world vision of each side.

Another great example is in the french fantasy novel "L'horde du contrevent" by A. Damasio: the main characters are part of the same team, and each chapter is told by the PoV of each of them, who provide a different feel and perspective to the events shared by all.

In my opinion, using alternate PoV just to change the pace of the story is not a reason strong enough. The same goes for using PoV just because the characters are geographically separated. I believe PoV is not a different knowledge of "what happens", but it's really a specific way to convey meaning.

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