: Re: Scene switching and how to do it? So I am writing a story that is in my head for millions of years already and it is finally progressing. I like how things going for a first draft and

@LarsenBagley300

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(tl;dr at end.)

I was unaware of PoV considerations when I started writing last year. I thought I wrote in limited third, but had several ~1500 word scenes where my intended PoV characters were absent. My options were (1) to introduce new PoV characters, (2) make sure the PoV character is added to the scene and tell it from that PoV, or (3) find the needed information in those scenes and work them in elsewhere, within the PoV character's scenes.

I chose the third, and I recommend this. The benefit of pulling those rogue scenes and finding a way to work the information elsewhere, is that it tends to improve the scene you add into. It also serves to keep confusion to the reader to a minimum. Here's an example to illustrate what I mean:

Two non-PoV characters (mother/daughter) have a nice long walk away from everyone else, deciding the future of the daughter. I thought the scene established character and setting, and the information about the daughter's future was critical to the storyline. I liked that it was an after dinner stroll. It had very little tension, except the conflict at the end of the scene where they argue.

I pulled the scene. I moved the conversation so that it occurs within earshot of the PoV character in another scene (but same evening as before). So now, (when a door is opened and closed), the PoV character overhears two lines of the Mother/Daughter arguing, and the exact information that the reader needs to know is conveyed.

It adds an emotional element too. It ratchets up the tension in that scene, just a little, to hear a snippet of two people arguing elsewhere. It's more concentrated, which is better, at least in my case. The slow parts of the original scene are gone.

tl;dr:

Your question: What is the best way to switch to another character's PoV?

My answer: Limit the number of points of view that you use, and change at chapter breaks. If you have rogue scenes, identify the necessary information and find a way to work it in elsewhere and ditch the rest.

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