: Re: How to switch pov characters mid-scene without jarring the reader? I am writing a novel wherein there are many characters whose thoughts are key to telling it properly. In an earlier draft,

Try describing a scene, an environment in order to introduce someone else. I usually write in 1st person so when I'm writing I'll say, "I started...", "I thought about...", I wanted to..." or "I really needed to..."

But then the challenge for me was figuring out how to take my interaction (or interactions) between two or more characters, put it off to the side and introduce a third character involved in another idea, in another place, at another time without saying, "I, I..." Otherwise the reader may still think, "Oh, he's talking about the first character he introduced" when I'm actually now talking about someone completely new.

This is why I thought of using environmental elements to establish additional scenes. Other things to use for breaks can be used too, things like emotion or thought: "Fear is one of those..." or "Trying to understand how to..." and then moving to someone different.

What if I did all of the above correctly and then, wanting to introduce something else I instead say, "A breeze of cool air rushed down the halls of "blah, blah, blah..." and then I commence with, "Alan, Jackson, Sierra, blah, blah, blah..."

In this way the reader will know to put the first scene on pause and jump onboard with the new one I'm trying to form. I'm basically jumping between scenes, fulfilling the present concerns and long-term goals of my characters either in part or in full while remaining true to how a story should actually be told. It's not what you write but how you write.

Life is told in scenes. Books, especially film shouldn't be that different if for the sake of being real, right?

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: Re: How to switch pov characters mid-scene without jarring the reader? I am writing a novel wherein there are many characters whose thoughts are key to telling it properly. In an earlier draft,

More posts by @Vandalay250

: Doubt about a particular point of view on how to do character creation Of course developing a character is quite an intimate process. But still, like a story, you can in fact have some tools

: How do I tell the reader that my character is autistic in Fantasy? I am a woman with aspergers and writing an autistic character has always been close to my heart. Fiera Allas, a fantasy

: Detail vs. filler How can I minimise the "filler" text that I end up writing when fleshing out a scene with detail? An appropriate level of detail seems to me to be a fundamental requirement

: How to Mention the Use of Pseudonym when Cold Pitching I'm looking to gain experience writing for blogs. To do this, I plan on cold pitching a list of bloggers with guest post ideas. Only,

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