How and When to Use Multiple POV

In an article for The Writer, Jack Smith examines when and how to use multiple POV in your novel. “An omniscient narrator can dip into different characters’ minds but also has the leeway to know things beyond what any given character knows – and can opt, at certain times, to provide authorial commentary,” Smith says. “What can you gain by choosing multiple points of view over authorial omniscience?”

Smith examines the work of multiple authors who regularly use multiple POVs.

According to Jessica Goodman, multiple POVs can help you create suspense, as your readers will want to know when – or if – certain characters will learn information revealed through someone else’s POV. Goodman also says multiple POV can enhance your characters’ relationships, because your reader can view them with a 360 degree perspective. “You get to know how both characters feel about one another, why they’re acting the way they’re acting, and what they think about the other person,” she says. You also have more chances to connect to your readers; they might loathe one character but connect with another.

Writer Adrianne Finlay says multiple POV can help you suggest multiple interpretations of your theme, as each character will view the events of your novel differently. This can also work with dual POV.

Some advice for multiple POV:

• Jessica Goodman: “Practice writing your POV characters having a conversation with one another. It can be something mundane, like ordering at a diner or how they’d interact
  at a cocktail party.”
• Adrianne Finlay: “Avoid repetition when it comes to plot, but where there is overlap, seek out the rich complexities of human experience that help reveal character perspectives and differences.”
• Ellen Meeropol: “Two important tips on handling multiple points of view well: 1) Establish a consistent pattern of POV switching early in the novel so readers will know what to expect. This decreases potential confusion. 2) Make each narrator’s voice distinct and identifiable through varying the diction, syntax, and cadence of their sections.”