In an article for Writer’s Digest, Peter Stenson shares three easy steps for writing multiple perspective in fiction. It is through deeply understanding each character’s perspective, and determining the best way to represent said perspective, that we can honor the unique essence of our characters while weaving together a cohesive narrative,” Stenson writes. He offers these tips:
- Attitude. For multiple POV to work, you need to know your characters well. This means more than simply listing personality traits. “You need to take it one step further by imagining the sum total of these emotions and traits and experiences, i.e., the attitude your character has created to navigate through the world,” Stenson says. “It will color everything on the page (dialogue, thoughts, actions, reactions, etc.), and, in turn, it will be the reader’s entrance point into your characters’ existence.”
- About Something. Stenson suggests an exercise to help you inhabit your character’s attitude. Create a scenario, then write out a scene in which your characters witness or experience it. How do they navigate this experience? What do they think, feel, observe, or ignore? Once you’ve finished, consider whether these reactions are consistent with their attitudes. Are these reactions different enough to warrant giving every character their own POV chapters?
- Point of View/Modality. So, how do you portray this on the page? “With modality, we’re concerned with the specific way in which something exists, is experienced, or is expressed,” Stenson writes. “In other words, how would your characters want their stories told? What is authentic to each character’s attitude regarding the events that will unfold in your narrative?” This could mean close POV, first person, or excerpts from a journal. Stenson experimented with allowing his characters to speak through a screenplay within the novel and college application essays.
