Good reasons for multiple POV

JewelTones said...
Alicia, the topic of switching POVs in the same scene is a touchy one and I would love to hear your thoughts on the difference between shifting those POVs for "a good reason" in a scene vs. head hopping and and those "good reasons" are. I get into arguments about this all the time with my fellow writing friends. I tend to be a one POV per scene kind of girl, but I've been known to shift halfway through and slide into another (say from hero to heroine) for the rest of the scene. Some argue such "hopping" is their style. So how do you try to distinguish between a shift for a reason/doing it well vs. rampant shifting?

I also tend to be a single-POV type of gal, but some of my favorite writers are multiple POV writers, so I have to admit-- that can be done well. (I also have to say this-- it's discussed in my Writer's Digest book. :)

First, let's distinguish between omniscient and multiple POV. Omniscient can shift from mind to mind, but with omniscient, there is a controlling "above" narration, a mentality (not necessarily a person or the author) which knows more than the characters individually or collectively know. Most non-first-person British stories in the 19th century used omniscient point of view ("IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man nay be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of heir daughters."), perhaps because of the Victorian reverence for authority-- the omniscient point of view is all about authority.

But the multiple point of view doesn't have that controlling overall authority. The narration is always in the head of one character or another. All the information and knowledge and perceptions of the narration come from the characters-- there's nothing (in the multiple POV passages-- there is nothing wrong with omniscient passages, especially at the beginning and end of scenes... remember, the only rule is, it works if it works... just know if it works) that is "above" or "inserted" from a more knowledgeable non-character. This makes it like single-POV, that is, the narration is confined to the character immediately in viewpoint (just in single-POV, it's just in one character).

Now your question is what are good reasons for using multiple POV.
1) Let's start with the biggie: It's right for you. It's the way you think. It's your natural POV.
I can't stress that enough. You have to write from your own mind, and if you naturally write in multiple POV, why fight it? Better to just do it really well so readers and editors will get a great experience. Now that most people grow up not just reading but watching TV and film (which are usually in multiple POV, if they can be said to have POV), it's not at all "wrong" that the more visual writers, the ones more cinematic in their mentality, are likely to write in multiple. Go with it-- just do it well. And ignore all those single-POV puritans who act like you're sinning. You're having more fun. However, the natural-multiple writer is likely to become a headhopper if he/she doesn't understand POV and its power when controlled.

2) So that's the best reason, that it's your natural approach. But there are other reasons, and even naturally-single writers can occasionally use multiple to their advantage. Second good reason-- to juxtapose the understanding or perceptions of different characters. This is one of those LESS IS MORE situations, by the way. If you're constantly switching from one character to another to show, for example, that Joe loves the curry and Mary hates it, it's just going to feel incoherent and bipolar. But if you want to juxtapose something interesting and important, to show that two characters have different understandings of the current reality, multiple is a great way to go. For example, I am working on a scene where the protagonist and his best friend see a couple walking hand in hand. The protagonist has a secret crush on the lady in the couple, but the best friend assumes his interest has to do with the illegal activities of the young man. Switching from Pro (who is longing for the lady) to the the clueless best friend not only shows the difference in their understanding, but also something about their relationship-- Best Friend might not know Pro as well as they think, and Pro might not trust Best Friend all that much. I thought it might be even more interesting to have the best friend cavalierly point out that he's surprised that a cool dude like the young man is wasting his time with the lady, because she isn't very pretty. This of course is going to get some reaction from Pro, but I've given him reason not to be honest about his feelings. So I might consider switching to his POV to show his internal conflict-- he wants to slug his best friend for dissing the lady. Then again, I might stay in the best friend's POV and show him misunderstanding yet again, this time interpreting the Pro's sudden tension as evidence of fear of the illegal guy. Anyway, juxtaposition will show the difference in knowledge and in perspective in a vivid way.

3)This is related -- multiple POV allows more perspectives in crowd scenes, such as, oh, to be timely, a group of disparate people watching the inauguration. The old civil rights worker who never thought she'd live to see this day will have a different reaction than the McCain voter who thinks the country made the wrong choice and the snarky ironist who is contemptuous of all the enthusiasm around him. Now of course it has to be important and worthwhile to "sample" all these different perspectives. But if you have decided you want this, it's much more efficient to do it in multiple than to have a scene-shift with each shift in perspective, that is, show the whole event from the civil rights worker's perspective, then do another version of a scene from the next perspective, etc. That method-- single-POV multi-scene-- is bound to get repetitive. This sort of "crowd control," btw, can be used effectively in some comic scenes, to show how different characters apprehend what's going on.

4) Multiple POV can be useful in controlling larger settings or multiple settings. Actually, I tend to think that when you shift from one setting to another, you're probably starting a new scene, but going with multiple POV will allow for more expeditious narration of events happening at the same time in different places. This is almost impossible to do effectively in single POV (we generally have to bypass the multiple-event challenge with some single-POV trick), but it can produce tense scenes and a lot of action. Perspective can shift whenever action starts to lag.

5) POV-shifts can delay gratification to create suspense. This is not about shifting to a new POV in order to give a trivial, momentarily spurt of gratification, but actually shifting AWAY from one character so you can hide something (like a reaction or a thought) that later will be revealed in a different way. That is, POV-shifting can be a form of information control, keeping something from the reader without cheating (as it might be sort of cheating to stay in the character's POV and not report some thought or reaction).

Those are just a few good reasons. But really, the truth is, you don't generally choose your POV-- it's a reflection of your own approach to writing and the kind of stories you choose to write. That is, it's all connected. If you're naturally interested in stories with a lot of action and multiple settings, you're probably just not likely to be a single-POV writer. I'd also suggest that the worldview that inspires writers to tend naturally to POV will differ. Single-POV writers are more likely to think that what's important is how reality is perceived and experienced inside a character, while (I think) multiple-POV writers are more suspicious, perhaps, that reality is an absolute-- rather believing that only by getting a collage of different versions can the reader begin to understand what's really going on.

Now... headhopping can't be dignified with an assumption of its worldview. It offers no worldview beyond chaos. Headhopping isn't about control, suspense, reader experience, character exploration. It's all about instant gratification for the WRITER, and just on those grounds, it should be rejected by good writers. (Good writers should be far, far more concerned with the READER.)

However, multiple POV by definition isn't headhopping. It's the controlled and purposeful presentation of more than one viewpoint on an event. Each shift should give the reader some benefit from the transfer into a new mind. And while I'm not saying you should always be conscious and analytical about everything you do as a writer, I do think that after you write a passage, you should probably be able to elucidate why you made each shift-- in retrospect, what the purpose of this shift is. (And if you can't make a case for it, I'd suggest reconsidering the shift.) That is, go with your inspiration, ride the wave, write the wave-- but when you revise, get analytical. Maximize the power of shifting by minimizing the occasions-- Less is more. Shift because you need to in order to create an effect, not just because it feels good.

So multiple POV gives me more options for scene presentation, but of course also more responsibility to know what effect I want to have on the reader and how best to attain that.

Alicia

Multiple, more on

writtenwyrdd said...

Thanks for the clarification! Now I have to ask, does the multiple pov mean shifting pov during or between scenes? I've always thought any shift within a single scene was headhopping.

Well, I calibrate POV by scene, so single-POV means one POV in a scene. Multiple POV means more than one POV in a scene, so as you say, during scenes.

Single-POV in a scene means you can have more than one POV in a book, which is pretty much a necessity in many types of books with more than one protagonist (like romances, family sagas, and most thrillers). But many writers in more narrow-focus stories stay in one POV the whole book. It depends a whole lot on genre and type of book, how big the scope is, and how tight the focus.

Multiple-POV means that in some scenes (not necessarily all), the viewpoint shifts from one character to another (and maybe to another). That's a legitimate evolution of the omniscient POV approach, and more modern and more suited, I suspect, to our fast-paced world and especially younger readers, who are used to having nine browser windows open while texting their three best friends and doing their homework (sort of :).

But there's a danger, especially in less experienced writers (and, I think, writers who don't absorb well from their reading), that the multiple approach, uncontrolled, will devolve into headhopping.

That isn't really a danger for single-POV writers (but it is, I think, for omniscient writers).

What I suggest is decide what you do well, what you do naturally, and go with that, and do it as well as you can. But there's no doubt it's easier if your natural POV approach is single-third, because most editors feel comfortable with that.

It's a bit harder to "sell" multiple-POV, but it's so good for some stories and it comes naturally to a lot of writers. I always counsel multiple-POV writers to stay in one POV as long as it works, and then shift smoothly and clearly to the new POV and stick with that as long as it works.

If it's done smoothly, and it works, editors and readers get the benefit of the juxtaposition of viewpoints without the jarring. :)
Alicia

POV (headhopping vs. multiple)

wryttenwyrd asks:
My question to you is about headhopping, commonly found in romances. Switching from one character's head to the other's can be done fairly well sometimes, but I personally find that device loathsome. As an editor, do you find this pov treatment (that's my nice word for it) viable in any other type of writing?

Actually, in my experience, romance has tended far more lately towards single POV (single per scene-- with two protagonists, most romance novels have to use both in the book). I see very little headhopping except in new authors and the bestselling authors who can get away with that.

But if you're reading bestsellers, you could well be getting more headhopping than you like! They can rely on their facility at storytelling more than their craft. But most romance writers are single-POV advocates, in my experience, as are most romance editors.

And I would probably reject any manuscript that came to me with headhopping, as to me that signifies a lack of control of the narrative and a lack of understanding of the reader's experience. If it was a great story, I'd probably ask the writer to learn about POV and resubmit. (You do sometimes get great stories with headhopping, because often that's a result of a particularly creative writer who is so great with character, she can't settle on any one.) Headhopping is often the sign of a new writer or a young writer, and usually a good new writer just has to have that pointed out and explained, and once she gets it, she can transform her work. But it's very much a transformation of mindset. It's hard, I think, for those who are innate single-POVers to understand that, because it's so natural for us to park in one POV and see everything from inside that character. But it's pretty amazing how quickly former headhoppers change when they understand what POV is, and what shifting means.

By the way, I distinguish between headhopping (uncontrolled shifting of POV) and multiple POV, which is shifting for a purpose, and the POV always in some character's head. That, I suspect, is truly the POV of the 21st Century, as it is more cinematic. (Omniscient was the dominant POV mode of the 19th C, and single-POV of the 20th C, I'd say.) Multiple POV and omniscient are closely related, and single-third and first-person are closely related; that is, each pair use much the same narration techniques and focus.

For a good example of how to do multiple POV in romance (and it makes very good sense in romance, as there are two protagonists, and both are present in most scenes, and both have journeys), read Susan Elizabeth Phillips's novels. Ain't She Sweet is great for that, and so is Nobody's Baby but Mine. She usually has four POV characters (has two romances in most books), and POV is carefully controlled. But she uses multiple POV to show how differently the characters interpret events, and that's a great reason to use multiple POV.
Alicia

POV questions

Very slowly working our way through your emailed questions--

Judy asks--
POV and head-hopping: some writers are of the opinion one must write an entire scene from only one character's POV, but there are times when a scene's impact can be enhanced by giving details from the POV of different characters. I've been told this is 'head-hopping'. Can you shed some light on how best to change POV? I know this is something with which many writers struggle.


POV-- well, first, there are no rules. Well, there are rules, but let's start with anarchy and work out from there!

The Point of View of a passage or a book should accomplish what you want to accomplish. And not all passages convey what you want through single-third POV. Let's say that you're setting this scene at a battleground, and you want to juxtapose the cold strategic planning of the general with what the grunt in the infantry line is facing. Well, a single-third wouldn't accomplish that, as we'd get only one of those two perspectives.

Or say that you're aiming at a comic effect in a scene taking place at a lecture, and the professor is using high-falutin' language but thinking about where he's going to eat lunch, and then we switch to a bored student, who is trying to take notes but also thinking about lunch, and then to the teaching assistant, who is in love with the professor and thinking about where prof will eat lunch so she can accidentally on purpose run into him there. Again, a more multiple-POV approach will really work here.

This isn't head-hopping. Head-hopping is the indiscriminate uncontrolled shifting that occurs because the writer doesn't know what he/she wants to accomplish and how to use POV to accomplish it. And if you're thinking, "This passage needs more than one viewpoint, because (whatever)," you're already controlling your POV approach.

How to shift... well, the most important thing is to keep the reader knowing whose head we're in. So if you're going to shift within a scene, do it as smoothly and surely as you can, so that the reader is immediately oriented in the new mind. Some techniques:

a) Use the new POV character's name right away: Judy glanced around the prison cell....

b) Quickly use a head word (like thought or felt or mused or wondered or ached or tasted)
to convey thought, feeling, or perception from the new perspective: Judy glanced around the prison cell, feeling claustrophobic....

c) Use some action for transference of perspective: Bob slammed the cell door, deciding to give her solitude to contemplate her future.

d) Use some object for transference of perspective: Furious, Bob held out the warrant. Judy took the paper, hoping he didn't notice that her hands were shaking. (Usually we'd go with a new paragraph with a change in POV, but sometimes, especially with object transference, that's sort of clunky-- try both ways and see what works best.)


e) Try skipping a few lines when you shift if you're only shifting once in a scene– but not if you shift frequently, as it will get annoying. Try it out, and feel free to go back to unbroken text if it looks/feels better.

Alicia