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[vikingwriter]

A question for those of you who put pen to paper. Or fingertips to keyboards, or styluses (styli?) to wax tablets. Is there ever a situation where it is appropriate/acceptable/not a punishable offense to switch POV mid-scene or chapter

Comments

[littlesammy]

If it's really just one scene and the rest is from another POV - don't. That particularly hurts, and I think even readers who usually don't give a rat's ass about POV would notice.

It can work just fine if the whole story switches POV regularly, and I have even read stuff that sort of wobbles around in different POVs all over the place in some scenes. Mid-scene, though, is rarely good, and I can't come up with an example where that would work for me. At least make a scene cut.

Again, though, if it's just one scene in the middle of the novella-thingie, just don't. That will hurt really bad.

But I feel your pain. There are ways to make a scene flow from a different POV and include the other's thoughts and motivations, too, like observations by the telling character. They're a pain in the ass, but it can be done.

damn

[vikingwriter]

Yeah, I was afraid of that. It's all third person, but with a specific, I guess it's viewpoint character. You know, the one the reader's supposed to identify with but that doesn't directly talk to the reader. Sorry, grammar terminology seems to be failing me at the moment. Anyway, the viewpoint character changes from scene to scene, but it's just this one that sort of moves around. Mostly because it's a bit of a *ahem*physical*cough* scene, and it's like the pronoun pain is getting in the way of my knowledge of English language mechanics. I suppose the only thing to do is move on with the rest of the story and hope I find a way around my brain.