Many books feature more than one main character, each of them sharing their perspective for a deeper, more complex story. Personally, I love weaving multiple characters’ journeys together, but it’s not always obvious which character should be the POV character for each scene.

When there’s only one main character in a particular scene, it’s easy: they have to be the ones to tell the story. But when you’ve got multiple characters, each of them directly involved in whatever action is taking place, each of their journeys advancing or changing because of the events in this scene, it gets more complicated.

Here’s how I figure out which character should be my POV for a particular scene:

The very simple answer is, I choose the character for whom the scene is going to have the most impact. Impact might mean emotional impact, changing their perspective impact, forcing them to make a new decision, forcing them to face some sort of change, or creating a new obstacle that forces a new decision.

But when you’ve got two characters with equal stakes, we need to look deeper. I start reminding myself, What is the core story that I’m telling? What is the story about? What is the main mission or goal of the story?

I look at the scene again, and decide how the scene itself impacts the main thread of the story. And from there, I look at which POV character will get the most impact for the main story. For example, maybe one character’s shift in this scene relates to the main story problem, while another character’s shift relates to a subplot.

I also look at theme, so not just the physical story, but the internal, emotional journey as well. What is the belief shift that’s happening? What is it that your story says? Which character is going to embody that shift the most, or help share the message the most?

So really, when we’re deciding on our point of view character, it really is about who’s going to have the most shift. And that might be physically or that might be internally/mentally.

Choosing your POV character depends on who has the most impact Personally, for the Main Story, and the Theme or message.

Now what about the characters who have a shift but aren’t our chosen POV character? How do we share that change that they experience to make the story complete? Because, of course, a great scene should be pivotal to multiple storylines. But we can only share an event in real time from one perspective, or risk being accused of head-hopping and time travel.

Luckily, we’ve got options.

One option is to split the scene in half, so that you tell the first half of what’s happening from one perspective. And you tell the second half from the other perspective. And again, you try to match up so that you have the first character’s shift in the first half of the scene from their POV, and the second character has their shift in the second half of scene from their POV.

The other option, is to tell the entire scene from one point of view (picking the character who has the most shift or impact). And then, as we switch into the next characters narrative, start with a couple lines of their response. Essentially, we’re using a couple lines (and only a couple!) to tell the reader something that occurred to the other main character. They’ve already seen t he scene, we are just recapping it and adding the extra pieces of information they need, usually this new POV character’s thoughts or response (ie, their shift).

And if you’re really stuck trying to figure out which character should have the honours of being the POV for a particular scene, you can always write them both! Try it out from both sides and see which one you like best. (Then, you can use the scene that you don’t use in the final manuscript as a reader magnet to encourage fans to sign up for your newsletter… Hey, do you want to see [X Awesome Scene] from [X Awesome Character]’s POV? Join the newsletter to read this hidden scene!)

Happy Writing (and POV selecting)!
-Charlotte

PS, want to learn more about constructing belief shifts, developing characters, and plotting multiple storylines? Check out my free Story Planning Guide that outlines the exact process I follow to build a novel from initial idea to final draft, including core questions to ask yourself in each area for a complex story that weaves together seamlessly. Get the Guide here.