When's it okay to change the perspective character?

I've got this story planned out, but one problem I'm having is that there are two subplots that, if I want to pursue them, require the perspective changing from my lead character to side characters, as they get involved in events that my main character can't be privy to. And even if I did change things around so he can, his presence would likely disrupt the character arcs I have planned.

To be precise, it's something of a Super Hero story, with my lead as the hero. One arc is meant to be about his best friend trying to establish herself as a genuine hero as well. The other involves a "normal" character with no fighting ability whatsoever to drive home the creepiness of an Amusement Park of Doom during after hours.

Change whenever you feel it is appropriate.

This really isn't much of an issue.

edited 24th Jun '11 5:09:50 PM by annebeeche

It depends on your writing skill. Some can pull it off between chapters, some between line breaks, and Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce could pull it off mid-sentence. Can you effectively convey two different narrative voices? Then do it.

A similar dilemma I'm having involves one of my favorite tropes in visual works, but I'm not sure it would work in narrative because it requires a pointlessly short perspective change.

For example, one sequence has my hero fighting his way through enemy hoards. At one point, I wanted to have the perspective change to a hapless bystander on the other side of a door the hero needs to go through, to make the entrance more impressive. But again, I don't think it works in narrative, especially since the perspective would have to switch-back to the hero mid-scene.

Just throw in breaks in the prose.

edited 24th Jun '11 5:42:55 PM by annebeeche

Maybe it shouldn't be first person, then, if you want cut-aways that short.

I should clarify: it's not first-person, it's limit third-person.

Sisterhood of the Traveling pants changed perspective every few paragraphs, although that was between alternating arcs.

Then you have no problems at all (changes in first-person can be potentially confusing).

Go crazy.

Also, Tales of the Otori has two main characters who constantly rotate perspective. One of them is in first person and the other in third.

My general feeling is that if something is first person, (unless you have some clever reason for changing, such as they are written reports by different people or something.) then you shouldn't change perspective at all.

But my feeling on third person is change whenever you want. I've never really seen many problems crop up when it comes to changing perspectives, so long as you give each perspective enough screen time at each point that it doesn't feel like you're being yo-yo-ed back and forth.

When I try to be too clever with limited third-person, I end up going somewhere that feels more like third-person omniscient, which isn't right (basically a problem in dialog; you end up hearing the thoughts of both characters even though it's supposed to be from the perspective of only one). I try to keep from switching except at obvious paragraph breaks and only a few times per scene.

I generally write 3rd Person Limited but I've noticed in other works I've attempted, the viewpoint can jump around quite a bit. Not quite to the point of verging on 3rd Person Omniscient but doing things like having a couple of paragraphs (or even only one short paragraph) of another person's viewpoint in the midst of stuff that's predominantly another character's viewpoint. Kinda jarring to jump out of a person's head for a couple of seconds then back in again.

I'm making a concerted effort in this one to make the changes coincide with natural breaks (I've given up on trying to write it in 1st person and switched to 3rd Person Limited with multiple viewpoint characters) and make the viewpoint character the logical choice for the scene/chapter/section.

No matter how you do it, you need to make it immediately clear to the audience that the perspective has changed.

I change the perspective character regularly, usually marking it with some kind of break. I don't see when it wouldn't be okay to do so.

Whenever you want to switch, break scene and change perspective. I personally like switching around every other scene, but there are hardly any rules here — just go with what comes natural or makes a better story.

On the whole visual-switch thing, that could work in third person limited, if you have something like Scene 1 (Ann's POV) : Ann and Beth fight, break scene mid fight, Scene 2 (Charlie's POV) : Charlie is chillaxing, Ann and Beth destroy a wall and end up fighting in his living room.

Mind you, I agree with your analysis in your own case, if you really have to change the viewpoint back mid-scene. IMO constantly shifting back and forth with the POV wouldn't be near as pretty in writing as it is when done in a movie. A one-way shift during a fight or something would be ideal, but the concept still works okay.

edited 28th Jun '11 1:38:29 AM by Dec