I've read that it's confusing to some reader to move the POV around during a scene, are there some guidlines to this? For example; I start a scene written from character A's point of view. He's driving towards his new apartment, and I write the scene through his eyes as I describe the apartment and surrounding grounds. Describe his feelings on moving to a new place and meeting new people etc etc... I then want to switch POV to inside the apartment where I describe Character B, and record his reaction to first meeting his new roommate, A, who is now coming through the front door carrying all of his belongings. Are these two seperate scenes even though they flow directly from one to another? If this is fine, what might be an example of something to avoid?
It's fine as long as you do it well. I've seen POV shift mid-paragraph, successfully, by an author who knew what she was doing. If you can't write it well, then don't do it. That's really the only consideration in my view.
Use a scene break, extra line of white space, and a "#" if that scene break falls on a page break too (or while working on the manuscript so you can keep track of scene placement during editing/revision).
You're confusing me a little bit. "A writer should make it a clear at the beginning of the story what POV they are using": So you're suggesting that you can't switch back and forth if it's in first person? That's simply not true. The reader expects to read what you've written and if you lead them well they won't even realize what POV it's in. They won't care. They'll just read. And your last paragraph is just a mess for me. It could just be me though, I'll give you that. Not having the greatest day and I could just be reading it wrong, but if you make your writing clear and your transitions are marked well I don't see the problem in any POV. Yes, you can hop back and forth in the middle, but there's a pretty good chance the results are going to be sloppy and confusing if you don't have the skills to pull it off. The BEST place to do it is at the beginning of a scene. I'm really not following here.
Hey Trish. Sorry if you think my opinions are garbage. It's just my own opinion, and most my critics tell me that I can't swich person perspective if I can't indicate it to the readers well. Anway, I didn't mean to start a debate. Just my opinion. Amd for your information, didn't say you can't switch back and forth to POVs. I said ONLY if it can be done well. I'm already used to what most people on here say against me, but I'm not bothered about it.
I didn't say your opinions were garbage. I said I was confused, I wasn't trying to debate I was trying to understand what you're trying to say. I am truly sorry if my post came across nasty. I didn't intend for it to. The way I read it the advice you were giving wasn't clear or even what I think is generally accepted. I wasn't attacking you personally (or attacking at all). And I said I may be misunderstanding, didn't I? I still don't see where you said ONLY if it's done well though, am I missing another post? I'm honestly confused here. EDIT: Reading it again my wording was not the best on saying your second paragraph was a mess for me, I just meant I was confused. I'm sorry if that came out wrong.
