Hi, I'm writing a story with two main protagonists. Basically, I'm having trouble with my layout. :If I'm switching between the two protagonists points of view (I'm writing in third person subjective POV), should I start a new chapter every time? I don't want to, that would result in far too many chapters... I was wondering whether it would be okay if I just had some sort of indicator between the POVs by putting a line, such as "--------" in between?
I would at least make a break, which is usually indicated by a “#” or a “***” between two blank lines. Though some people write in omniscient third person if they want free rein to move into people's heads -- I don’t like it personally.
Third person omniscient is too confusing for me to try out on my first story... :redface: Great, I'll stick with "***". Thanks.
Using a break like *** as mentioned works extremely well for a lot of people. You might find changing at chapters useful, but not necessary.
The standard manuscript section break is a line containing three hashes, centered horizontally. like so: ###Switching POVs should normally occur on chapter boundaries, or perhaps on scene boundaries. Switchhing more frequently is likely to disorient the reader.
I use *** centered on it's own line...however if your switching that much where you can't split it up into chapters I would perhaps reconsider. It might confuse the reader to switch that much. What a lot of writers do is complete the chapter with one character and then on the next chapter they jump back in time and do the next chapter in the eyes of the other character. Sounds confusing but I've seen it done lots of times. Might just take a bit of practice to master it. Happy Writing!
Thanks guys! No, I won't be switching often, there are only two POVs that I will be writing from, though one of them is quite clearly the main one.
I'm a big opponent of shifting POV's without the standard *** or ### to warn the reader of the change. Any author who I've read that doesn't do that tends to get placed right back down...
Frank Herbert had a knack of slipping from one POV to another within the same scene, seamlessly. Read the gom jabbar scene in Dune for a great example. But most writers, including his son, do not do so well. The key is a mastery of transitions.
