when you have a ton of points of view characters, you actually risk giving your reader too much detail about things that matter less to the story. Y, because when you have access to multiple characters perspectives, you have access to way more information. You can tell the reader anything that multiple characters think, feel, and experience. You're no longer filtered through just one person. You've expanded your constraint and you have access to so much more information.
And so it's very easy to include more details that aren't important to the story simply because there are more details that it's possible to include. Welcome to your next draft. Today, we're talking about a really important topic. This is a foundational choice that you'll make when you're deciding how to structure your novel. Here it is. Points of view. More specifically. I want to talk about multiple points of view novels. That means stories where the point of view changes.
At least once in the book, for some parts of the story we're experiencing with story through one character's eyes. And then for other parts of the story, we're experiencing it through a different characters eyes. Many books include multiple points of view. Switching between points of view characters throughout the story. Personally, I haven't read game of Thrones, but from everything I've heard, George RR margin is the master at navigating between multiple points of view characters.
I believe the first book has nine points of view characters. And having multiple points of view, like this can work really well. It allows your readers to bond closely with multiple characters and it allows you to share information that one character knows, but another doesn't. So it's a useful tool for increasing the amount of information that you can share with your readers. To be clear here. I'm talking about switching between points of view. As a deliberate choice.
This could mean that you're switching from one character's first person narrative to another character's first person narrative. It could mean that you're switching from one person's third person narrative to another person's third person narrative. It could even apply to third person omniscient, although that's kind of a different beast.
So really in this podcast, I'm focusing on this first person or third person limited approach, but it also kind of applies to this idea of third person, omniscient, which characters you're going to focus on within your omniscient narration. All of this is different from what I talked about in last week's episode. In that episode, I was talking about unintentional points of view changes, the kinds of inconsistencies that will confuse your readers and throw them out of the story.
That's something else. Those are mistakes, not deliberate choices. They break the form that you've established for your readers. And you'll need to read through your story carefully and clean them up to make sure that your point of view is consistent before you publish your book. When multiple points of view are used effectively, whether that's in first person, third person limited, or even to some degree in third person, omniscient.
The shifts between points of view are clear and deliberate, and the reader can pick up the pattern for how the work. Most often. The way this works is that the point of view changes between chapters or scenes. Each scene is written in one character's point of view. And then when you're ready to show us a different characters points of view, you end that scene and begin a new one. And within the first few lines, we immediately recognize new scene, new points of view character.
Now we're in this new characters head. I do want to give you a quick word of warning. Using multiple points of view does not excuse you from the danger of inconsistencies that I was describing before. You still have to be careful to stick with your single point of view character for the duration of a given scene, especially if you're using first person or third person limited. The same rules apply, no matter how many points of you you use. Once you've established for the reader.
How points of view works in your story? Make sure you stick with it. And don't accidentally slip into a different form. So that's the first guideline for using multiple points of view effectively. Establish how points of view will work in your story and stick with it. That means choosing the tents for your story. Well, you tell it in past tense or present tense. It means choosing your points of view in general, first person, third person, limited or third person omniscient.
And it means choosing your point of view, character or characters. Will you stick with just one single character's point of view. Or will you switch between characters and tell the story through multiple characters eyes? Which brings me to my main topic today. How many points of view. Does your novel need? In other words, how many points of view characters do you need? We're going to talk about the answer to that question. I'm going to share the mistake.
I most often see when writers use multiple points of view. And I'm going to share a simple principle. I recommend for figuring out the right number of points, a few characters for your story. Ready. Let's dive in. Now, before I tell you the mistake that I see most often when it comes to multiple points of view novels. I want to remind you. I think that multi POV novels can be fantastic when they're done really well. I love them. I think they're brilliant. I think they're clever.
I'm so impressed when authors pull them off really, really well. And I think there are tons of amazing stories that can be told really effectively with multiple points of view. In fact. I just finished reading a novel that had seven different points of view. And it was excellent and I wouldn't change a thing. And I'm going to talk about why that worked so well for that book in a few minutes. But I wanted to start with that, disclaimer, because what I'm going to say next might make you doubt it.
I might make some people mad with this, but I'm going to say it anyway, because I'm here to help fantastic stories come into the world, not to make friends. Here's the bold claim. The mistake I often see writers make is having too many points of view characters. It can be very tempting to include five or six or eight or 10 or even more different points of view characters. And yes, I've worked with manuscripts that had 10 or more points of view characters.
But the thing is in most cases, including this much information, Doesn't actually serve your story. Here are two dangers of including too many points of view characters. First, when you have a ton of points of view characters, you actually risk giving your reader too much detail about things that matter less to the story. Y, because when you have access to multiple characters perspectives, you have access to way more information.
You can tell the reader anything that multiple characters think, feel, and experience. You're no longer filtered through just one person. You've expanded your constraint and you have access to so much more information. And so it's very easy to include more details that aren't important to the story simply because there are more details that it's possible to include. So that's the first danger. Here's the second.
When you have many points of view characters, you spread out the time that your reader spends becoming closely attached to your protagonist or core cast. This means you dilute the intimate connection and empathy that they'll feel for your most important characters. When we see through a character's eyes, we experience the world alongside them, and we start to bond with them. We build empathy for them, and we want to know more about them.
And that connection builds the more time that we spend with them. The more points of view characters. You have, the more connections we can build, but the less time we'll have for that empathy and investment to develop with any particular character. Remember, there's always an opportunity cost here. Your book has a finite word count. It doesn't go on forever.
Which means that when you spend more time on things that matter less, you're sacrificing space and word counts that you could devote to the events and characters that matter the most. Now. I know that once you've started, including a character's point of view. It's really appealing to keep it. And once you add a second point of view character, it's tempting to add more. After all, if you can share all of this information with the reader, why wouldn't you. I'm going to quote Jeff Goldbloom here.
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could. They didn't stop to think if they should. I think the podcast just peaked right there. This is it. That's episode. Thanks everyone. It's been a great run. My point here is just because you can include more points of view characters doesn't necessarily mean that will benefit your story. And every choice you make in the editing process is in service of your story. What will be the very best choice for the story that you're telling.
I promise you a simple principle to help you find the perfect number of points of view characters for your story. Here it is. Most of the time. I find that the best choice. Is simplicity. I'd recommend that you keep things that you keep your point of view. As simple as possible. Keep it simple, even when your story is complex or perhaps even more so when your story is complex, because it will help ground things. So the complexity of the story itself can really shine.
What does simplicity mean for points of view? I recommend limiting yourself to the minimum viable number of points of view characters. If that means you can tell the complete story in just one character's point of view. That's fantastic. Do that. If you definitely need the perspectives of two characters in order to tell the story well, Then go ahead and include two point of view characters, but limit it to two.
You'll see this a lot in romance novels that have dual perspectives, where we get to see into the minds of both lovers. Or you'll see this in stories where two characters kind of Vive for the role of the protagonist. Does your story need more than two points of view characters? Maybe it does. I mentioned at the start that I just read a fantastic book. That includes seven different points of view. It's a thriller the guest list by Lucy Foley.
There are six characters whose perspectives we see in first person. And then there's a third person narrator for some scenes as well. Lucy Foley structures this in a really clear way. Every chapter is in one single characters points of view. And the title of that chapter is the name of that character. So we know exactly who's speaking.
And this structure works really, really well because it allows us to get close to and empathize with all these characters that we gradually discover, have unexpected connections with the victim. And so much of the story is about information. The characters don't know about each other. So as we go from character to character in each new chapter, we see the gaps in their knowledge, the things that their ones ring and new little clues, each one discovers or learns.
So, this is a really good example of using multiple points of view to communicate information. The reader needs to know. And heightened the mystery intention. At the same time. Lucy Foley really cleverly avoids the risk of giving us too much information with all these points of view characters. In fact, every single chapter, let's me wondering, wanting to know more about what was going on with each person.
It actually felt like she was withholding information by including all these points of view characters, rather than giving me too much information. And every detail she includes is very intentional. There is not one. Iota of wasted information in that story. That said when it comes to the book you're writing or editing right now, every time that you add another point of view character, I want you to ask yourself. How is this serving the story?
Can you communicate this information in a different way, using one of your pre-existing points of view? Why would the reader need to hear from this character specifically? And what does their perspective add to the reader's experience of the story? That no other character can. We do not need to hear information from every character in your book. We just don't. There are so many more characters in the guest list. Only six people get to tell the story through their own first person narration.
And Lucy Foley chose those six characters expertly with so much intentionality. So every single one of them gets to share their points of view for a very specific reason. Every one of them is connected to some major revelation that we, the readers can only access through their eyes. This book is complicated. But I would argue that Lucy Foley chose the simplest possible point of view structure that would allow her to tell this story in this way.
And when you're evaluating your own story, I encourage you to do the same look for ways to simplify so that every time we do get to walk alongside a point of view character, we know that their perspective is absolutely indispensable. Again, this is not to tell you that you shouldn't write multiple points of view stories. There are tons of really excellent multiple points of view stories out there.
And there are stories that are served really, really well by including perspectives of multiple characters. Another that comes to mind is wonder by RJ Palacio. It's a middle grade novel about a boy with a facial difference. Who's going to school for the first time. And the story is about how he and his whole community navigate the experience of his first year at school, where he could very easily be rejected, outcasts and bullied for his differences.
So we get lots of different points of view characters, his classmates, his sister, her boyfriends, and more because really this book isn't just about Auggie, the protagonist it's about his whole community and how his presence within the community enables them all to grow. That's another fantastic instance where every single new points of view enhances the story. So first part of our guiding principle is simplicity, simplify as much as possible.
And our second is whenever you want to add another point of view character, Make sure that you're doing that in the service of the story and that it benefits the story to add them. You're not doing it just because it's cool to do or fun to do where you really like this character. And here's a big one. You're not doing it just because it would be a little tricky to figure out how to give a little piece of information in another way. And you don't want to wrestle with that.
One of the really fun parts about a constraints, like point of view. Is that it forces you to get creative. When you're using first person or third person limited. You can't just tell us something, your point of view, character doesn't know. So you have to find creative and interesting ways to get the necessary information to your reader. Or use the gap where there's information that your character and reader don't have access to. To increase the tension. That's an awesome creative opportunity.
So, how do you decide whether you need to elevate a character to point of view, character status? I have a few questions for you. First. I do this character's decisions matter to the story. And does this characters fate matter to the story? In other words. Will the decisions this character makes impact the plot. And will the reader care? What happens to this character at the end of the story? Second, do they have an arc of change or do they contribute to the overall plot? Third.
Do you want or need your readers to form an emotional bond with this character? Readers can connect with all kinds of characters, even when they're not points of view characters. But there's a special closeness and intimacy that comes from seeing the world through a character's eyes. Do you want to build that connection for your readers with this character? And forth. Is there no other way that you can communicate necessary information.
Using one of your existing point of view characters instead. In other words, if you don't include this new point of view character, can you still communicate everything your reader needs to know? If this character's decisions and fate matter to the story. And they have an arc of change or contribute to the overall plot. And you want your readers to form a bond with them. And their point of view is essential in order to communicate information your readers need and can't access. Otherwise.
Then this character is probably worth considering as a point of view character. On the other hand, if those four conditions are not all met. I'm not saying you have to cut their points of view. I'm just saying it's worth considering during the editing process, whether you can simplify the point of view and simplify your story by removing some of your points of view characters. That was a lot, hopefully that started sparking ideas for you about how point of view is working in your book.
You might be able to guess what I want you to do next. I want you to go back to your work in progress. The book that you're working on right now. And examine how the point of view works. What point of view are you using first person? Third person limited. Third person omniscient. And who is your narrator? Who are your point of view characters? Whose eyes are we seeing through when we read your story? How many points of view characters do you have?
And if the answer to that last question is more than one, then I want you to go through all the questions I asked a couple of minutes ago to evaluate whether you absolutely need every single one of those characters points of view. I want you to see whether all four of those conditions for an excellent point of view, character are met. And to make this easy for you. I've put together a quick worksheet. Worksheet, you can download with all of those questions.
You don't have to go listen back to try to write them all down. Although you can, if you want. Or you can go to Alice subtler.com/ POV and download the whole list right now. And that link is also in the show notes to make it super easy to find. Remember the principles that we're working with here. Make your point of view, as simple as possible while still telling the story you want to tell. And make sure that every single choice that you make in your editing process.
Including all your decisions around points of view are made in service of the story. Your obligation in this process is to your story. Every single thing you do should benefit the story. So go grab that. Download at Alice Sobo. Dot com slash multi-piece. POV. Evaluate the point of view characters in your story and see whether every single one has earned their place. And serve your story well in the editing process. So you can deliver an amazing reading experience to your readers. Happy editing.