Multiple POV novels are my favourite things to read, and it's always impressed me how authors are able to wrangle so many POV characters without confusing their readers about who is who.
A little while ago, I wrote up some tips for writers using multiple points of view, and I'm back again today with three more. This time, I'll be referencing the works of Peter V Brett (because it's his books I'm currently devouring), as well as mentioning some of my own works.
Beware spoilers for Peter V Brett's Demon Cycle series.
Different Characters Names
This is a simple but surprisingly effective technique. You can help differentiate between POV characters by referring to the same characters by different names.
To take a basic example from my own novel, Wasteland Rules (currently on submission), Cesar and Melanie are point of view characters. They're in a relationship and, as such, spend a lot of time together.
In chapters from Cesar's perspective, Melanie is often referred to using a shortened nickname (Mel), because that's what she allows close friends to call her. In chapters from Melanie's POV, her name is always used in full, because that's how her parents always referred to her, and she came to do the same.
This is a subtle difference, but if you combine it with some of the other tips below, you'll start to give each POV a different feel. You can also take this tip much, much further, like Peter V Brett does throughout The Demon Cycle series.
There are chapters throughout the final book in the series, The Core (spoilers ahead), where four POV characters are present:
Arlen Bales
Renna Bales
Ahmann Jardir
The Consort
The POV often switches mid-chapter using only section breaks, and yet, it rarely gets confusing. So, how does Brett get away with this?!
One way is by having most of these four characters use different names for one another. Here are the names each uses frequently to refer to themselves and the others:
Arlen's POV | Renna's POV | Ahmann's POV | The Consort | |
Refers to Arlen as... | Arlen | Arlen | The Par'chin | The Explorer |
Refers to Renna as... | Renna / Ren | Renna | Renna | The Hunter |
Refers to Ahmann as... | Ahmann | Jardir | Jardir | The Heir |
Refers to The Consort as... | The Demon Prince | Alagai Ka | Alagai Ka | The Consort |
The use of these varied names helps differentiate POVs when the narrative jumps from character to character. Another nice touch is that the Consort (the only demon amongst the four) is the only one with a completely unique set of names for the other characters, helping mark him out as 'other'.
The First Named Character
A small but highly useful tip is to make sure that the first character named in each new chapter or section is the POV character you're using. You'll find this technique everywhere from Game of Thrones to The Expanse.
It's a great way to immediately embed the POV character's identity in the reader's mind, and they'll subconsciously view things from that character's perspective even if you're not using character names beneath your chapter titles.
Brett again exemplifies this in The Core. In the chapters mentioned above, almost every new section has the name of the POV characters as the first word in the first sentence.
A Unique Vocabulary
Each of your characters will have their own history and experiences, and their vocabularies will be affected by this. To take an example from my own work:
The Dead Cities (as yet unpublished) features zombie-like creatures, ordinary townsfolk, and Sentinels (a group dedicated to keeping townsfolk safe). Townsfolk live sheltered lives behind strong walls, and refer to the zombies as 'Shades', believing that perhaps they have a shade of humanity left within them somewhere. Sentinels, on the other hand, refer to the zombies simply as 'infected'. They can't afford to have sympathy for the undead, because it's their job to kill them.
This difference, though small, immediately tells the reader whether they're reading from the POV of a townsperson or a Sentinel.
Brett again takes this further. In The Demon Cycle series, there are two primary regions, each with its own vocabulary and tones of voice. Hollow County speaks English, and Brett mixes 'country bumpkin' slang into both dialogue and prose. By contrast, Krasia speaks Krasian, and while chapters from Krasian POVs are still written in English, we get a smattering of Krasian words. The tone of dialogue is also more clipped and matter of fact.
Hollow County | Krasia |
Tender / Priest | Dama |
Nemesis / Rival | Zahven |
Demon / Coreling | Alagai |
These differences combined with the other techniques I've already mentioned go a long way towards making each character's point of view feel distinct and unique.
What do you think?
Now that you've read some of my favourite techniques for differentiating POV characters, I'd love to know your thoughts. What examples can you think of? Have you got any tips you'd like to share? Find me on Twitter (does anyone actually call it X?) email me, or check out three more tips for differentiating between POV characters.
Comments