Do you have too many? #writetip This is where a spreadsheet comes in handy. If you write in first person with one point of view, then you don’t have a problem. Same goes for third person and one point of view. I like to write from several points of view.
Use the sort function in a spreadsheet to sort by POV. This will give you a quick overview of how many POVs you have and how many times a character gets a POV.
If I find that a character only got one POV then I take a hard took at that scene. Does it need to be in that character’s POV? Could it be rewritten from another character’s POV?
If the POV is needed, I study the character. I must have been interested enough to write a POV scene, so maybe that character should have a bigger part.
Only you can decide if you have too many, but you can’t do this if you don’t know how many you have.
See my blog about Keeping Track of Scenes for more ideas on how to use a spreadsheet.
I’ve seen publishers complain about POV switching. They don’t like too many. I’m going through my novel now and trimming it down, and re-writing chapters to “key” POV characters rather than some minor characters. Some of the changes are painful.
Jennifer, Thanks for the comment. I enjoyed checking our your website. I like to switch POV. I find it more interesting than writing from one character’s POV. Maybe someday I’ll try that too. It can be hard to cut out POVs, but I don’t mind if it makes the novel better.
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