Things You Should Try to Avoid Doing as an Author

Changing Point of Views

Changing Point of Views;

All of you should already know this part, but I'm going to say it anyway. Always inform your reader of a POV change or it will confuse them!

          If you are going to change POVs within your story there is a certain way you should do it. There is also a certain way you shouldn't

           Some writers change POVs several times within the same chapter. This can get very confusing.  And frankly it's quite annoying! If you are one of the writers who do this then you should look into writing in the third person. (For those of you confused about first, second, and third person I will be talking about that in the next chapter. You may already know about them, but some people can get confused sometimes.) 

            Here's an example of how you shouldn't change POVs;

Chapter One

Katie's POV

            Burt was the best thing that ever happened to me. Then he left. Gone, just like that. I wish I knew why he left me.

Burt's POV

                 I love Katie. I do. But there is no way I could stay with her. It would hurt both of us too much. I wish I could tell her why I had to leave her, but she'd hate me and I just can't let that happen.

Katie's POV

                 Is there any way I can tell him, or show him how much I love him? Can I convince him to come back? 

Burt's POV

                   There's no way she could ever convince me to come back. 

Chapter Two...

That there is a very over exaggerated example of how you should not change POVs. Usually people put more paragraphs and/or sentences between the change, but it is still confusing and silly.

              Now that we've covered how not to change POVs, let's talk about how we should change POVs. 

                 If you are going to change POVs within your story, that's fine. Even if it is just one chapter that change POVs. (I know you can sense the but...) But you should change POVs every chapter, not during a chapter.

Here is another equally terrible example on how you should change POVs;

Chapter One

Katie's POV;

                   Burt was the best thing that ever happened to me. Then he left. Gone, just like that. I wish I knew why he left me. There has to be some reason. Nobody leaves out of the blue like that. Not even someone as unpredictable as Burt.

                       Like a whirlwind he was in and out of my life. But the impact he made. Even if I never see him again I will remember him. Remember every little moment I got to spend with him. No, I can't think like that. I can only think possitively. 

                   There has to be some way that I can convince him to come back. Some way that I can find him and tell him - show him - just how much he mean to me, just how much I love him. Maybe I did something wrong. If that's the case then I have to make him forgive me. There is no way I can live without him now.

                      Only six months together wasn't enough. How could it be? We'd only just confessed our love, why now of all times? If he was just going to leave then why couldn't he leave before I fell in love. Now I'm going to have to visit every person he knows that I know. I will not give up on this. I love him. I need him. I cannot live without him. 

                      I've had my heartbroken before. Many times. But for some reason this time it's different. With every other so called love I could just cry and then build a bridge. Not this time. Maybe because I had a reason for all of those other break ups. Cheaters. Loss of interest. You name it. I'm determined to get my reason because I know this time it's different. I will get my answer. No matter what.

Chapter Two.

Burt's POV

ect...

                       So as you can see I changed chapters before I changed POVs. This is more professional and a lot less confusing. Changes in POV can be good. They give the reader a chance to get into more than one person's brain at the same time.

                                   If you are going to do POV changes for more than two people I'd do a maximum of four. More than two can be a little confusing as it is so you don't want too many, but there are exceptions. But I'd still stick to a maximum of three or four, any more than that then you should write in third person. Because after all each change of POV tells a different side of the story. And you don't want to tell twenty stories at the same time for the same event.

Did I manage to include everything? Or is there something I forgot? Something you'd like me to add? Tell me in the comments.

What are your opinions on the changing of POVs? Tell me below. 

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As I mentioned above the next chapter will focus on First, Second, and Third person!