How many point-of-view characters is too many?
My dystopian sci-fi trilogy (WIP: T.A.G.) has a large cast of characters, including a female and male protagonist. Those two are the point-of-view characters for most chapters, but not all. A variety of secondary characters have POV chapters and scenes. And the antagonists have multiple scenes in each book where they’re driving the perspective. In total, I have nine POV characters in book 1.
Full disclosure: It was 11 before my developmental editor advised me to cut two of them that were one-offs. One didn’t have enough payoff, while the other one spoiled some suspense.
Justifying the need for so many POV characters
From the beginning, I envisioned my trilogy as being cinematic in its presentation. So, having multiple POVs opens up opportunities for cut-scenes, where you get more than one perspective on the same action, as well as perspectives on action taking place away from where the protagonists are. Several of my beta readers spontaneously said they could see the story as a movie or TV series, which means they were totally picking up the vibe I was going for.
Those additional perspectives allowed me to show some of what Deborah Chester, the author of The Fantasy Fiction Formula, refers to as the hidden story. That’s the part of the story that’s occurring away from the protagonists. I find it’s a great way to build suspense by forecasting danger for our heroes.
While everyone loves a good plot twist, a lot of tension can be created by forecasting danger—being careful not to spoil things by being too specific. It makes readers anticipate and worry about what’s coming, especially when you set a countdown for the calamity to hit. Forecasting has the secondary benefit of warding off the disbelief that can accompany some surprises.
Another reason I’m enjoying having so many POV characters in this story is that it’s full of antagonists in gray, rather than straight up villains in black. I want readers to understand my antagonists and there’s no better way to humanize them than to put readers into my antagonists’ heads.
Characters have to earn a POV role
In an issue of Before and After the Book Deal, Courtney Maum said that the Big Five publishers are looking for: “Earned POV—whichever character[s] have a perspective in the book have a solid, plot-driven reason for having that mic time.”
In The Fantasy Fiction Formula, Chester goes a step farther. She says, “Each viewpoint besides the protagonist’s should be developed into a subplot.” That’s a high bar for sure. All of my point-of-view characters clear that bar except one, and I have a good reason for that exception.
Chester also says, “Ideally, a book of large scope needs no more than four viewpoints. A book of huge scale might stretch to encompass six.” Here I’ll claim that since my novel is the start of a trilogy totaling more than 260,000 words, the additional POVs are proportionally in bounds. Ultimately, I think all the POVs make for a richer world and—as my beta readers noted—a more cinematic story.
Related posts:
Book review: ‘The Fantasy Fiction Formula’ by Deborah Chester
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