If you’ve done it well, the reader will read as if he’s experiencing the events on the page.Įach time you change POV, however, the reader is pulled out of one character’s head and dumped into another’s. You work to create connections for your reader, so he can step into the mind and heart and life of a character. The reader has to change from enjoying the imaginary-using his creative side-to figuring out why something is so-using his analytical side.Īnd second, the reader loses the connection he had with the viewpoint character. First, it confuses the reader. He has to halt the fiction to figure out why Eugene is putting on perfume when the author hasn’t clearly indicated we’re now in Francine’s head. You lose the reader’s trust when he is repeatedly yanked from the fantasy world he’s trying to become lost in.Ĭhanging POV without notice and within scenes causes two major problems.
Each time a reader stops reading because he doesn’t understand or has gotten lost or has to reread a passage, he is pulled out of the fiction you’ve crafted. You certainly don’t want any of them to have to reread because you failed to provide enough scene markers. You want your readers to flow with the fiction you never want them stuttering or getting lost. Unless you’re a famous author who makes a bundle of money for your publisher, do not change point of view in the middle of a scene. There’s probably a different tone to this section as well, as you’d expect with a different character’s personality both coloring and filtering the reader’s perceptions.) (A change in point of view qualifies as a change in scene because the reader is in the head of a different character-different thoughts and emotions. If it’s only point of view that’s changing, be sure to identify the new viewpoint character immediately. Use the techniques mentioned above to identify the scene change. (Such symbols are often changed to extra line spaces in printed books.) Sometimes you need a scene change within a chapter.įor a visual aid, add #, centered on a line, to indicate a scene transition in a manuscript. Not all scene changes occur between chapters. showing a character doing something we already knew he’d be doing at a set time or in a particular place.Time and place can be established in any number of ways. If the viewpoint character has changed, identify the new viewpoint character right off by naming him. If the new scene has a change in mood or tone, that should also be established right away. Scene transitions need to identify place, time, and viewpoint character, especially if there’s been a change in any of the three.
Certainly even Mark wouldn’t embarrass him at his wedding. If he was going to do it, whatever it was, before Paul left for his honeymoon, it would have to be soon. He knew his brother Mark had something planned, something that would shock or alarm him. Paul stood before his office window, tossing his lucky baseball from hand to hand. In which case, a clear scene transition is needed. Of course, the setup at the end of chapter three could be for a scene that’s delayed and chapter four could take us somewhere completely unexpected. He smiled when he saw his brother’s smile freeze into a gremlin’s glare. Mark walked into the hotel’s ballroom, his former sister-in-law on his arm. Even if he hasn’t, we only need a simple setup: If this is the end of chapter three, chapter four can easily begin at the wedding with little explanation or description, especially if the writer has already provided details about the place and time of the wedding. He couldn’t wait to see his brother’s expression when he showed up at the wedding with Paul’s hated ex-wife. In fact, you don’t need to write a detailed transition if you ended the previous chapter with a teaser of what’s to come. Scene transitions can be seamlessly inserted at the beginnings of chapters since readers expect a transition between chapters. So, we use scene transitions to skip periods of time or to change to a new location in the story, glossing over events that happen between the new and old times or locations.
A story may stretch over years-readers don’t need to know what happened every minute of those years. Transitions are important in fiction because the writer can’t possibly portray or account for every moment in a character’s day, week, or life. Transitions can also be used to show a character’s change in heart or frame of mind. Decemby Fiction Editor Beth Hill last modified February 14, 2011Ī scene transition takes characters and readers to a new location, a new time, or a new point of view.