Dual viewpoint in YA

Switch. The words "write every scene twice" strike terror into my heart as a reader. You can do that for maybe one or two super important scenes, tops. Unless you're a genius and can do it in a fascinating way every time. Otherwise it will drive readers batty.

Switch!!

Switchhhhhh! and ensure each has their own character arc, if they don't you don't need a dual point of view.

Never write the same scene twice. It's BORING to the reader.

When your POV characters are in the same scene, you have two options:
1) Choose the character whose internal thoughts are essential to the scene
2) Choose the opposite character if you're trying to hide internal thoughts.

Do. Not. Write. The. Same. Scenes. Twice.

It might work for that rare pivotal scene, but most of the time, it is not necessary, and it will bore the reader.

This is where I'll recommend reading outside YA. A lot of YA is written with only one perspective, but adult fiction frequently features additional POV characters. Also seek out YA books that have multiple POV characters. You'll see that it's very rare for a scene to be written twice.

I think there are SOME circumstances where "every scene twice" could really work, i.e. if you were really committed to an unreliable-narrator(s) mystery. (I was considering writing a contemporary dual-POV about someone with dark secrets who is stalked by an unbalanced person who believes themselves to be in love.) However, it's very ambitious and would certainly be difficult, though not impossible, to pull off convincingly. You'd have to have two very, very distinct voices and a very hooky concept.

Actually this depends on what your writing. For example if it's a short story like In A Bamboo Grove, the reason being each character presents a slightly contradictory account of what happened. Think something think something like a court procedure, where each defendant provides a different account. Yes, it can be done well.

For me, I generally write linearly, with each scene being a different scene, with a different MC out of four characters. I wouldn't suggest going beyond four characters for this technique though, as it can get confusing.

The Legend trilogy by Marie Lu is dual first person POV told from a MMC and FMC who are also love interests so you could check that out and see how it's handled there.

Personally, I think writing the same scene from two POVs doesn't work well. It can get boring, repetitive and may drag, especially if the two characters are in the same place talking to each other or the same people. Overlapping moments at the beginning and end of chapters could work though, provided that those moments are important enough.

Definitely seeing a lot more dual narratives, especially in YA. But don't write the same scene twice. That's a killer.

In my current MS I have one MC whose POV is prevalent, but every few chapters I did the POV of one of the LI's. There were two. So 3 total POV's with only occasional glimpse into the others. And I NEVER repeated a scene.

I actually think you could write every scene twice and see which view point is more interesting. Then you could edit it down so you keep roughly half of what you have written (with one of to important scenes keeping both points of view). You might surprise yourself by finding that one person dominates the story. Or have an experimental set of books which is the same story told from both sides.

I wouldn't keep too many of the same scenes from both sides in the same book unless there is a reason for it that can't be made clear from the actions and dialogue between the characters. But that's just me. There's no writing police.

Although that's a lot of maybes and a lot of writing. I don't think it really matters so long as you end up with a story that has clear differences between the points of view and isn't 'head-hoppy'.

/An aside: I mentioned having a reason to duel scenes earlier and I think I should be clearer on that. I have a duel story P.O.V I'm thinking about at the moment with doubles up on scenes. My reason is that one of the characters is delusional and sees what's happening very differently to the 'reality'.

I write scenes from both perspectives from time to time, though it's always been as a test/writing experiment. For me, seeing a scene from another POV can help develop the scene from the original POV.

That said, I think it could be cool to see a scene from different POVs if you have one unreliable narrator or a reason why the perspectives of the same scene would be delightfully different.

A book I read recently, 'Fifteen Love' by Robert Corbet, switched between viewpoints of the main male and female character. Before each section, it would say the person's name, and then the scene would be described, dialogue would be included, etc. Sometimes the scene would be the same from the opposite perspective, and sometimes the scene would be the next one after what had happened to the previous person. This worked, but there are different ways I've seen this as well that I've liked just as much, if not more.

In 'Up Over Down Under' by Micol Ostow and Noah Harlan (part of the S.A.S.S. series of books), there are two main characters, Billie and Eliza. They are two girls who switch homes and schools for a semester as part of a study abroad program. Each chapter in the novel switched between perspectives, and the segues were made clear through e-mails the girls sent to each other. After the e-mail that kind of wrapped up what had happened in the previous chapter with kind of a question for the other character to answer to help lead into future chapters, a new chapter would begin with what was happening in the other location, not necessarily related to what was happening with the other person and where they were located.

If I was going to do write in dual viewpoint, I would choose to write more in the way of 'Up Over Down Under'. I liked how Ostow and Harlan switched between viewpoints but made the characters related in some way to each other.

There is one more example, but not all within the same book. Lisa Yee has written several novels (including 'Millicent Min, Girl Genius' and 'Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time') that are written from different perspectives, but tell the same story. I love this style, but it takes more than one book to do this. If you want to tell your story from different perspectives in one book, the 'Up Over Down Under' example is my favorite way of doing so. However, if the characters aren't really talking to each other yet, you can have them have a mutual friend who is kind of like the narrator, perhaps, and can tell their story(ies)?

My dual point of view involves possession, so the two main characters are never present for the same scenes. Instead I have continuous narration and occasionally switch "characters" with white space sometimes suddenly but always instantaneously and continue the scene with the new character.

You see this happen to another character from the outside before it happens to the main character and it's mega weird-- but the goal is to make the voices so different that you can just tell.

(For Bonus Points, I managed to confuse my Beta readers about whether the LI was an enormous teddy bear or a horrifying, manipulative psychopath for 30k words.)

Read more book with dual POV! See what others have done, how they do it, what appeals to you as a reader, and what you want to do as a writer. Anything can be done. Lots of things shouldn't be done by the people that try to do them.

My novella leans towards dual POV. I switch every chapter and it is continuous narration. Ashleigh is leaving her house to go to Healths in Chap 3, Health picks up in Chap 4 with cleaning house like a mad man before she gets there etc. (Bad example, but off the top of my head) I love dual POV books. Good luck!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm working on a dual POV. Does it matter how evenly the chapters are distributed? Right now, I'm planning to have 3:1 chapters for the two characters. Is that too uneven?

ElizaL said:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm working on a dual POV. Does it matter how evenly the chapters are distributed? Right now, I'm planning to have 3:1 chapters for the two characters. Is that too uneven?

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I don't think so, as long as each POV get's the story out that's needed in the allotted time.

ElizaL said:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm working on a dual POV. Does it matter how evenly the chapters are distributed? Right now, I'm planning to have 3:1 chapters for the two characters. Is that too uneven?

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It doesn't matter how evenly the chapters are distributed. If you have three times the story for one character, you spend three times as much time with them.

Don't force yourself to distribute chapters evenly. Readers will be able to tell when you don't have enough story to support that section.

Write the story that needs to be told. I have read some novels that were alternating between each POV one for another and it got a little annoying to me. I'd actually forget who i was reading. I'd rather read three from one pov and and the fourth from another if that is the best way to tell the story. The one rule in writing is: there are no rules. (But learn the rules first so you can break them)

Thanks everyone. The advice is much appreciated, and I'm relieved to hear it!

Do make sure the voices of the two POV characters are distinct. I see too many examples where they blur together. Regarding the ratio, I don't see a problem. Spend as long with each character as you need to.

Read and then write.

All the Bright Places
Boys Like You

They are both good examples.

I would say if there is any overlap, it should just be a breath...a hint of overlap. Nothing kills momentum like telling the same story twice.