In general, if I'm writing in first person it's for a very specific purpose. I'm either trying to tell only that character's story, or I'm using their perspective to hide important details the character would have missed. In either case, the story stays with that character until it reaches its conclusion.

In third person? I'll switch perspectives frequently. It's an easy way to transition the story and helps me to control the narrative, especially when I have multiple MC's. Occasionally I will overlap scenes, but if I do, I make a point of keeping the differences vast enough to warrant it. There may be times where my short stories overlap, but at worst it would only be for a few moments, as a cameo in one story could be a large part of another.

I agree with you! Sometimes, in a novel, the author tends to change perspectives a lot of times. Although not all novels are like this, sometimes the story becomes quite a mess and it becomes confusing, especially when there are many characters, and the point of view suddenly changes into someone else's. Some are the opposite; the way they change the characters' point of views is very smooth and not jarring, like the story is very transitioned. Some divide their chapters, and some switch perspectives to hide a certain something in their story, maybe a plot twist, or a problem that will be revealed later on. There are actually many ways to change characters' point of views, but it's still up to the author, of course.

The novel I'm currently working on right now is narrated through first person; through the point of view of my protagonist. I don't plan on changing perspectives throughout the soon-to-be chapters, though. If I ever plan on changing the point of view of a character in my story, I'm thinking that I should just rewrite the whole series but with the other protagonist's perspective (since I'm working on a GL novel). I haven't really thought about these things since I am just a new creator, and my series isn't that popular yet.

And well, if I would be putting an honest opinion here, then yes; smooth storytelling is very important! If the story is messy, the readers might get confused, and they wouldn't be able to catch up with the story. This is one of the most important things in writing or publishing a novel, in my opinion.

Exactly. I can understand first-person being easier for some, but perspective is a tool, and I make my choice based entirely on what kind of story I want to tell.

I actually thought of the same question a few months back about this very topic. For most of my chapters at the beginning, it was mostly in third person. But as I was writing the next chapter until my friend who was sitting next to me and even speed read through, brought up that there wasn't a single chapter where the mc of the story didn't have a voice to say about his current situation. So in on Chapter 17- 21 is when the mc is taking the stage and it's when he's telling his story about what's going on in his mind as well as some.... dark stuff he's hiding about himself from his friends.

That's when I decided that if I'm going to switch perspectives from third person to pov's I would need to use it sparingly for certain characters. Because if you have a huge cast of characters and switch back and forth from different pov's it would hard to tell on who's talking.

I think having multiple first person perspectives can work, but it needs to be limited. 2 or 3 characters I feel is a good limit. Having 10 different perspectives would be a nightmare to read and keep track of, for example. I'm not a fan of naming the chapter by character name, although I have done it and am in the process of changing it. My current story, Vengeful Valentine is in first person and switches between Adam and Everly's POV. I feel like it works well, but I much prefer writing in third person now. All my future stories will be told in third person, just because it comes more naturally to me.

I used first-person POV-switching in the third novel of my trilogy:

I don't know if it went over well or not (no one commented on it, unfortunately...) but I did enjoy writing it, and I feel like it's helped by (a) the reader already being familiar with both characters from the first 2 books, and (b) the two characters having drastically different narrative styles and experiences. It's not hard to distinguish between the 30-year-old hunter and the 9-year-old alien hybrid. ^^;

I've read a couple stories (they were never finished) that used that xxx's POV format for every scene. With the first POV narrative it seemed I had been told that whole scene, but then I had to hear the whole scene another time or two or three for each of the participants. It felt awkward & by the 3rd person's POV, I was done with the scene & didn't care what their POV was.

So far when it comes to first person I have only used a first person POV in a story, I have not included others, especially if each person is looking at the same scene. I think if I were to do that each "look" at the action would be a new chapter. I probably wouldn't name the chapter as being "POV Tommmy" but then, I never name chapters anyway. To me naming whose point of view sounds too much like a film script and a prose piece are being mixed together. And, of course, it would depend on how well done it was. After all, I'm a big fan of House of Leaves and that played fast and loose with a lot of "norms."

I mix POV in my fantasy series Bright Morn but always there is a separation by chapter or the four cute little asterisks. However, because I have fight scenes I change POV but always beginning a new paragraph and relying on the reader's intelligence to figure it out rather than pointing it out.

I feel like it comes down to what kind of story you're telling. In something plot-driven, I would avoid POV switching 1st person POVs just to keep the reading experience a little easier. The Game of Thrones series has multiple POVs, but they're all in 3rd person, so it's easier to switch characters and get a rundown on what they're doing and thinking without also adapting to a totally new writing style.

If you're switching first person POVs, I think the focus moves from putting a plot together to looking at how different people react to the same event. Most of Faulkner's books have multiple 1st person POVs, and also have very little plot. But they make up for it because the book is about seeing how every member of a family emotionally reacts to the death of their mother, not about what they're physically doing about it.

I apologize if that was a little hard to follow, but the point is that it's not about one POV type being better than the other, and more about knowing what kind of story you are telling and what technique will tell it best.

I usually enjoy reading multiple POV stories — IF they’re done well. I do not love it when a scene is rehashed multiple times in first person just so explain how each person was feeling when it could have been done as a single scene in third omniscient. But I do enjoy going back and forth, seeing how events affect each character differently as I’m reading.

As for writing, I started my story in third limited and then... my characters took over and I switch my other main into first it wasn’t even a choice — it’s what needed to happen but it’s blocks of episodes at a time that each character gets their POV, so I hope it’s not too jarring (I’ve only had a few people even comment on it, and no one seemed upset). I think each POV suits my characters’ voices really well, though. And my main characters have very different motivations and focus, so the story shows very different things during their POVs (and no overlapping scenes).

This is spot on, honestly. I think most people who are first POV hopping are also trying to work in a “fast moving” plot and then it gets messy and sort of forgotten under all the layers of characters’ feelings and thoughts — which, in and of themselves, can make for a really interesting story!

For my Fantasy Novel series STORM SOWN, I have the story unfolding in the 3P-POVs of Five support characters, each one moving the story forward as they interact with the Main Characters and other side characters.

I don’t like reading or writing in FP-POV, except for video game walk through narration.

I just recently used multiple perspectives in my novel. I found that the first person was the easier route for me. At first, it was really hard trying to find the word language these two characters used but I found it helpful to really get into the character's thoughts. I used this perspective change at a huge cliffhanger in the story so the flow didn't come off as choppy. If you have time, take a look at the chapters in my novel!

As long as the characters are distinct from each other, I don't about changes in POV. But if I have to look at the named title to figure out who I'm reading, that's a problem.

Now that I think about it, all of my webnovels have had POV changes in it

I think I'd more prone to do it with a webnovel than a novel intended for trad pub.

I do prefer omniscient for POV changes. Good Omens is a wonderful (personal) example of this