Choosing (Multiple) Viewpoint Characters

Writing a multiple viewpoint story, novel, or series means that you are will be juggling many different viewpoint characters, each with their own story as well as their contributions to the main plotline. Choosing those characters takes a bit of care and attention, especially for writers who tend to default to the same kind of character in many cases. A writer can get away with writing several novels in a row that have supposedly different protagonists, all of whom happen to be smart-alec geniuses with a tragic past who are easily distracted by shiny new information. It’s a lot harder to get away with having four viewpoint characters in the same novel, all of whom are smart-mouthed, easily distracted geniuses with tragic pasts.

The problem is compounded by the fact that different readers can be attracted to specific types of viewpoint characters. It is unlikely that the writer will be able to pick two, three, five, or however-many viewpoint characters, all of whom will appeal equally to all readers…and all of whom will be fun and interesting for the writer to write. Writers who are really absorbed by writing a particular kind of character, or who prefer main characters who all have a particular kind of problem, often end up sticking to single-viewpoint stories. They may generally write first-person, tight-third person, or over-the-shoulder camera-eye – it’s just that whatever the viewpoint, they stick to one character throughout the story.

However, my experience leads me to believe that sooner or later, many writers discover that their backbrain has handed them a multiple viewpoint story. Sometimes this is obvious from the start; sometimes, one realizes it partway along. My current WIP struggled through the first two chapters in a very unsatisfactory fashion, until I went back and rewrote it, adding in scenes from a second viewpoint character. (More about that later.) Then it took off.

This brings me, finally, to the point I wanted to make for this post: How does one go about selecting additional viewpoint characters?

The “how” part depends on whether multiple viewpoint is something the writer chose consciously and deliberately at the start of the story, or whether it is something that just showed up intuitively when they started writing. In the second case, a new viewpoint character usually shows up intuitively; the writer then has to decide whether to stick to the two characters they now have, switching back and forth between them, or whether to add additional viewpoint characters until they can reasonably describe the story as “multiple viewpoint” rather than “dual viewpoint.” Whichever of these the writer picks, it is worth thinking about what niche in the story ecology each character fits into, how each character relates to the others, and where the characters are different and similar.

There are numerous approaches to “casting” a set of viewpoint characters for a multiple-viewpoint story. Characters can be chosen by role or archetype: the Odd One, the Smart One, the Plucky Comic Relief, the Sneaky One, the Chosen One. They can be chosen by function: The Mercenary, the Ingenue, the Healer, the Thief, the Mage, the Tank, the Mentor. They can be chosen by personality: the Shy One, the Angry One, the Idealistic One, the Ambitious One, the Independent One, etc. They can be assigned different backstory problems: family issues, false accusations, war trauma, survivor guilt, romantic losses. They can be given different ethnicities, races, religions, ages, or sexual identities (depending on details of the setting, these can be representative of real-world diversity, imaginary-but-recognizable types of aliens and magical beings, made-up or taken-from-myths belief systems, etc.). And they’re often chosen by what they know, what they can see/watch/do, or where they can go, so as to provide story/plot-critical information for the reader.

This may seem mechanical, but all of these aspects of character are things worth considering, whether one is trying to come up with an interesting cast of viewpoints, or reviewing the viewpoints one’s backbrain has handed one (or even just looking at one’s cast of non-viewpoint characters). Mixing them up can provide the author with interestingly unexpected people: the Smart, Ambitious Tank with survivor guilt; the Sneaky Mentor with family issues. Possibly the most important thing to think about, however, is how each character is involved in the specific story one is writing and why the story needs them.

For instance, in my WIP, my two viewpoint characters appear at first glance to have a lot of similarities. They are about the same age; they have both been thrown into an unfamiliar culture; they are both faced with learning a new skill (dark magic) from the ground up; they are both dealing with the loss of their plans for their futures. My backbrain insisted I needed Archie, but I was really hesitant to make him a second viewpoint character, because I thought he and Kayla were too alike.

That is, until I wrote Archie’s first scene, and realized that he is the perfect foil for Kayla. Despite the similarities in their situations, they have a key difference: Kayla is a total outsider to every aspect of this world; while Archie is an insider. I need his perspective to contrast with Kayla’s – which means that in this case, their similarities are a feature, rather than a bug. If I need to add another viewpoint character, I will definitely want someone who ticks significantly different boxes, but Archie and Kayla are fine as they are.

Finally, for each character, there’s the question of what draws them in – why and how they got involved in the problems of the story. Did they stumble in by accident, or are they looking for some related revenge or achievement? Even if everyone has been hired to do a job … why did each of them agree to do it? Money, proving they’re good enough, proving they still have it (whatever “it” is), revenge, impressing their romantic interest, planning betrayal – every character, but especially every viewpoint character, has some reason for getting involved with this story, and staying involved when the going gets tough. (Unless you’re writing a hand-off story, where each viewpoint character solves a piece of the problem and then hands it off to the next character so they can handle their piece. Each viewpoint still has to have a reason for getting into things, and for sticking around at least through the end of their section, though.)