Help with branching character perspectives and tones

[Beta_Krogoth]

Hey everyone, just looking for some advice on branching character perspectives, my story Sweet Venom has always featured multiple character perspectives and as I reach the end of the first arc i've hit a bit of a stumbling block, the first arc had roughly the same tone for everyones perspectives as they were all in the same situation, but now half the cast are splitting off and I was planning on doing a couple of slower pace, slice of life chapters - but the other character perspectives I want to cover are going to be all action and serious scenes. They happen at the same time chronologically too.

What do you think is the best approach? Continue to hop back and forth or do all the slice of life stuff and then hop back in time a day or two to pick up the heavier stuff?

 

[Grandloaf]

The book Way of Kings has a lot of different perspectives and it bounces from heavy stuff to slightly less heavy stuff a lot. (All though the whole tone of the book is serious).

I think slice of life could be a nice way to give some breathing room from all the heavy serious stuff though if you are in the middle of an action scene don't interrupt that.

 

[Beta_Krogoth]

We've just finished a big action filled finale so I was going to give the cast a little break but I want to keep pace with the other characters that are doing their own thing, i'll have a play and see if I can get it to flow right.

 

[Ymadthepirate]

Well first you need to know your charectars personality
Heres something that could help

Four-Temperament Ensemble - TV Tropes

There are many ways to make a group of people diverse without giving them overly specialized roles within an ensemble. One way is through matching personality types according to an ancient proto-psychological theory. The Four Temperaments (also …

tvtropes.org

Four-Philosophy Ensemble - TV Tropes

This is a trope applying to the dynamics of groups of four. While the Four-Temperament Ensemble seeks to classify members by their personality, this trope classifies members by their outlook, or life philosophy, especially as demonstrated when …

tvtropes.org

of course other things can affect this like Religion, Politics and even something as minor as age

 

[Beta_Krogoth]

Well first you need to know your charectars personality
Heres something that could help

Four-Temperament Ensemble - TV Tropes

There are many ways to make a group of people diverse without giving them overly specialized roles within an ensemble. One way is through matching personality types according to an ancient proto-psychological theory. The Four Temperaments (also …

tvtropes.org

Four-Philosophy Ensemble - TV Tropes

This is a trope applying to the dynamics of groups of four. While the Four-Temperament Ensemble seeks to classify members by their personality, this trope classifies members by their outlook, or life philosophy, especially as demonstrated when …

tvtropes.org

of course other things can affect this like Religion, Politics and even something as minor as age

Did you mean to reply to this thread? I was talking more about pacing rather than the characters themselves.

 

[Ymadthepirate]

Ah ok

 

[ConcubusBunny]

I'd say that you should take some time to see what works, since I've been reading your work for some time I'd say hop back and forth, but not too often, the worst thing you can do is time skip using the slice of life, since you got heavier stuff, people will be more inclined to see how that gets resolved instead of the lighter fluff stuff. People will just ignore all f that and wait for the heavy stuff to pick up again to gather their interest, but don't go too heavy with it, pace yourself properly with it and decide where the right time yo take it slow should be, don't time skip them with the story, tell it all in one go, or maybe you can if there's a narrative explanation for why you're doing it, like they are explaining the events to someone.

Also if you're doing it chronologically tell it from different perspective like a movie going from one camera to the next, do not repeat yourself of the exact same scene, might look cool in anime, not so much in a web novel, so be adviced

 

[Beta_Krogoth]

I'd say that you should take some time to see what works, since I've been reading your work for some time I'd say hop back and forth, but not too often, the worst thing you can do is time skip using the slice of life, since you got heavier stuff, people will be more inclined to see how that gets resolved instead of the lighter fluff stuff. People will just ignore all f that and wait for the heavy stuff to pick up again to gather their interest, but don't go too heavy with it, pace yourself properly with it and decide where the right time yo take it slow should be, don't time skip them with the story, tell it all in one go, or maybe you can if there's a narrative explanation for why you're doing it, like they are explaining the events to someone.

Also if you're doing it chronologically tell it from different perspective like a movie going from one camera to the next, do not repeat yourself of the exact same scene, might look cool in anime, not so much in a web novel, so be adviced

Oh you've read my stuff? :O Sweet Venom or something else? What you think?

And yeah, i'm not going to repeat any of the same content, i'm just worried about tone mixing but I think i can get it right! Just need to get the words down first methinks!

 

[Paul_Tromba]

I would consider reading the Monogatari book series as its entire premise revolves around viewing the scenes from different characters' eyes. This would at least give you an idea about what proper character shifts look like though I can't promise that it will change how you write. It would also be helpful to look into the various views your characters hold. For example, if one deals with trauma then you should look into how different traumas affect people and how to apply them. Change the entire way you think to match the character you want, especially if the character holds distinctly different views than you. Put yourself in their shoes and live life the way they would, not how you would. For some people, this can be very difficult as it is hard for people to just rewire their entire thought process to match someone else's though it can be done easily with enough practice. It also happens to help one understand the reasons that some people do things that they normally wouldn't ever dream of doing or thinking.

 

[Beta_Krogoth]

I would consider reading the Monogatari book series as its entire premise revolves around viewing the scenes from different characters' eyes. This would at least give you an idea about what proper character shifts look like though I can't promise that it will change how you write. It would also be helpful to look into the various views your characters hold. For example, if one deals with trauma then you should look into how different traumas affect people and how to apply them. Change the entire way you think to match the character you want, especially if the character holds distinctly different views than you. Put yourself in their shoes and live life the way they would, not how you would. For some people, this can be very difficult as it is hard for people to just rewire their entire thought process to match someone else's though it can be done easily with enough practice. It also happens to help one understand the reasons that some people do things that they normally wouldn't ever dream of doing or thinking.

Sounds good, thanks for your time and advice!

 

[SakeVision]

In 3rd person?

There is no need to have a different narrative tone for different character pov. Such things are mostly reserved for 1st person povs.