Seven tips for writing dual point of view

I changed the title so many times because I kept forgetting/remembering other points I wanted to make.

There’s something so delicious about knowing something about Character B that Character A doesn’t — their secret motivation, the grudge they’re holding, the backstory they’re hiding — because you’re experiencing the story from both characters’ viewpoints. The drama! The tension! *chefs kiss*

A lot of writers have questions about how to balance the time spent with each character, which POV to choose for a certain scene, or what pitfalls they should be on the lookout for. So here are a few tips to help get you started writing dual POV thoughtfully, effectively, and dramatically.

1. Whoever has the most page time will feel like the main character for the reader.

Since we’re talking about dual POV, I do think most of us will assume that the characters are getting fairly equal page time — that both have distinct goals and arcs that are equally important. But just in case there’s anyone who doesn’t have that assumption, I wanted to be clear!

So if both characters have equal-ish page time (it does not have to be exact), and the reader gets to go back and forth between their perspectives pretty regularly (so, no spending five chapters with Joe and then one with Bob and then another ten with Joe, but the whole last part of the book with Bob), the reader is more likely to feel like both characters are equally important and equally main.

Sometimes authors accomplish this by alternating chapters — A, B, A, B — and that can absolutely work! But it doesn’t have to be quite that structured, and trying to stick to that, even when you don’t need to, can potentially introduce problems. More on that later.

2. Both characters need equally strong arcs.

This might be another “well duh!” one, but again, I want all of us to be on the same page.

Not only do the characters get equal-ish time narrating the book, they also get equally important individual stories. Bob’s pages can’t only be about Joe’s much more interesting story. And Joe has to consider Bob’s story sometimes! They are both main characters, so they both need to get all the main character stuff — both as individuals and as a team.

Ideally, their stories intersect in a way that furthers the plot. One affects the other. They both have something to gain and something to lose, and only by working together can they succeed. They need to need each other. Not necessarily like that, but hey, maybe like that. I don’t know your story. But even if they don’t need each other like that, they need each other to conquer their character development and achieve their goals. One cannot succeed without the other!

3. Resist the urge to recap.

When you swap points of view, there’s often a temptation to recap the previous scene with the new character. Authors usually do this to give context or character reactions to what happened in the last scene. But I’d argue that it’s just not needed. With the exception of exceptions, obviously. But mostly, it’s not needed.

For one thing, it stops the story movement. New chapters can already good places to close the book and do something else, and when the new chapter opens with the same thing the reader just read . . . you know.

But also, if you’ve done your job, the reader doesn’t need it. They already have an idea how this particular character was feeling during an argument, or an action scene, because they know the character. Trust the reader to pick up clues you sprinkled in from the other character’s POV. Trust them to be able to project that empathy.

I think this is one of those first-draft things: useful while you’re figuring out the emotional arcs, getting to know the characters, and all that.¹ So I wouldn’t worry too much about it showing up while you’re drafting. Get that stuff figured out! The first draft is for you, after all. But once you’re revising, snip snip.

4. You don’t have to swap POVs every chapter.

It can be tempting to swap characters every chapter, to make sure both are getting equal page time, but adhering to this too rigidly can lead to some chapters feeling thin on plot and conflict. Or maybe the perspective character isn’t actually the best one to relay the story in that moment.

Ask yourself which character has the most at stake? Who has a secret you want to tell the reader — or hide from the reader? Who is driving the plot or taking a risk? That’s the character whose POV we should be in.

If there’s a reason you must change points of view (if you’ve read the Lady Janies books, you know we were locked into a rotation, so I get it!), then make sure this character, the one narrating, is the one driving the story in their own scene.

Don’t just switch because it’s time to switch. Switch because it matters.

And if it doesn’t matter, make it matter.

5. Pay attention to voice.

If you really dig into that last point — making each viewpoint distinct in drive and emotion — you’re well on your way to having strong voices for each character as well. But oof, it is so easy to drop into the same voice for both (or all) characters — even in first person!

Sometimes it makes sense that characters might have very similar voices, for example, if they’re siblings and raised in the same environment. But if one is a princess and the other is a farm boy, they’re definitely going to sound like different people.

What about the narrator, though? In third person, especially a really voicey third person (like the Lady Janies books), it might be easy to allow the narrator voice to take over. But as a reader, I really appreciate being able to “hear” the difference between the characters — even in third person, even with the layer of narrator over them. So what kind of sentence structures does each character tend to use? What sorts of things do they notice and describe for the reader? How does their backstory influence the way they narrate their side of the story?

The voices don’t have to be wildly different every time, but we want to avoid the situation where the reader can’t figure out who’s narrating. It should be clear enough that they can tell, even without the chapter header telling them whose viewpoint they’re reading.

6. Dramatic tension is delicious, but don’t overdo it.

Dramatic tension is when the reader knows something the character doesn’t. That’s so fun to play with in dual POV, when the reader knows something monumental about Joe, and it’s going to cause problems when Bob finds out.

But be careful: a little goes a long way. If it seems like the characters simply never talk about important things, only think them in their own viewpoints, that can be frustrating for the reader. If there are a thousand secrets and the reader knows them all, while the other character doesn’t know any, it starts to feel ridiculous that these two are ever going to have a real relationship.

The key here is balance!

7. What to do with queries and synopses.

I see a lot of questions about how to structure these. (And I know it just gets harder the more characters you have!) But honestly, with dual POV, you’re in luck: there’s already a well-established query structure and you can thank Romance for it!

The first paragraph can introduce one character.

The second paragraph can introduce the other.

And the third paragraph is about what happens when they get together/how their goals conflict/the stakes.

If there’s something else that works better for you, go for it! But this structure is tried and true. It gives both characters equal importance. And it’s a great way to show how their individual stories intersect into a larger story.

As for the synopsis, just write about what happens. An agent or editor reading the synopsis doesn’t need to know exactly when the perspective changes. And since this is dual POV — and the characters probably spend a bit of time together doing the same things — that makes that pretty straightforward.

If there’s something we learn with one character but not the other, you can just say it. “Joe doesn’t know that Bob never forgave the fish that ate his parents, and Bob is planning to sneak out after dark to go get his revenge.” Easy peasy. I mean, not for Bob and his grudge. But for the synopsis.

Try not to overthink it too much.

Dual POV is a lot of fun to write,² so I hope these tips are helpful for you! Do any of them particularly resonate? Or do you want to fight about one? Let me know!

Here are some buttons:

A few additional notes

The audiobook for BYE FOREVER, I GUESS is currently 50% if you use this promo link. Think You’ve Got Mail but with texting, gaming, and knitting. And the indie bookstore in this book has a happy ending. ‘Cause like. Traumatized for life because of that movie. (I still loved it though.)

I also have a few events coming up in Virginia. My friend Nashae Jones and I will be visiting a few different Barnes and Noble stores this summer. We’re still finalizing a couple of events, but here’s what we have so far:

• June 14, 2025 at 1pm — Richmond, VA (Chesterfield Town Center)

• June 18, 2025 at 3pm — McLean, VA (Tyson’s Corner)

• June 27, 2025 at 1pm — Harrisonburg, VA

• July 13, 2025 at 2pm — Fairfax, VA (Fair Lakes Promenade)

Will we see you at any of these events? Hope so!

1. This is something we Lady Janies ran into frequently when we were writing together — because we each needed to feel like we’d experienced the other scenes through writing! And it’s fine in the first draft. It makes sense to have it there. But it has to go for the next draft.

2. How would you know? you may be asking, All of your books are either one POV or three!

All my published books, you mean. This iceberg goes deep. Also, maybe I’m working on stuff. Also also, the way I’ve written my three-POV stories, both cowritten and solo, kind of function the same way as a dual POV, in terms of main characters, page time, and arcs.