Changing the POV Character in a Rewrite

[AnneMarble]

Last year, I wrote a novella, all from the POV of a warrior named Brodin, about the time he met a mysterious mage (and singer) named Moonstone. Later, I decided to expand it into a novel, showing the events that led up to the meeting (the assassination of the king, etc.).

It has turned out to be more fun than I expected. I've introduced fun new characters, such as the king's estranged wife Zakira. And I've added more action and character development. And half the chapters are now from Moonstone's POV.

Then over this weekend, I finally reached the point where I could join the new chapters with the original novella. I started approaching a climactic (pun not intended :wag: ) love scene. And suddenly, I realized that for various reasons (he had the POV in Chapter Eleven, which was quite long and busy), the scene can no longer be from Brodin's point of view! I have the original scene all nice and written already, and now I have to change it anyway because it's from Moonstone's POV now.

OK, any tips for changing the scene from one character's POV to another? Particularly when it's something that intimate? (I'm talking about emotional intimacy as well as the other kind.) What are pitfalls I should look out for? (Besides the obvious, like writing something like "I touched his my arm.")

[maestrowork]

Retype the whole scene from Moonstone's perspective. Word by word, then change whatever that needs to be changed.

Just changing from "his" to "her" or "he" to "she" won't work because your POVs are different now. Observations are different and feelings and reactions are different as well -- and I'm not talking about gender differences.

[AnneMarble]

Retype the whole scene from Moonstone's perspective. Word by word, then change whatever that needs to be changed.

I was afraid somebody was going to say that. Because of course, it's what I should do. :D Besides, beyond "just" (hah hah) the viewpiont, both characters have changed so much in this draft, and they've known each other for longer this time around.

Just changing from "his" to "her" or "he" to "she" won't work because your POVs are different now. Observations are different and feelings and reactions are different as well -- and I'm not talking about gender differences.
Well in this one they ahem cough cough don't have any gender differences. :o That might make it more tricky because I will be more likely to miss an extra "his" or "he" here and there. (Their personalities, personal styles, etc. will be quite different, of course.)

[maestrowork]

Personality difference would be even more jarring than gender difference. I think retyping it would be a good thing to do...

[Lenora Rose]

I've done something like this twice recently by basically copy-pasting the dialogue (And a handful of the more bare-bones dialogue tags) to a new document (Since the things said aloud wouldn't change), then filling in the new character's actions and thoughts around it. Once it worked splendidly. The other, it didn't and I ended up rewriting it 2 1/2 times before I got something that worked well enough to justify moving on to the next scene.

[Rachael]

Yuck. POV changes require massive amounts of time to make them work. I happen to have experience in this area. Why do you think I vehemently refuse to do first person in 9 out of 10 stories I write? But I digress.

You can use the replace option in MS Word if you've been so blessed, but either way you're going to need to type it out from scratch. Which is something I do for just about every story I write, POV change or not. It helps you catch things you'd otherwise miss.

You have my sincerest sympathies.

[AnneMarble]

You can use the replace option in MS Word if you've been so blessed, but either way you're going to need to type it out from scratch. Which is something I do for just about every story I write, POV change or not. It helps you catch things you'd otherwise miss.

I've known of too many "search & replace" horror stories. ;) I'll just have to rewrite the darn scene. Maybe I'll think of something new for it, after all. Now that I'm redoing it, I'm trying to figure out what was going through Moonstone's mind during the original scene. I think I liked him better when he was enigmatic. ;) Just kidding.

You have my sincerest sympathies.
Thanx :)

[James D. Macdonald]

You know what happens in the scene, right? Just re-write it, starting with a blank screen, from the new POV.

If that still doesn't work, try a different POV character. (Add a Towel Boy if you have to.)

If that still doesn't work, make the scene shorter.

If that still doesn't work, delete the scene entirely.