Dual POV?

Is it possible to have Dual POV in Urban Fantasy? I know that a lot of people tend to only do POV from one character's point-of-view. But can you do the two main characters? I know that dual POV is used in other genres. The only thing I'm worried about is that my UF being confused for romance instead due to the romantic themes. However, I still think it is possible to do two POVs; is it?

thothguard51 said:

So long as you transition well between the PoV's, I don't see a problem. Personally, I prefer seperate chapters for each PoV...

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Well, it's a short story for an anthology that I'm writing right now. I was thinking of switching to the other PoV, and even though it is a romance, I know that I might later want to switch between two character's perspective's in other stories that may or may not be romance.

I am worried about how I would break it up though. I know there are different ways of doing it. You can press "enter" a three(or four) times, use the asterisks (****), use the dashes (----) as long as I don't use so many that the long line appears, or break it up at chapters, like you suggested. It really depends on what I'm writing I think though.

Do you think it would matter how much is in a different PoV? I already have almost 3K written in one PoV, which would mean if I switched PoVs, there would only be about 2K(or maybe a little more) in the other PoV. If I do switch Povs, should I do 3K in other as well?

thothguard51 said:

For a transition you can use whats called a hard break, which is a double return. Or use break, a series of asterisks (* * *) and another break...

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Thanks. I think I've seen those two as well.

Well, I'm writing in third person, and I'll try to make my transitions as clear and sensible as possible. It's just switching between two characters, not that doing more is impossible but given the space that I'm writing in, I don't think i should do more than two PoV changes. And technically, this short story will fall into Paranormal Romance and all, but I think I'll end up switching between two(or possibly more as long as it doesn't hurt the story) characters in later projects.

thethinker42 said:

My urban fantasy series is triple POV. In first person. If the story calls for it, yes, you can absolutely use multiple POVs in urban fantasy or any other genre. The story itself, not the number of POVs, will determine whether or not it's a romance or just straight urban fantasy.

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Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure. I heard--a long time ago--that using two different perspectives was used a lot in romance, and I guess I mistakenly took that to mean that rarely any other genre uses a PoV despite the fact that I saw it done in mystery books.

hillaryjacques said:

The defining characteristics of a romance are the focus on the developing romance and the HEA (happily ever after) ending. The alternation of the FMC and MMC's points of view is used often in romances - probably because it helps to show the development - but isn't specific to them. It is found in many genres.

UF has a high percentage of 1st person POV, but again that's not what defines the genre.

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Thank you for that.


Thanks for all of the help guys.