TheIT said:
I'm not talking about switching from one POV character to another. What I meant was describing a scene from inside a POV character's head complete with description of emotion, then pulling back to describe the action in a broader sense but still from the same POV character's perspective. Sometimes the POV character is in the middle of the action, but sometimes the POV character is simply an observer of other people's actions.
I'm still not sure what you mean. You're either in that character's head, feeling everythng he feels, hearing everything he hears, seeing everything he sees, smelling everything he smells, or you aren't. Once in there, you have to stay there.
Everything you write is described as he sees it, hears it, feels it, smells it, or tastes it. You can't write more than this, and you can't write less.
If he's an observor to something, you still write only what he thinks, sees, hears, feels, smells, or tastes.
Distance from action might change what he thinks, knows, believes, sees, hears, feels, smells, or tastes, but it doesn't change the way you write. Everything is guided by these things.
Even if he's an observor, you can't write about anything unless he thinks it, sees it, hears it, feels it, smells it, or tastes it.
There is no transitioning. Whatever he thinks, knows, believes, sees, hears, feels, smells, or tastes is all you can write about, whether he's in the midle of action, or whether he's a hundred miles from the action.
Eseentially, you must pretend you are that character. If you were standing where he is, taking notes on real action, what could you write? Think about it. You're a reporter. A real person standing right where he is, doing exactly what he's doing. It would be impossible for your to write anything other than what you think, know, believe, see, hear, feel, smell, or taste.
No matter where a character is, or what he's doing, this is all you're allowed to write.
What you can do, however, is switch scenes, ands usually locations, and when you do, you change viewpoint characters. The new veiwpoint character becomes your subjective viewpoint, and you write only what this character thinks, knows, believes, sees, hears, feels, smells, or tastes until you decide it's time to change scenes again, when you decide on a new viewpoint character.