How to stop a scene with many viewpoints from getting choppy

Personally, I would limit the povs. Can you identify which are the most important? Even if all your pov characters have now arrived at a scene together, it may not be necessary for them all to chip in. One of them may be more than capable of shouldering all of the narrative responsibilities.

ipsbishop said:

I am writing the start of the climax. A revolution is happening. There are a lot of characters each with their own viewpoints and activities occurring in a short period of time of about 6 hours. I'm trying to keep the reader as close to real time as possible. Is there a technique that keeps this from becoming too choppy?

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Sticky notes and lots of revisions?

I'd say it depends on how the rest of your book has been written, and what you want the reader's experience to be. One way to handle it might be:

- one scene per POV (you'll probably want to do this anyway, unless the rest of the book is also in omni - and to talktidy's point, you probably don't want to introduce new POVs here)
- short scenes covering only relevant events ("choppy" can work in your favor, especially if there's a lot of physical action)
- a balance between each POV, so events are weighted properly throughout the timeline

But basically, you've got to take a crack at it and see where it does and doesn't work, then revise. Just like everything else, I suppose.

Try it and see.

Choppiness occurs when flow is missing.

I would strongly recommend reading the Patrick Melrose series from Edward St Aubyn to see how a multiple POV over a short period is done seamlessly. Most of the books take place over the course of a day or a couple of days (apart from Mother's Milk). I don't normally like multiple POVs stories but his are done so brilliantly, plus his prose is amazing, and sharp, another bonus.

As others have said, I wouldn't swap POVs in the same scene. Provided you handle the transitions well there's nothing wrong with using short scenes like quick cuts in an action movie.

I've just finished reading Paula Hawkins' latest novel, Into the Water, which has a similar sort of thing happening (and *lots* of POV characters - 11 I think?). The later chapters grew shorter and shorter as the climax approached, and to me this just heightened the tension and sped up the pace. It didn't read 'choppy' at all. Obviously, as with all elements of effective writing, a high degree of skill was involved

I would just make sure you change scene with each change of viewpoint. But as has been said, if done right it can aid the pacing rather than make it choppy.