Perspective and Balance with Multiple Characters

Question

I am working on a piece of fiction and am having some difficulty locking down which perspective/s to utilize. The main issue at hand is that I have 4 characters that will play "lead" roles and different intervals once they are introduced eventually becoming part of a team.

I am far from a professional when it comes to writing and am having trouble maintaining consistent perspective when writing. There are points where the character is speaking and narrating and other points where I flip to a 3rd person story.

What I am looking for is examples of first or third person perspective writing that tell a story from multiple character perspectives by chapter (limited 3rd person is the direction I am leaning).

The concern I have with a first person, or limited third person perspective, even thought I would prefer to tell the story from a non-omniscient view, is I am introducing a new universe/world etc and I want to demonstrate involvement in a broader social/political conflict that is brewing and I am not sure how to do this without utilizing an obvious mechanism or device that I feel can detract from storytelling. Any suggestions for balancing the two?

Thanks for the examples and advice.

Answer 1

George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, aka Game of Thrones, is the biggest current example. Three dozen? perspectives and counting. Introduces a new world with a huge political social conflict. Pretty much the textbook for what you're doing.