where do you start?

The drawback of a multi-POV story, it seems, is that you could conceivably consider the story to be three stories in one, since each character is going to have his/her own take on the big picture. Now that I've started to (finally) settle down on each character's share of the story -- and his/her perspective and role in the catastrophes -- I'm left puzzling out one basic but crucial detail.

Who gets the first shot?

In a multi-POV story, how do you determine who starts the story? Have you successfully written (or read successfully-written) stories in which a lesser character jump-starts things before it moves to a major character? Or do your best recollections of story-starts focus on those stories in which the character who ends up with the greatest amount of focus is also the one to begin (and possibly end) the story?

...

She considered letting the tea-tray eat the annoying man, since she hadn't a single charm that might work on badge-carrying Americans, and it was too early in the day to offer sake. Drowning guests in alcohol held no propriety until at least mid-afternoon.

reflections of grandeur

Rather than bury this in the previous post, I figured I’d just make a new post to highlight a specific element of the multi-POV storyline. I’ve spent most of the morning trying to recall where I first read a true multi-POV -- and I mean deep POV for each, not omni -- novel, in which the POV was not limited to two main characters (as you might find in, say, a romance or rival plotline). I am, sadly, drawing a complete blank, except for the faint suspicion that it may have been a doorstop tome like Centenniel or Shogun, one of those “cast of hundreds!” kind of things. [ETA: pxcampbell rocks my world, naming the culprit in two notes: Tom Clancy. The 'woah, I love this' moment was reading Hunt for Red October... again, under the desk, but that time while in Russian History. How apt.]

( Fast-forward through that and other stories, and I realized there were amazing ‘ensemble’ multi-POV storylines all around me, and that those stories were perhaps the only ones that captured my interest and consistently held it. )

Still not convinced I have the skills to effectively pull it off (and to some degree, that’s why I’m rewriting again -- I’ve had trouble in the past drafts between balancing the need to push plot forward with tension, versus the fear that I’m losing readers by complexifying things via multi-POV input, versus sometimes just plain slacking on keeping a tight rein and then suddenly realizing the tone’s shifted dramatically into something more, uh, romantic and less tense-unhappy-conflicted). But, that long aside now aside, here’s what I’ve got. Input welcome, as well as any recommendations on any stories you’ve read/seen that also have this level of complexity.

(FWIW: no Stephen King. I only like the man’s short stories. I’ve never managed to get past about page 10 of any of his full-length novels. Dunno why, just doesn’t click for me.)