So, I can admit, as I did in another post, that Sierra's chapters and Jared's chapters in the first book weren't necessary. Sierra's chapters should have been Ambers, and Jared's should have been Ben's.
One of my biggest reasons, aside from the fact that Amber is based on me, is that I like showing what happened, and I find it easier to write from another perspective to show that rather than having the character tell it.
There is a scene in Book Three I am working on right now that was meant to be Jerry's, Ellen's brothers, is something that happened while the characters left the school for a little bit. I still plan to write that chapter, and I'll put it in the back of the book for people to choose, but without spoiling the book too much, the four main characters leave Foothills for a bit, and something significant happens. I've been eager to write about it, especially from Jerry's point of view, but I've decided to add it to Amber's instead so there aren't too many perspectives. The problem I am facing with this chapter as I write it is that there is so much telling just to explain that it happened. The character explaining what happened spends two pages straight talking about how epic it was, but I'd rather show readers what happened.
So, the chapter from Jerry's perspective will still be written because I am enjoying writing the scene, but it will be bonus content.
It was another reason why I added Rachel's and Carly's chapters to the first book. I wanted to show readers rather than have people explain what happened. Rachel, though she is insignificant, has a very important chapter because it reveals early on without telling the core characters or readers a huge secret later revealed in the book. This series was originally supposed to be mainly Amber's and then Michael's, but I added Ellen in because I'd rather show her visions instead of telling them. Ben also has important chapters in Book Four when all the characters will be separated more.
So, as an author, I am struggling a little to write this because I don't want my characters to just be explaining things that happened to others when I can just show it. However, I also don't want to anger readers. Most of my favourite series have more than one perspective; one of them usually has between eight to ten POVs, and it's extremely popular. Some people get excited to see the point of view from certain background characters, so at times, I wonder what I am doing wrong when many very popular books do it. Some have over ten. The series I am reading, this character is a background character, but when I realized she had a perspective, I was so happy to see it from her point of view.