I tend to stick with one POV per chapter, if at all possible.

If the action or plot dictates that I change POV in the middle of a chapter, somewhere I pcked up the idea/trick to do a double return, followed by a single "*" centered in the page, then another double return before starting the first paragraph of the new POV.

This gives the reader a nice visual cue that something is changing.

For some inexplicable reason, mine all seem to be tracking at right around 15 pages / 5000-ish words ...

It's starting to kinda creep me out.

And then I had one that came in at nearly twice that, and it makes me feel like its wrong ...

I think the way to handle that bit is to not allow the reader to become too invested in the outcome of the "catching the assasins" part.

I'm not quite sure how you do that, but ... 

Part of it would be, I guess, makng them faceless cogs in the wheel. Don't let any of them stand out, keep them all nameless, etc.

Beyond that, maybe use some (plot) device that is present in the first bits, that seems to carry the protagonists through the assasins part, but also makes it through to the second part.

That way, they may not even notice that the assasins are "missing".

Have you considered maybe using a bookseller, or similar?

That would give you plausible reasons for the character to know so much about such an obscure subject, and could give you various scenes where the main characters have to go off to see "old what's his name".

Who knows maybe even drag him/her out for the occasional field consultation.

Just a thought, as it seems this path would be less rigorous that the whole "legal" way of dealing with it.

Or, showing my age, do you recall a character from the old series "Bewitched" named Dr. Bombay?

Ostensibly a medical/witch doctor, he was the guy they trotted out whenever they needed to explain some obscure magical rule or what have you.

Patterned after the absent minded older chap who'd taveled the length and breadth of the British Empire, he'd picked up a load of knowledge along the way.

Unless you're just marrried to the lawyer angle, of coursew.

I didn't want to start a whole new thread for this, and since it comes from the same source, this seems a likely place for it.

This is one of the most useful and complete checklists for world building concepts that I've ever seen, and I've looked at a few. 

http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/

There's quite a bit of repetition as you go through the various sections, but logically so, and it's very easy to spot the bits you've already read and skip them.

And to me, from my story's perspective, I don't necessarily have to answer each and every one of them, but its still great to be able to say "nope, that one's not important", rather than wonder if I'm missing anything.

If there's another good place for world building info, please feel free to point me, or to copy this in, or what have you.

I'd give this one four stars and call it highly recommended. 

Almost a hijack here, but not quite ... 

I've got in mind two characters that are brothers, both with the last name of "Jinkins".

One has always been called "Jink" while the other has always be called "Kinsey".

Jink is the older of the two, unless I think its more advantageous to make them twins.

Works, or cheesy?

This a two (or three) parter, and for clarification, I should state this is for a novel (or so), not for a screenplay or some other medium (at least for now  )

I’ve been wondering, how many POV characters are just too many?

Consider your typical party of five (or six) adventurers who have set out on the Epic Quest.

They will all most likely make it through the journey alive (or at least the bulk of it) as they will be needed later, when the Party is (inevitably) broken up into pieces.

Now true, some will be there at the very beginning, while others will be added along the way; but, for the sake of this posting, imagine they are all present with “the Hero” prior to the end of the first third of the story.

Can/Should all of them be allowed to take the stage as POV characters?

And if so, how often do they need to be brought to center stage?

In a slightly different vein, but within the same Quest/story, what about characters that join for a brief period but are then left behind along the way? Can they be POV characters too?

Their primary purpose is to provide the Reader with knowledge of current events in various locations, things that the hero and the Party have no way of knowing.

In essence, they will be introduced, and then left behind somewhere in order to keep the Reader up to speed while the Hero is off Questing.

And, for those left behind, how often should they be brought forward, to say their piece then fade back again?

Add these four (or five) “left behinds” together with the members of the Party and the Hero, and you easily have over ten Separate POV characters, not counting any additional ones the narrative may need along the way.

I guess the goal here is to not whipsaw the Reader back and forth from POV to POV, without leaving a Voice silent for too long and have their reemergence break immersion.

“Who the heck is that? *flip flip flip* Oh yeah ... I’ve not seen them since page two …”

Heh, easy stuff, right? 

And as an added bonus, why did omniscience die?

*sigh*

I am very aware, and am prepared to deal with, the fact that it has died, and that using it would be pretty much instant death to a modern work of fiction.

But why did it die?

It was sooo much more useful ...

PS. You have to take a pass at the first questions before tackling that last bit.