SUNANDA CHATTERJEE
  • Books
    • Sins of the Father
    • Old Money
    • The Trouble with Love
    • Fighting for Tara
    • Shadowed Promise
    • The Vision
    • The Blue House in Bishop
    • Lost and Found
  • About
  • What's New?
  • Reviews
  • Privacy Policy
  • Media
  • ARC Team

Fiction-Writing Tips: Avoid Head Hopping

3/14/2016

Comments

 
Picture
In fiction writing, a crucial element is deciding the POV (point of view) to narrate the story.

It could be first person, which makes it easy to create a voice, but hard to explain what happens to other people not in direct view of the protagonist. An example is Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Third person limited is when the author uses only one person’s POV. Like first person, the limitation is that you can’t explain what happens to other people in the plot. An example is Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.

Third person omniscient is when the author tells the story from different perspectives, like a movie camera showing wide vistas and zooming in on someone, then zooming out and focusing on someone else. It gives great flexibility to show what’s happening in places away from the protagonist. The reader often knows something the protagonist doesn’t, which creates another level of tension.

Whatever POV you decide to use, it should be consistent. The reader needs to know whose ‘head’ he/she is in. The reader needs to feel the emotions of the character.

If you’re using the third person omniscient, an important thing is to avoid ‘head-hopping’. Head hopping is when the POV switches from one person to another too quickly. The author should keep the POV of one person for the whole section or chapter, and switching to the other person’s POV in the next section.

Here’s an example of ‘head-hopping’:

Alice stared into Todd’s eyes and knew he was the one. As he tipped up her chin, her heart raced and her skin burned for his touch. She felt herself melt in his arms as he pressed his mouth against hers. Her fragrance drove him crazy, her lips felt soft against his. He knew he should never have left her. She was the only one he’d ever loved. She shivered as he whispered, “I love you!”

In the above passage, the POV jumps from Alice’s perspective to Todd’s, in a muddled fashion.

Here’s a better version, with consistent POV (Alice):

Alice stared into his eyes and knew he was the one. As he tipped up her chin, her heart raced and her skin burned for his touch. She felt herself melt in his arms as he pressed his mouth against hers. Why did you leave me, Todd? But then he whispered, “I love you!”

OR, Consistent POV (Todd):

Todd tipped up her chin and stared into her eyes. He pressed his mouth against hers, and felt her melt in his arms. Her fragrance drove him crazy, her lips felt soft against his. He knew he should never have left her. She was the only one he’d ever loved. He felt her shiver as he whispered, “I love you!”

I like to write passages from different POVs, until I decide whose perspective works best in a situation. In my latest novel Shadowed Promise, I wrote the last chapter three times, from three different perspectives until I decided on doing it through the protagonist Moyna’s eyes.
 
 
 

Comments
    The Author Awards 2017
    YOUR BLOG NAME
    Want to learn how to write fiction? Check out these helpful books.

    Archives

    September 2022
    September 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Photos used under Creative Commons from flossyflotsam, stimpsonjake, Kansas Poetry (Patrick), Matt From London, torbakhopper, T.Kiya
  • Books
    • Sins of the Father
    • Old Money
    • The Trouble with Love
    • Fighting for Tara
    • Shadowed Promise
    • The Vision
    • The Blue House in Bishop
    • Lost and Found
  • About
  • What's New?
  • Reviews
  • Privacy Policy
  • Media
  • ARC Team