Head Hop Hopping Along
Head hopping. What a
wonderfully descriptive term. Head hopping is when the point of view (POV) jumps between multiple characters within the same scene. I am clearly revealing my newbie status when I tell you that I had never heard the term until I learned that I was quite
guilty of it in a contest entry.
If you Google “head hopping,” you’ll find quite a few
informative articles and blog posts on the subject, as well as some fine
examples. Here are just a few:
“Headhopping,Authorial Intrusion, and Shocked Expressions,” by Anne M. Marble
“Headhopping Gives Readers Whiplash,” by Beth Hill
SirenPublishing’s Submission Guidelines on Head Hopping (wonderful examples)
A variety of views from Flogging the Quill
As you can see from these entries, there is a debate about head hopping. Some say head hopping is absolutely forbidden, and
that you must never, ever switch POV until the next chapter. You may be able to get away with changing POV
after a recognizable scene break, but that’s it. Others say that head-hopping to some degree
is okay, as long as the switch is intentional and clear to the reader.
There are some published authors who take the prohibition against head
hopping very seriously indeed, as evidenced by the fact that they begin each
chapter by overtly telling you whose POV is being used. Then there are others who manage to head hop so skillfully that the reader barely notices. Still others jump around so much that I sometimes have
to backtrack in the book to figure out whose head I’m in. And everything in between.
What is a New Kid to do with this? After giving it a fair amount of thought, I
am somewhere in the middle. I think
that switching POV mid-scene is fine, as long as it’s apparent to the reader
what you are doing, but I don't think you can go back and forth. Perhaps that means it's not really head hopping, but whatever you call it, sometimes it is important to the narrative to change the POV more frequently than every chapter, or every scene. This may be particularly true in romance.
I confess that I find head hopping a bit difficult to
avoid. Of course, I wrote 50,000 words
without realizing that it existed, so I fear the habit may be ingrained. Nevertheless, I am currently editing my MS
with an eagle eye on head hopping, among other things. In some cases it is very easy to fix, and
doing so makes the scene flow much better.
On the other hand, sometimes I re-read a scene and it works
really well, even with the head hopping, and when I try to rewrite it seems
contrived. There has to be
a happy medium.
Which brings me to my questions for you, faithful reader: If you’re a writer, what is your take on head
hopping? If you’re a reader, do you
notice it, and do you find it confusing?
I would love to hear what you think.
Until next time,
Marin
4 comments:
I think POV is something one must learn to master first before head-hopping too much. And as an author, I definitely notice it now what I am reading.
I hate head hopping. Hate it! I'm one of those writers who don't change POV at all until chapter breaks and usually never change POV at all in a book. But if someone does do it in a book I read I want a definite scene break first. Otherwise I've been known to close the book, toss it across the room and into my "To the Used Bookstore" Pile without finishing it. That's how much I hate head hopping.
What a timely topic. My critique group was discussing that this week. Some writers can change POV within a scene smoothly, introduing the new POV character's name at the beginning of the switch. In my writing, I try to stick to one POV per scene, indicating the change with a break.
But when I'm reading a book and have to go back to reread a section just to try to figure out 'who' was saying 'what, the book goes to a pile like Patricia mentioned--although I've kept a couple as examples of how not to do it. And yet--they're published. Go figure.
As both a voracious reader and a writer, head hopping is one of my pet peeves. I'm with Patricia on this. Head hopping can be avoided, but it takes extra effort on the author's part.
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