Paul Whybrow
Full Member
- Jun 20, 2015
We've been talking about point of view (POV) on the Colony, and there's one aspect of it that's easy to make mistakes about—head-hopping.
Briefly, this means abruptly switching the POV within a scene or chapter, which is likely to confuse the reader, as they're unsure of who is saying or thinking something.
If you're going to write from another character's viewpoint, it's best to do so by indicating the transition in the narrative, or by using a clearly marked chapter break or scene break.
I'm currently writing my fifth Cornish Detective novel, and have reverted to multiple POV, which I last used in the second novel; the other three stories were told from the third person close viewpoint, (which is also known as third person limited), where the story is told through the eyes of my protagonist detective. I find it easier to write multiple POV, and it feels livelier to read, though it's vital to delineate who's talking. Third person close is great for revealing the thinking of my hero, but it also involves loads of telling rather than showing, where the supporting players report back to their boss with "He said", then "She said." Writing gurus reckon this to be a bad thing, but it's surprisingly common in best-selling titles.
I've been devoting a chapter to each of the main players, or alternating viewpoints by the use of section breaks. While editing, I noticed that I'd head hopped from the forensic pathologist to my protagonist detective, at the end of a chapter in which they'd met for their monthly restaurant meal, all told from her POV. Instead of her observing him walk away, getting smaller in the rear-view mirror, he stood watching his friend drive off in her car...d'oh!
I know why I did so, as most of the previous nine chapters closed with the detective's thoughts on how the investigation was proceeding; I was writing robotically.
Have any of you committed this cardinal error?
It's particularly easy to do when writing conversation involving several characters.
Briefly, this means abruptly switching the POV within a scene or chapter, which is likely to confuse the reader, as they're unsure of who is saying or thinking something.
If you're going to write from another character's viewpoint, it's best to do so by indicating the transition in the narrative, or by using a clearly marked chapter break or scene break.
I'm currently writing my fifth Cornish Detective novel, and have reverted to multiple POV, which I last used in the second novel; the other three stories were told from the third person close viewpoint, (which is also known as third person limited), where the story is told through the eyes of my protagonist detective. I find it easier to write multiple POV, and it feels livelier to read, though it's vital to delineate who's talking. Third person close is great for revealing the thinking of my hero, but it also involves loads of telling rather than showing, where the supporting players report back to their boss with "He said", then "She said." Writing gurus reckon this to be a bad thing, but it's surprisingly common in best-selling titles.
I've been devoting a chapter to each of the main players, or alternating viewpoints by the use of section breaks. While editing, I noticed that I'd head hopped from the forensic pathologist to my protagonist detective, at the end of a chapter in which they'd met for their monthly restaurant meal, all told from her POV. Instead of her observing him walk away, getting smaller in the rear-view mirror, he stood watching his friend drive off in her car...d'oh!
I know why I did so, as most of the previous nine chapters closed with the detective's thoughts on how the investigation was proceeding; I was writing robotically.
Have any of you committed this cardinal error?
It's particularly easy to do when writing conversation involving several characters.
