POV and Head-Hopping

Since I've become a writer, I've heard about the horrors of head hopping. Others have warned me not to do it, and although it came from several sources the reasons against it felt vague. In an article by Marg Gilks, on the writing world web site called Fundamentals of Fiction, Part X:Avoid Those Beginners' Blunders, (link to full article http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/fiction10.shtml ) the reasons become clear.

You'll probably notice when reading a contemporary novel that the story seems to be told in the voice of only one character. If there seems to be more than one character telling the story -- different viewpoints -- if you pay close attention to each scene within that novel, you'll probably find that only one character seems to be sharing his or her perceptions of events in the scene with the reader. The character whose eyes readers see story events through, whose thoughts the reader "hears" in a scene or throughout a story or novel is called the point of view character. This is called "limited" point of view, and it's the most common form you'll see, because today's readers like getting right inside a character's head to experience the story.

The point of view (POV) that most novice writers fall into, however, is "omniscient" point of view. In this point of view, the narrator is all-knowing and all-seeing, hopping from one character's head into another, making the reader privy to everyone's thoughts and everything that's going on, even if that activity is off-stage, in the past or in the present or in the future. There is a lot of explaining -- the
omniscient narrator tells the reader what everyone is thinking and what is going
on.

Sounds pretty good, huh. Look at that description of omniscient point of view
again -- the narrator is telling. Telling instead of showing is one of those red
flags for rejection, remember? With omniscient, you are leaving nothing to the
reader's imagination. You're not allowing the reader to participate, to experience, but merely to observe. For this reason, while omniscient POV is a legitimate point of view, it has fallen out of favor with today's readers.

If point of view hops from one character to another within a scene in your novel or
story, it will be perceived by an agent or publisher as poor writing.
Manipulating point of view to best effect or maintaining it consistently takes
attention and practice, but it's one skill that sets more experienced authors
apart from novices, and well worth learning

So, it all comes back to showing vs telling. If a writer is skilled enough, he or she can use omniscient POV and keep the reader in the action. Writers that are new to the craft, should practice, get used to showing action in other points of view. Then they can move on to omniscient. If it's done right, it can be well received.

If you want to read more of Marg Gilks's writing advise, or look into her editing services please visit her web site: http://www.scripta-word-services.com/