Is "Head Hopping" Good or Bad?

[pmmg]

I feel the others have covered this one.

Sometimes the head hopping is noticeable and jarring, and sometimes it slips in and you wont see it till the 30th edit.

It may be an ugly step child, or a poorly crafted tool in the tool box, but you set the rules for your fiction. If you show its close 3rd with one POV, another POV in the same scene will detract from the work, so it should be avoided.

I was looking through my own stuff for examples, but I have become so accustomed to not head hopping that I am not easily finding a place. Which is to show that you can train yourself not to do it.

In my own writing, I have a hierarchy to it. Character A is the POV, but if they are not present, it is character B, and if they are not, character C, it always steers back to the top level character when they are present.

The only real trick is, you have to show why the POV character would know something about the non-POV character.

Becky did not like the answer, she knew Rosa was lying. "It was you," she accused. "You stole that ring before our mother died."

Rosa drew back as if affronted, her bow knitting, her expression both sad and pleading. "How could you say such a thing? She gave me this ring when she knew she was dying. I did not steal it."

Here we get Becky's thoughts, she is the POV, but we also get Rosa's reaction which can reveal her thoughts, even though she is not the POV. You just need to use the tools and make the magic work.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Agreed. Either go full on Omniscient or stick to Limited.

In my view, there is no such thing as an 'in-between' POV--much in the same way that one cannot be wet and dry at the same time.

If your novel or story cannot be described as a single POV trait, I would submit that there is a problem with it that needs to be fixed.

That said, there are other interpretations available, apparently.

When I hear descriptions of POV that say things like, "it's sometimes this kind of POV, but sometimes this other POV," I just consider it a confused or poorly done omniscient POV.

 

[Adaddinsane]

To be clear, I am aware that in excess, any writing thing is terrible for a story. Particularly if it's used poorly.
I see a lot of folks say 'avoid it like the plague' when I google the phrase.

Personally compared to my high school writings, I don't do it as much. But especially in scenes with 4 + important Characters it tends to get a little 'busy'

When I tend to do it, I don't stick to one character for terribly long. Often I just have the character's internal thoughts on something that was just said.

I think this habit comes from video games and other media I watch/play. They tend to show what other characters are thinking/feeling at times who aren't the protagonist.

Head hopping usually implies changing viewpoints abruptly and frequently within a single scene.

Generally considered bad because it's confusing for readers.

If you're not doing it frequently, clearly labelling when you do, and not doing it often then you're fine.

Personally I reserve POV changes to scene changes YMMV.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Head hopping usually implies changing viewpoints abruptly and frequently within a single scene.

Generally considered bad because it's confusing for readers.

If you're not doing it frequently, clearly labelling when you do, and not doing it often then you're fine.

Personally I reserve POV changes to scene changes YMMV.

While I wouldn't say I'm fully 'labeling' them? (the POV Shifts)
I do make sure the reader is alerted to who's speaking before even doing a shallow dive into their thoughts/feelings. I don't just shift POV's randomly in a scene.

Generally I keep it brief (a sentence or two after they speak sans any narration after) or restrict it to like a paragraph at most.

 

[Marscaleb]

One writing rule I have yet to find an exception for is this: everything in the story should be on purpose. If it was unintended, it bears consideration for revision.

What, you've never Bob-Ross'ed your writing before? More often than I could list have I written something only to later find how important it was.

I think that this discussion needs some clearer definitions on what a POV shift really looks like. Whenever people re bringing up "head hopping" and people are getting worried about if they are doing it too much or doing it poorly, I always get the impression that the people asking don't fully understand what the different styles are, and no one wants to put brass tacks to what is breaking cohesion.
Most of us writers are autodidacts, after all, and most people who are abusing head hopping never learned these rules and never was able to put them into words.

 

[pmmg]

What, you've never Bob-Ross'ed your writing before?

I think all I do is Bob Ross my writing. Its all just happy accidents.

Love you Bob Ross

 

[skip.knox]

I ought to have been more clear. Everything that is in the *finished* story should be there on purpose. Drafts are exempted.

 

[JBCrowson]

I used omniscient 3rd for my book. I like the freedom/ability it gives me to do stuff like this...

One of the characters is a god posing as a mortal. There are only 2 scenes from the god's point of view.
The first begins with a short description of dawn breaking, going from the sun rising, to an island in the ocean, to the city where the book is set. It is intentionally written like a camera zooming into and across the city, in through the window of the god's house, to focus on the god going through their morning routine.
In the scene I'm literally saying, "Hey wake up," (because it's dawn) "look where I'm focusing your attention," (On this character who isn't what you think he is, with the shift from the celestial to the room in the city, figuratively recreating the journey the god made to get there).
It will only work with the omniscient POV.