SM Ford, Author
  • Home
  • About
  • Books & More
  • Contact
  • Best Words
  • Words for Writers
  • Real Parenting
  • Home
  • About
  • Books & More
  • Contact
  • Best Words
  • Words for Writers
  • Real Parenting
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Best Words

If you're looking for writing advice, clicking here will lead you to an index of posts aimed at writers.

11/21/2016 2 Comments

Close Point of View or Staying in One Head

Picture
As a reader I prefer close third person viewpoint or first person viewpoint. This helps me be invested in the character. Since I know his thoughts, experience what he is experiencing, I identify with him. I can salivate for what she is eating, feel cold because she is, be anxious about what she’s worried about. I get “lost” in the world of the book.
 
This translates to my own writing. I can only know, hear, see, feel, taste, touch, what my main character knows. I can’t know what someone else in the story is thinking. My main character can guess. She can learn about it from another character. He can spy on another character, but there won’t be any hopping from one head to another. In my opinion this makes for less confusion for a reader. It also makes for a more realistic feel to the story—after all, I can’t tell in real life what the people around me are thinking.

In a post called “Headhopping, Authorial Intrusion, and Shocked Expressions,” I love what Anne M. Marble said about her example text: “Either that scene had headhopping or Blythe is psychic. How else would she know what both Anthony and the waitress are thinking and experiencing?”

Author Marcy Kennedy says, “Head hopping damages your story because it makes the writing feel choppy. Readers constantly need to pause, however slightly, and figure out who they’re supposed to identify with.”
 
Author Joe Bunting says, “It’s taboo because writers, editors, and readers have found when the narrator switches from one character’s thoughts to another’s too quickly, it jars the reader and breaks the intimacy with the scene’s main character.”
 
In my novel ALONE I had a scene where I tried to cheat on first person pov. I told the scene as if another character had explained it so well that my main character felt as if she were “a mouse in the corner” observing. But I kept it chronological. My main character didn’t know this happened at the time I showed it. Fortunately, a wise editor suggested it wasn’t working. When I looked at the scene objectively, I realized it could be cut and the reader wouldn’t miss a thing. The scene that followed gave enough information. And it kept the story more intimate.
 
Fiction editor Beth Hill agrees. “Keep the reader in one head, one heart, at a time.” Ooh, I love that emphasis on heart. And it works whether you are writing in first person or close third person point of view.



2 Comments
Shannon
11/22/2016 06:57:41 am

I mostly agree, but some stories need scenes or info that don't include the main character. I usually have more than one main character. But, I stick to one head per scene, and I don't retale a scene, I keep the story moving.

Reply
SM Ford link
11/22/2016 03:21:45 pm

What kind of stories do you write? I'm toying with one that would have two viewpoints, but they would switch chapter to chapter.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    SM Ford writes inspirational fiction for adults, although teens may find the stories of interest, too. She also loves assisting other writers on their journeys.

    Archives

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

    Categories

    All Best Writing Quotes Book News Good Books To Read Guest Interview Guest Post Life Public Speaking Upcoming Book Release Words For Writers

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly