Comments on: Self-Editing #8: You’re Not Nora

By: Faith

Faith — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:19:26 +0000

Adina, as far as I’m aware, only well-established romance authors are allowed to head-hop within the same scene. It’s not something that a publisher will traditionally ‘okay’, and definitely not for a new author. I don’t consider switching POV when you start a new scene head-hopping — there, the switch is clearly marked and the reader understands the POV has changed.

The ‘POV shift in a new paragraph, in a new scene’ only happens for established authors whose books already sell very well.

So as I said… for us newbies, it’s not a great habit to get into right now. But down the road, it’s a definite possibility!

By: Adina West

Adina West — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:11:01 +0000

Can I mention an exception? Romance definitely still makes use of head hopping, usually from heroine to hero and vice versa.

BUT there are of course ways to carry it off without confusing the reader:
Signal the change in POV by taking a new paragraph.
Make the change clearly by starting the new POV section with that character’s name.
Don’t do it too often. I’ve seen good romance authors switch once mid-way through a scene, but then they’ll usually stay with the new POV character until the scene ends. Try and ‘head hop’ too often and it will get confusing…

By: BlogJungle

BlogJungle — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:49:10 +0000

Get Your Writing Fighting Fit: Secrets of Self-Editing Revealed…

I found your entry interesting and I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog …

By: Literary Coldcuts on Toasty Buns » Blog Archive » Self-Editing #10: Got Clones?

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:41:43 +0000

[...] Self-Editing #8: You’re Not Nora [...]

By: Marieke

Marieke — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:42:58 +0000

This is actually one of my pet peeves when reading or proofreading. Love the post!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:03:48 +0000

Eek! This has come at the worst time. I’m a head hopper myself and am revising a manuscript that was requested. I keep coming across headhop scenes and wonder how I should handle them. Ack!
Great breakdown though, Faith. Thanks!

By: Barbara Ann Wright

Barbara Ann Wright — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:12:21 +0000

I proudly say that my head-hopping is contained in actual scene breaks, so the reader is never confused.

By: Susan R. Mills

Susan R. Mills — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:15:22 +0000

I prefer writing in 1st Person because of this reason. It makes it more difficult to accidently head hop. In 3rd person it’s easier to slip into another POV because the book is written from different POV’s. Don’t get me wrong, I still occassionally slip up. I hope that if I don’t catch it, my beta readers will.