Oh wait. No, we don’t. Many of my favorite books switch viewpoints, sometimes randomly. Gone with the Wind. The Picture of Dorian Gray. I’ve only ever tried to read one Stephen King book, The Shining, and it often head-hopped from one paragraph to the next. That poor Stephen King. When will he learn? He could be more successful!

I think there’s too many non-writers or bad writers giving advice to writers. While head-hopping drives me personally mad, and I strive not to do it, if someone else feels the need and the story is still compelling, what’s the problem? If you want 20 points of view, and it works for your book, then go for it.

Hi Suzan,
Thanks so much for reading my post about POV and for your comments. They are really interesting.

Yes, you are right. What I was trying to say (and sorry if it wasn’t clear) was that I ‘managed’ my multi-POV instincts not by minimizing the number of narrators, but by changing the POV from chapter to chapter rather than paragraph to paragraph. This meant that in the bit of my novel set in 1944 I went from having one section with 3 different POVs all fighting for room, to three sections each with 1 POV only.

I did this because my attempts at sliding between 3 different POVs within one section i.e switching POV from paragraph to paragraph etc, simply created confusion – in me and probably, therefore, in any potential reader I thought. It also made me question what and whose story I was really telling. By making this change I started to more fully understand the story I was trying to write.

But in general I am not a great believer in rules that must be obeyed when it comes to writing. I think it is up to each individual writer to decide what works best for them and then try to achieve it on a technical level. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t and sometimes we can’t – until the next time, maybe. That is where experience comes in, I hope!

I trust that is useful.

Mary

For example, I just read a book where the POV narrator has multiple shifts from Omniscient Narrator to third person close personal (deep Point of View), with two narrators. In some sections of the book, one deep POV is maintained for a page or two. For the most part, though, the changes are frequent. Most changes are by paragraph, so no section break cues to know the POV may have changed. In a few cases, the author left no cues as to narrator identity, yet it appeared to be deep POV in style. It really messes with understanding the characters’ emotions during heated interactions if the reader has no idea whose head they’re in. The POV changes within a paragraph in some cases. It’s worse than whiplash, and from an author I admire with a professional editor I admire!

Experts say only an experienced and skilled author should attempt to mix ON and/or 3rd limited and/or first person. I’m trying to hone my skill with 3rd person limited, deep POV, multiple narrator. I review carefully for places where I’ve slipped into ON, and reword. I change POV by scene, with a goal to changes by chapter. I try to keep as many back-to-back scenes with the same narrator. I try to minimize narrators. I think that’s what you were saying in the end, but it’s not clear to me.