Point of View
Point of view is one of the most basic concepts in literature, and it's the one almost no one seems to grasp when they first start writing. I didn't. I thought I did, but I really didn't.
Simply put, when we're in a character's point of view, we see only what she sees, hear what she hears, and learn only her thoughts. We experience the action of the story through her…as if we are her. Meanwhile, the thoughts and attitudes of the other characters in the scene are revealed only through their dialogue and body language.
Bopping from one character's point of view within a scene is called head hopping. Some authors can get away with it – usually ones who have been writing for a good many years now and are able to head hop without being confusing - but for the most part it's frowned upon, especially in romance.
Often readers will say they don't think about or notice point of view. So why should a writer worry about it? First, except for those few authors who can handle frequent pov switches skillfully, it can become confusing as to who's thinking what and whose eyes are brimming with emotion. The reader will be put off. She might not realize what the problem is, but she just might lose interest and put the book down.
But it's not just about clarity, it's about emotion. The bigger problem I've encountered with head hopping is that the emotions just don't run deep enough to engage my empathy. When I read any book, but especially a romance, I want to lose my heart in the story. I want to be swept up and so invested in the characters' experiences that my family goes hungry because I can't stop reading long enough to cook dinner.
I want to ache and yearn and cry with the characters, but with head hopping I feel like I'm not getting below the surface of their immediate reactions to a situation. By being in everyone's head at once, I'm not going deep into any particular character's point of view – in fact, knowing everyone's thoughts, seeing everyone's eyes widen, feeling their hearts race simultaneously, puts the story into omnipresent point of view, as if it's being told by some omnipotent, higher being gazing down from above, observing but not actually part of the story. As a result, the emotions lose their intensity.
POV exercise for writers: if you're not sure you've mastered pov, try writing a scene in first person, where you can only focus on a single character's thoughts and perceptions. Then simply go back and replace "I" with she/he.
Tagged: point of view
