Once upon a time when I was a novice writer mentors kept saying, “don’t pop heads”. It was advice given right after “show don’t tell”.  It seems these days, only ‘show don’t tell” applies. Better yet, write like a cinematic camera with all the sights, sounds and smells.

Popping heads is in vogue though! What does ‘popping heads’ mean?  Switching within one scene from which character the point of view (POV) is written. I’m noting more and more writers, main stream and self published authors making that pop from one character’s POV to another within the same scene. The only separation is keeping one character POV to one paragraph.

In fact I recently read a scene where the protagonist was running from a person they had stolen a ring from. The theft victim was a nameless, unimportant character. When the protagonist tossed the stolen ring back to the victim to distract him from catching her, the POV changed to the victim and his thoughts about if it was worth pursuing the thief or not.

That was quite a jump! I find switching paragraph to paragraph too much and definitely switching to an incidental character unnecessary. Really, the decision of the victim was clear without the view inside his head. Show don’t tell using character inner dialogue.

I do however find that longer stretches of POV pop can be seamless and add to an understanding of what’s going on without having an omniscient narrator. It is certainly easier to intertwine two main characters than switching by chapter only. I may try this in Book 2 of Children of the Hidden (currently drafting), though I’m a little concerned about getting into too many character’s heads. They sometimes start thinking things that I didn’t plan on and then I end up with a different story than I started with. I also think POV pop could be the easy way out of truly showing and not telling. How characters are reacting to one another and circumstances is best learned by what characters are doing rather than what they are thinking.

What are your thoughts about POV popping heads? Do you prefer the story from one character’s POV, switching by chapter or within scenes as long as it’s clear who is doing the thinking? I’m leaning toward still using this sparingly, unless my books become bestsellers and I’m in the enviable position of writing however I please because my readers love it all!

---

Don’t forget to check out my latest story on Kindle Vella. Read episode by episode. There are over 30 posted now. This story is told entirely from the protagonist twenty- two year old Maisy’s POV. Let me know if you think multiple POV would work better. Happy writing! Happy reading! Clare

---

Link to “Kill Words” / Link to Episode 1 – Suspense, “good girl” Maisey gets caught between a cybercrime ring, a Homeland Security sting operation and a megalomaniac.