So I just had a section of the first chapter of the novel I’ve written critiqued by members of Scribofile. Everyone came back and said I had problems with my POV. I was head hopping. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I had figured that one out. I know there’s first person, second person, and third person.

What I was doing was writing like my story was third person omniscient when in actuality it is third person limited. Which means I can’t be in everybody’s head whenever I want to be, I have to choose certain POV characters and stay out of the heads of the rest of my cast, and I have to limit POV switches.

If you switch POV characters to quickly or dive into the heads of too many characters at once, it can Jar the reader and break the intimacy with the scenes main character. In other words, going back and forth between POV characters, can give a reader whiplash.

So how do I fix this? One suggestion I’ve gotten is to actually assign POV Characters( the main characters in your story). Write at least a full chapter from ones POV before switching to the next one.

Another suggestion that breaks it down even further is to read the passage in question, go back and highlight all of the POV words in that section, and change them to match the primary POV that has already been established. For example- If I’m writing in third person, my pronouns should be she/he or her/his not I,me,my or you, yours.

I’m heading back to the drawing board so to speak and attempting to get this POV in order. I would love to hear any other suggestions on POV that may help me in this endeavor.

Please consider joining me on this journey. I blog twice a week with an occasional reedit. You will receive emails notifying you whenever I make a new or revised entry. It is my endeavor to provide useful information and hopefully help you to avoid the same mistakes I have made.

-Jan R