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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27870
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27870
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Here is the thing about point of view. People always position themselves to get the best view of something they are interested in. If they can stay in one place and see everything they want to see, they stay where they are. If they have to move to see everything they want to see, they move. This is the most natural thing in the world and we don't tend to think about it much as we are doing it.

In a book, the writer is in total control of what the reader can see. If the writer handles POV well, then the reader will be able to see what they want to see and will not even think about POV. But if the reader needs to change POV in order to see what they are interested in, and the author does not make that POV switch at the right moment, then the reader will be frustrated. If the author does make the POV switch at the right time, however, the reader will not even notice because they always have the view they want at that moment.

Writing teachers often warn about "head hopping" -- rapid changes of POV from one character to another. But the fault is not changing POV rapidly. The fault is changing POV when the reader feels no need to do so. If the reader is being constantly jerked from one POV to another when they would rather stand still, that is frustrating. If the reader is being held in one position when they would rather move to a different position (a real problem in first person narratives) that is also frustrating.

It is probably not bad advice to new writers to avoid POV shifts, since POV can be difficult and new writers are more likely to handle it badly than to handle it well. But in the end the point is to get to being a good writer and a good writer has to learn to handle this well.

Original score: 3