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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47995
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47995
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

This is definitely a high wire act. I had to do it for one scene a novel where I had two lovers who were both misunderstanding the other's motives and actions. The only way to make full sense of what happens in the scene was to be in both heads. Whether I was successful in pulling this off remains to be seen. But these are the rules of thumb I made up for myself to guide me as I wrote. Whether they are either necessary or sufficient has yet to be established.

1. You have to have been in both heads before, however briefly. 

2. The reader has to want to go into each head. It we could understand what was going on fully by watching the external behavior of the characters, that is where we should stay. But the strength of the novel form, as opposed to movie, for instance, is that it can delve into things that cannot be revealed by external actions alone -- and there are many such things with tentative lovers who are often concealing things from each other for fear of the reaction they will get. So if you are going to go into two heads, it has to be because the reader will want to go into both heads because otherwise they won't know what is really going on. 

3. Don't jump more often than necessary.

4. Advance the story significantly at each jump. If you are jumping back and forth but the story is not advancing, that is likely to be confusing and dull.

5. Get out as soon as you can.

6. End in the same head you stated in at the beginning. I'm not entirely certain about this one, but intuitively it seems right to me. 

7. If the reader cannot understand the actions of each character without going into their heads, it follows that the other character can't understand them either. Make sure that that misunderstanding is portrayed effectively.

8. Prefer narrative interjection over head hopping, but make it anecdotal, not analytical. In other words, rather than hop into a character's head to express their confusion, tell an anecdote about them that will explain why they misunderstand the situation.

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