Quick Tips to Stay in Character

Don't be a bunny. Avoid head hopping.  

We're tackling one of Megan's biggest pet peeves this week; head hopping, or changing character point of view without a visual transition in between.

It happens when authors switch from the internal monologue or emotions of one character into another character, within the same scene, without a scene break or chapter break to identify the new point of view.

Tip #1: Know your point of view

Tip #2: Put yourself in the head of the character. Only write what that character can see or feel.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Author Wheel podcast.
I'm Megan Haskell,award-winning fantasy author of
the Senorita Chronicles and theRise of Lilith series.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm Greta Boris, usa Today bestselling author of
the Mortician Murders and thesoon-to-be-released Almost True
Crime series.
Together we are the AuthorWheel.
Our goal is to help youovercome your writing roadblocks
so you can keep your storiesrolling.
Today we're gonna to coveranother common problem for
fiction writers head hopping.

(00:28):
Can you define head hopping forus please, megan?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yes, this is one of my biggest pet peeves.
Just drives me bananas.
But head hopping happens whenan author jumps from one point
of view character into anotherpoint of view character without
a scene transition in between.
So, especially when it's likethe internal monologue, that's
when it really becomes a problem, because your main point of

(00:57):
view character cannot know whatthe other character is thinking
unless they have telepathy,which okay the other character
is thinking, unless they havetelepathy, which okay.
There are stories where thatworks, but most stories it does
not.
Yes, no-transcript, two voiceshere, like what is going on, and

(01:37):
it's hard to keep track of whoyou're actually experiencing as
the reader.
So it's disorienting right Nowif you have a chapter break, a
scene break or something thatcan be the differentiator.
So I'm not saying you can'thave multiple point of view
characters Obviously that's nottrue.

(01:57):
But it's when you're in thatfirst person or close third
person that you know you have tojust be experiencing the world
from that character, otherwise,at least for me this is why it's
my pet thief I get immediatelypulled out of the story If all
of a sudden I'm not sitting withthat character anymore and I'm

(02:18):
in somebody else's head.
It's like oh wait, what justhappened?
And I lose my place in thestory, I lose that immersion.
So now there is another argumenthere too, that an omniscient
narrator should be able toexperience the thoughts and
everything of all the characters.
Right, they know everythingabout the world, they are God,

(02:39):
so to speak.
But my argument is that that'sactually its own character.
The omniscient narrator has itsown voice and its own point of
view that gets overlaid on topof all the other characters.
So, while the omniscientnarrator does know what all the
characters are thinking, they'retelling the story from their

(03:01):
own point of view, and thatshould be clear from page one.
So understanding what point ofview you're writing from and
mastering point of view andstaying within those characters
as appropriate, is reallycritical to meeting reader
expectations and mastering thatimmersion of the reading
experience.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know it's interesting that I think this
whole idea of head hopping andeven omniscient narrators was
much more popular a long timeago.
You know, it's not unusual 50,60 years ago to read an old book
and it's full of head hoppingand or omniscient narration.
But I think and I am justsupposing this, so, listeners,

(03:49):
if I am wrong, feel free toemail Megan at authorwheelcom
which will actually good for us.
Um but uh, I think that some ofthe classics, the lasting
stories, the reason we stilllove Pride and Prejudice, the
reason we still love some ofthose older stories, is that

(04:13):
they didn't do that a lot.
We really were in thatcharacter's perspective.
So, that is my theory.
I have not done research totest it out.
Feel free to, like I said,email Megan if I'm wrong.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
So well, but again, I think, with pride and prejudice
, let's, let's take that as anexample.
So, by the way.
So tip number one, the officialtip number one, is know your
point of view, but, um, withpride and prejudice, you know, I
think it is an omniscientnarrator.
There is a narrator of thatstory, Um, and so you're sitting

(04:50):
with Elizabeth Bennett, youknow, but there's still a
narrator right, and so that thatwas kind of the difference,
like that, again, the narratorhas their own point of view on
the story, and but they're stillfollowing that main character.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
So right, right.
Yeah, I'm kind of doing thatwith the Almost True Crime
series with my podcast host.
She is kind of the narrator ofthe whole thing and she comes in
and out.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, and in that case you've actually framed the
story with the narrator as anactual visual or person
character.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Right, with her own name and her own.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Everything, yeah yeah .
So tip number two it's it'ssort of an offshoot of tip
number one, but it's sort of sowe've told you know what POV
you're in.
But tip number two is how do Ido that Right?
So, yes, in theory I get it,guys, but how do I do that right
?
So, yes, in theory I get itguys, but how do I do that?

(05:50):
It seems obvious, but, honestly, I know some fabulous writers,
really really good writers, whostill struggle with this.
And the tip is put yourself inthe head of the character you're
writing.
When you're writing thatcharacter, I mean, you know you
can just when you're writingthat character, I mean you know

(06:13):
you can just like you can onlybe one person at a time when
you're imagining.
You can only be one person at atime.
And sometimes people strugglewith this because they're always
in their own author brain, intheir own author head, and it's
not you have to put yourself inthat character's, in that
character's, not, you have toput yourself in that character's
, in that character's mind.
So you are like them in thatmoment, like channeling them.
So, in other words, you cannotwrite anything.

(06:36):
They don't sense or feel orthink.
And it helps you know thembetter too as a character.
So it's it's it's sort ofspecific.
It's like I was just in acritique group.
We were just dealing with thiswith an excellent writer, and
this writer did get it to thepoint where he wasn't saying

(06:59):
anything.
The character didn't see orknow or couldn't know.
But he also wasn't giving usany of the character's actual
thoughts or emotions about whatwas happening.
So that deepens the POV, like,if you can, I think having we've
talked to a few actors on thepodcast and they really don't
struggle with this because thatwas their career.

(07:22):
Before they put themselves intoa character, they become that
character.
Or before they put themselvesinto a character, they become
that character.
And as writers, we need to kindof apply a little bit of that
acting.
Put yourself into their mindand if you have more than one
POV character per book, as Meganwas saying in the first tip,
have a clear delineation likemake it a chapter break, make it

(07:43):
a scene break and all that.
But I would also add, putyourself in this new character's
brain.
They're going to look at lifedifferently, just like when we
talked about dialogue.
They're going to speakdifferently, they're going to
think differently, they're goingto know different things.
They're going to look at theworld differently.
Everybody has a uniqueworldview, including your

(08:05):
characters, if you want them tofeel real.
So that is tip number two Putyourself in the head of the
character that you are writingfrom.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
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(08:39):
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Help us spread the word so thatwe can keep on doing this thing

(09:02):
, but until next time, keep yourstories rolling.