First person and third person limited are the choices of trend nowadays. When you open a book, chances are you’ll either see a narration from one single person’s point of view, with little insight given elsewhere; or the entire narrative told from behind the MC’s eyes.
But it’s also possible to handle more than one POV within a book—using third person omniscient.
Third person omniscient is when you see the thoughts of more than one character. You can jump POVs at chapters (the most common way), with page breaks, or even sometimes within the same passage, where it works (though this has to be handled carefully, and works best when the entire story only trades between about 2-4 POVs).
If done incorrectly (or if the reader is unused to seeing it), this can lapse into the phenomenon of head-hopping, where we get too many different thoughts too quickly to properly keep track of them.
It’s important to note that head-hopping isn’t just when there’s more than one POV in a book, nor when the POVs trade off within the same chapter. It’s usually when they trade off within the same scene; and, most importantly, when it becomes too confusing to follow.
* * *
Let’s take a look at an example:
Janie and Rick slowed as they approached the counter.
Chocolate looked pretty good. Janie licked her lips, thinking of the spongy cake and rich, decadent icing that awaited her.
She stepped up to the counter, catching the attention of the cashier. “Hi—can I take a slice of chocolate, please?”
The man nodded, and moved to remove one from behind the glass.
Rick would much rather have cheesecake—maybe with some of that oozy strawberry sauce. Just the way it glistened on the platter set his stomach to rumbling.
He lightly elbowed his companion. “Can I throw in a bit of that?”
Janie nodded. For a moment, the candy-red berries almost tempted her to change her mind…but chocolate was her stalwart option.
Assuming the book only trades between Janie and Rick, this passage is fairly passable. You can easily follow who’s thinking what. We let you know who’s in the scene to begin with, and we make it clear when we’re switching POVs (by using the characters’ names).
Though if you didn’t prefer to jump POVs in the same passage, then you have some other options to handle the scene.
ONE (just use one character’s POV, but alter it to still convey what the other person is thinking):
Janie and Rick slowed as they approached the counter.
Chocolate looked pretty good. Janie licked her lips, thinking of the spongy cake and rich, decadent icing that awaited her.
She stepped up to the counter, catching the attention of the cashier. “Hi—can I take a slice of chocolate, please?”
The man nodded, and moved to remove one from behind the glass.
Beside her, Rick frowned at the display. Janie would bet money he’d go with some kind of cheesecake—it was his greatest weakness.
He lightly elbowed his companion, pointing to the strawberry option. “Can I throw in a bit of that?”
Janie nodded. For a moment, the candy-red berries almost tempted her to change her mind…but chocolate was her stalwart option.
TWO (use page breaks to indicate a switch):
Janie and Rick slowed as they approached the counter.
Chocolate looked pretty good. Janie licked her lips, thinking of the spongy cake and rich, decadent icing that awaited her.
She stepped up to the counter, catching the attention of the cashier. “Hi—can I take a slice of chocolate, please?”
The man nodded, and moved to remove one from behind the glass.
—
Rick would much rather have cheesecake—maybe with some of that oozy strawberry sauce. Just the way it glistened on the platter set his stomach to rumbling.
He lightly elbowed his companion. “Can I throw in a bit of that?”
Janie nodded.
* * *
But what does it look like to mess up third person omniscient, and tumble into head-hopping?
Alice ran down the hillside, struggling not to tumble over the rocks and pitted grass. She had to reach the bottom before her friends realized she was gone. She had to get to him first…had to hold him off.
The assassin saw her before she could unsheathe her sword.
She gritted her teeth and grabbed the handle, wrenching it free.
Alice swung her sword, wincing as the sun glided off the metal.
Hit after hit, thrust after thrust, she moved her body through the dance of the duel. Each clang shook her arms, but she met her opponent with all the force she could muster. She wasn’t going to give this up…she wasn’t going to lose. Whether or not she had the strength didn’t matter—they had no other option.
What was she doing? She had to know facing the king’s assassin was suicide. Was she trying to buy them some time? She had to know they’d never leave her behind.
Joseph squared his jaw. Whether or not she wanted him to…he was going to keep Alice from dying.
In this case, we established Alice was alone, running down the hillside while her friends stayed behind somewhere else. And when we made the switch, we didn’t say right away that we’d jumped into somebody else’s head.
To fix it, our best bet would be to put a page break at the site of the switch. That way, we’d know something’s changing; and with the wider context of an actual novel, we’d probably have some idea of who we’d just switched to.
* * *
Handling multiple POVs and avoiding head-hopping is all about making it clear whose head we’re in at any given moment. We just need to give the reader cues that the POV is about to switch.
People also seem to get intimidated by the idea that we might see more than two or three POVs in a single book. Obviously, there’s a point beyond reasonable (say, if you switched between about a hundred different characters), but it’s okay not to restrict yourself to just a few. Do whatever you feel is right for your story.
And it’s okay to venture into the POV of someone we might not ever see again. Sometimes a scene delivers maximum impact when it’s not through the MC’s eyes.
For example, maybe your characters are involved in a revolution, and for a moment, we jump into the mind of a haughty nobleman as he watches in despair while the peasants break down his door.
Or, in the midst of a battle, we follow along with a woman and her children as they desperately attempt to flee the chaos.
As with every part of the storytelling journey, be creative, and express yourself in whatever ways you wish. What’s most important is figuring out the tools you need to tell the tale in the way you want.
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