Writer's Fallout Shelter

Head-hopping or POV shifting is a maddening experience for most readers. I say "most" because I've met a very few who have no trouble associating shifting thoughts with the correct character. Some best selling authors are notorious head-hoppers, and personally, the style distracts me to no end.

There are several techinques for limiting the problem, but the simplest and most easily managed is to restrict one POV per scene. I'm not talking about moving back and forth between characters at each paragrpah break, but rather allowing a switch to occur at the end ( or middle) of a major scene. There are usually a couple or more major scenes in a typical chapter. You usually break the scene by using visible "breaks." These are usually denoted by an edit symbol such as ***.

Your main characters never have to leave the current scene when using a break, nor does the current scene have to end before using a break. The break allows you to switch perspectives and in some instances, the technique really helps the story by broading the scope. For instance, two people can see the same car wreck at the exact same instant and still not see the event in exactly the same manner. Scene breaks allows the other characters a chance to express themselves, without confusing the reader, and add new perspective and insight to the story.

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"Have you ever been caught hiding bodies in your closet? No? Good place to hide them, uh?"

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