This post was first published in July 2013 and last updated in October 2025.
When you’re writing in the third person, it’s easy to end up head-hopping.
This is when you move from one person’s perspective to another, without quite meaning to. It’s not a deliberate perspective shift, at the end of a scene or at some natural break. Instead, it’s like the point of view has slipped and we’re seeing your story from a slightly different angle.
Head-hopping can break the reader’s immersion
in your story, and it can make it trickier for you to build suspense and foster sympathy for your viewpoint character, so it’s best avoided … most of the time.
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