Writers, Does your WIP have a Genuinely Omniscient Point of View, or are you Head-Hopping?

 

by Anne R. Allen

I was talking with a group of book-loving friends recently, several of whom work in bookstores, and they all lamented the “head-hopping” that has become common in adult bestsellers in the last few years.

I agree that head-hopping seems to be everywhere these days. The last several novels I’ve read have all attempted a more or less “omniscient” point of view. Some had a POV that was genuinely omniscient, but others simply hopped into the POV of every character in the story with wild abandon.

The head-hopping only confused me. I constantly had to turn back to figure out who was thinking or talking in this particular scene. Or paragraph. Or sentence. One book lost me completely. I had totally lost track of who the protagonist was, and I didn’t care about any of the characters.

I have no idea why so many books with head-hopping are getting published right now, or why some are so popular. A couple of people suggested that Big 5 books may simply not be edited by humans anymore. This is possible, I suppose.

But one of the most popular books of the year has been The Correspondent, a debut novel by Virginia Evans that has sold over two million copies and is still going strong. It not only presents a single character’s point of view, but that POV is expressed entirely in snail-mail letters. It’s an old-fashioned “epistolary” novel. Not a hint of head-hopping.

I wonder if its fans found it refreshing, as I did, to be immersed in one point of view for a whole novel, so we could really get to know — and care about — the protagonist.

Omniscient POV vs. Head-Hopping

I think the hardest concept to get across to new writers is point of view. Almost every new writer wants to describe the thoughts of every character in the story — “hopping” from one head to another.

This is why head-hopping used to be considered the mark of an amateur. It generally indicates the writer hasn’t yet learned to show various characters’ thoughts and feelings through action and dialogue instead of telling the reader what each one thinks and feels.

Head-hoppers often think they’re writing in an omniscient point of view. But generally, they aren’t.

In true omniscient point of view, the narrator of the tale is a god-like entity with a voice and attitude different from the protagonist or any other character.

I recently read Swamp Story, a novel by the great humorist Dave Barry. It has a truly omniscient POV— and it works perfectly. That’s because you can hear Dave Barry’s humorous voice in every sentence. The omniscient POV reads like a stand-up comic telling you a story.

Omniscient point of view is also great for high fantasy, space opera, historical fiction, and other genres where you want to create an old-fashioned tone or sound like a historian. This point of view distances the reader from the characters as if they’re listening to a storyteller spin a tale, not experiencing the action along with the protagonist.

Think of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, where the narrator addresses the reader directly as “O best beloved.” Or imagine you’re writing the opening of Star Wars. If you can start your tale with, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” you’re probably writing in a truly omniscient point of view.

Why Head-Hopping is Problematic

Obviously, with head-hoping appearing all over the bestseller lists right now, I can’t tell new writers not to do it. But I can say that it puts up a big barrier between you and your reader.

Non-omniscient head-hopping makes a book harder to read. It’s tough for the reader to know who the protagonist is and who we’re supposed to care about. Readers often don’t know who is acting or who is talking.

Head-hopping often treats all the characters as if they are protagonists.

Also, head-hopping is less realistic. In real life, we only know the thoughts of one person: ourselves. In order to find out what other people are thinking, we need to hear them, have someone tell us, or read their body language.

That’s why the third person limited is the easiest point of view for readers to enjoy. It’s what feels the most natural. And it’s what a lot of writing teachers suggest a new writer use for a first novel.

What is the Third Person Limited Point of View?

We call this point of view “limited” because it is limited to one character at a time. You can have several points of view in a third person limited novel, but not in the same sentence or paragraph. They are usually divided by chapters or scenes.

This has been the most common point of view in contemporary novels for some time. I recommend it for most beginning novelists. The exception is YA, where first person is very popular. First person gets the reader closest to the protagonist.

There are two types of third person limited: standard third person limited and deep third person limited. The difference between standard and “deep” third person is how intensely the reader experiences the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings. Deep is almost like first person.

Standard 3^rd person

“Run faster!” he told himself. He could tell that rhinoceros was getting closer.

Deep 3^rd person

Run faster! The sound of rhino hooves thundered in his ears.

A Tip if You’re Having Trouble with Head-Hopping

There’s a simple hack for new writers wrestling with point of view: rewrite your difficult section in first person.

You’ll be amazed at how you can show what other characters are feeling just by your protagonist’s reactions. You’ll probably find you only have to change a few words.

Yes, you can hop from Jessie’s head to Jake’s: “Fidelity is essential in a relationship, Jake believed. He would never cheat on Jessie.” But you can stay in Jessie’s head and get the same message across with first person: “Jake swore to me that he believed fidelity is essential in a relationship. I knew he would never cheat on me.”

I’m not saying you need to keep it in first person. But try writing at least five pages in first person. Then you can turn it back to third person.

Now you can say: “Jake swore to Jessie that he believed fidelity is essential in a relationship. She knew he would never cheat on her.”

See how easy it is? We’re back in third person and we’ve stayed in Jessie’s head the whole time.

And if you find you’re more comfortable writing in first person, it’s fine to stay there. Lots of great novels are written in first person singular.

But note: first person plural should be reserved for experimental books like And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It can be something of a slog to read. (Personally, I never did get to the end. 🙂 )

Should You Use Deep Third Person POV or Standard?

This depends on genre, tone, and personal choice. Deep point of view immerses the reader in the character’s world. It increases intensity.

For thrillers, suspense, and horror, it can strengthen the emotional experience. It doesn’t work as well for light romantic comedy or breezy beach reads. Mysteries where the puzzle is more important than the intensity of emotion could be confusing in deep POV.

But I think every writer’s work can improve from practicing writing in deep point of view. And if you tend toward head-hopping, it can often cure you of it.

I Still Recommend Avoiding Head-Hopping

There’s a quote sometimes attributed to Oscar Wilde: “I never edit my own work. Why would I tamper with genius?” Some beginning writers tend to think that way. Or they’ve fought so hard for their word count, they refuse to give up one word.

Not a good idea. We can all learn new things and improve our writing in many ways. Learning to write using different points of view is useful to all of us. And learning to avoid head-hopping will help keep your book out of the “Did Not Finish” pile.

by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen, @annerallen.bsky.social) May 31, 2026

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What about you, scriveners? Do you have trouble with head-hopping? Did you find point of view baffling when you started writing? What point of view do you prefer as a reader?

THE HOUR OF THE MOTH

A light and funny beach read where multiple stories are told with only one first person POV.

(And it sure could use some reviews, friends. I was sick during the launch, and didn’t do enough to get ARCs off to reviewers. If you read it and like it, a few words would help a lot.)

Ebook and paper book available at Amazon. Paper book also available at Barnes and Noble

When Camilla Randall allows a neighboring business to hold a “Moth Hour” storytelling event in the courtyard of her beachy California bookstore, she finds an inconvenient corpse left in the audience after the event. The deceased, a storyteller famous for his appearances on NPR, turns out to have a shady past — and a lot of enemies. Unfortunately, Camilla’s boyfriend Ronzo is one of them. But Camilla, with the help of her cat Buckingham, solves the mystery of the murder with clues from each of the storytellers’ tales. 

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Featured image by Samuel Bourke at Unsplash