Okay, I guess I have very specific ideas about points of view and changing point of view in something that I'm reading. I mean, in my opinion- and that's all it is, my opinion- it should be easy to tell whose head I'm supposed to be in when I'm reading a story. Is it the hero or the heroine who is trying to decide what to do? Is it the hero or the heroine who is looking at a happy family with bittersweet longing? When an author isn't clear about whose POV is in the forefront, it's very confusing to the reader- to me anyway. I'm currently reading a book- the only specific info I'll give is that it's a Harlequin SuperRomance- and the author of this book head hops. The beginning of the chapter starts out in the heroine's POV and three paragraphs later- without any kind of definable break- we're in the hero's head.
So tell me, when reading a book, do you like head hopping or do you like to stay in one POV for a time so you can get to better know the character?
Do you like it when the POV change is obvious or not so obvious or completely hidden? Does it bother you when you're reading along and all of a sudden realize you are no longer in the POV you thought you were and you have to go back and figure out where it changed?
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Okay, POV's are so....
Posted by Danielle Marie Peck at 3:49 PM
Labels: fellow writers
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4 comments:
I totally agree with you! There is nothing more jarring than when you have to go back and figure out when you missed the POV change.
Oh look If the change of POV is clear then I have no problem. But if you have to read and reread then it is annoying. I will change POV at the beginning o a new chapter.
Yes! change POV with a new chapter or with a clear break in the middle of a chapter but not right in the middle of a paragraph where it's not obvious.
You know, I was reading a book today and maybe I'm just obsessed with POV's right now, hyper sensetive to them or something, but in this book, there were three POV changes in two pages. It's like, before you can even get settled in one persons head, you're being jerked up and put in someone elses.
I'm not a hard and fast stickler to every writing rule in the book but when you break one of the rules in a way that jars the reader and pulls them out of the story, that just seems wrong to me.
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