Man Ray’s 1924 portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse.
Ah, the joys of an unprecedented global pandemic.
COVID-19 officially reached my town a few days ago, and the library where I work responded by temporarily shutting its doors on Tuesday. Now I, like so much of the world, am practicing social distancing and self-quarantining as a means of keeping both myself and others healthy.
In addition to the requisite stocking up on canned/dried foods, pet supplies, and, yes, toilet paper, I also prepared for the long isolation by picking up some extra books from both the library and local indie bookstore. I wanted things that felt fresh but would also tick off some boxes for my 2020 Reading Challenge. As a result, I’m currently reading authors who are largely new to me, even though some of them are quite famous within their genres.
Before I go on, I should admit that I’m probably a particularly difficult reader right now. Whether I’m turning pages at home or listening to an audiobook during a walk around my neighborhood, the story I’m consuming is always, on some level, in competition with the stir-craziness and anxiety constantly floating around the edges of my consciousness. So I’m trying extra hard to not make too many judgements about the authors or books I’m currently reading, and definitely won’t be naming names for any complaints I may have.
That being said, there is one issue that’s come up enough I felt I had to write a post about it, since it’s also something that can plague all writers. And that issue is head-hopping.
For those unfamiliar with the term, head-hopping just means jumping between characters’ perspectives within a single scene and usually applies to stories written in third person. Although there are still writers who will defend it as a stylistic choice, most industry professionals don’t agree. Many agents will even use the appearance of head-hopping as a means of identifying writers who are not yet ready to go professional.
Honestly, I’ve found that as reader I don’t always mind head-hopping, at least when it appears sparingly and in scenes with very few, well-differentiated characters. As an editor, however, I always point out head-hopping when I come across it—usually with a note about the degree to which it impedes my ability to follow a scene—because I know it can be a huge turn-off to industry professionals and many readers. In fact, I often encourage writers to start a new chapter when they switch perspectives, just to be as consistent and clear as possible.
So it’s been a surprise this week to come across not just one but several instances of head-hopping in a recent, well-regarded book by a best-selling author.
Far from being benign and easily understood, the hopping in this case truly is a hinderance to reader comprehension in part because the novel and its various scenes have MANY characters whose voices are not always radically different. Head-hopping in these instances, then, makes it difficult to determine whose perspective I’m reading and the story overall harder to follow. The fact that both the author and their editor either missed this or made the conscious decision to not take the time to change it is a little mind-boggling.
This kind of double-standard between what most writers are told they can do and what superstar authors actually do drives many a writer crazy. It can also lead new authors to believe they should be able to get away with the same mistakes as their heroes. And it is frustrating.
However, when I come across these issues in a published book by an otherwise solid writer, I always end up feeling bad for the author. Why? Because I know what I’m seeing is probably the product of industry-required speed over care. Once popular, an author and their editorial team can be under tremendous pressure to churn out new stories quickly, not giving them enough time to perfect their work before it hits shelves. And invested series readers will be willing to overlook a lot if it means getting more of their favorite characters faster. But once a book is published, that’s it. Authors then have to live with the errors of their novels and the way those errors may reflect back on them.
So my advice is this:
Always strive for perfection and clarity in your own work, but be gentle in your judgements of others.
Avoid head-hopping.
And, above all, do what you need to do to stay healthy, safe, and sane during this weird and difficult time.
Current mood. Photo by Alejandro Salazar.