Eva Machicado (Embark’s Copy Chief) gives her thoughts on a tricky aspect of copyediting fiction, namely the point-of-view shift. Do you have a query about fiction copyediting you would like Eva to address in a future post? If so, leave a comment! What The What? Who Just Said That?
In the fiction market, head hopping (or switching character points of view within a single scene) is frowned upon. Why? Because it confuses the reader and makes it difficult for them to follow the story when they are forced to switch from the thoughts and feelings of one character to another mid-paragraph. When switching the perspective from one character to another, publishers will normally insert two blank line spaces as a signal to the reader. It is especially common for newer authors to head hop simply because they are still in the beginning stages of honing their craft. Often, they are so close to the work that they don’t even know they are doing it. So don’t be shy about pointing this kind of thing out; a career-minded author will appreciate your help improving their manuscript. Let’s briefly review the standard points of view (POV) used in fiction and some examples of where things have gone awry. First Person In this POV, the entire story is told through the main character, so they refer to themselves using the pronouns I or my (other first-person pronouns used include me, mine, we, us, and ours). They will describe what is going in the physical world around them along with their thoughts and feelings as it occurs. Sometimes the character will reminisce or have flashbacks about things that happened in the past, and sometimes they will surmise or form projections about what they think will occur in the future. However, because the story is limited to this character’s direct experience and interpretation, they cannot know what is going to happen or what anyone else is thinking until it actually becomes known. In order to have concrete information that they are certain about, they have to be present in scenes and witness what has happened, or someone has to tell them what has occurred (perhaps in the news or by a friend).
0 Comments
|
AuthorThe copy editors of the Embark Editorial Agency. Archives
November 2017
Categories |