Head-Hopping

Head-hopping occurs when a narrative shifts between different characters' internal perspectives within a single scene without signaling the transition. In third person limited, the reader expects to be anchored in one character's viewpoint per scene or chapter. When the perspective jumps without warning, it creates a disorienting experience that breaks immersion.

Consider a scene where John thinks "She looks angry" followed immediately by Mary thinking "He never understands." In the space of two sentences, the reader has been inside two different heads with no transition. This is head-hopping. By contrast, Nora Roberts and other romance writers sometimes execute deliberate, clearly signaled POV shifts within a scene, which is a controlled technique, not head-hopping.

Head-hopping is distinct from omniscient narration. An omniscient narrator can report on multiple characters' thoughts because the narrator is a separate, all-knowing entity. The problem arises in limited third person, where the "camera" is supposed to be inside one character's head. If you want to show multiple perspectives in a scene, consider using omniscient POV intentionally rather than accidentally head-hopping.