Definition
Head hopping happens when a story written in close third person (or first person, though that's rarer) jumps into a different character's thoughts without any scene break, chapter break, or clear signal. One paragraph you're inside Maria's head, feeling her anxiety. The next paragraph you're suddenly in Jake's head, knowing he finds Maria attractive. The reader's brain has to constantly readjust its sense of 'who am I right now,' which breaks immersion and weakens the emotional connection to any single character. It's different from omniscient narration, where a god-like narrator has access to everyone's thoughts by design.
Why It Matters
Head hopping is one of the most common craft issues in early drafts, and fixing it will immediately make your writing feel more professional and immersive. When you stay in one head per scene, every observation, every detail, every emotional reaction belongs to one specific person - and that specificity is what makes readers care. Plus, not knowing what other characters are thinking creates natural tension and mystery that head hopping gives away for free.
Famous Examples
Romance is the genre where head hopping debates rage hardest - some bestselling romance authors hop between hero and heroine's thoughts freely, while craft guides condemn the practice.
Brown frequently shifts perspective within scenes to build suspense, which some readers experience as head hopping and others accept as omniscient thriller pacing.
Eliot's omniscient narrator moves between characters' minds with deliberate authority - a masterclass in how to access multiple perspectives without it feeling like head hopping.
Common Mistakes
Omniscient narration has a consistent, distinct narrator voice that dips into various minds by choice. Head hopping is uncontrolled sliding between perspectives without that consistent narrating presence.
Switching POV between chapters or after a clear scene break is perfectly fine. Head hopping is specifically about unannounced switches within a continuous scene.
Find another way. Have the other character say something revealing, show a physical reaction, or let the POV character misinterpret - the ambiguity is usually more interesting anyway.
Try It Yourself
Find a scene you've written that includes two or more characters. Highlight every sentence that reveals a character's internal state (thoughts, feelings, sensations). Check whether all of those sentences belong to the same character. If not, rewrite the scene staying strictly in one person's head, and convey the other character's emotions only through observable behavior - facial expressions, body language, word choice, tone of voice.
Stay in One Head at a Time
Novelium's Character Tracking highlights POV shifts in your manuscript so you can catch accidental head hops before your beta readers do.