An unintentional shift in narrative perspective within a scene, where the reader suddenly lands in a different character's head without warning.
A point of view break occurs when the narrative perspective shifts unexpectedly from one character to another within a scene, without a clear section break or intentional transition. The reader is inside one character's head, experiencing their thoughts and perceptions, and then suddenly they're seeing another character's internal experience. This pulls readers out of the story because the camera has jumped without warning.
Consistent point of view is the invisible contract between writer and reader. When you break it accidentally, readers feel disoriented - they lose track of whose thoughts they're reading and whose emotions they should be feeling. A single POV break can undermine an entire scene's emotional impact because the reader stops feeling and starts analyzing.
In close third or first person, your viewpoint character can only observe external behavior. They can see someone frown, but they can't know that person is 'furious inside.' Stick to what your POV character can perceive.
If you're in Sarah's head, she doesn't see 'her own blue eyes sparkling with mischief.' She might catch her reflection, but she doesn't naturally observe herself the way other characters would.
Shifting perspective between scenes or chapters is a valid technique. The problem is shifting within a scene without signaling it. Use section breaks or new chapters for intentional perspective changes.
True omniscient narration has a distinct, consistent narrator voice above all characters. If you're just hopping between heads without that framing voice, it reads as an error, not a style choice.
Take a scene from your manuscript written in third person and highlight every sentence that reveals a character's internal thought or feeling. Check that every highlighted sentence belongs to the same viewpoint character. If you find any that slip into another character's perspective, rewrite them to show that information through external observation only.