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Why You Shouldn't Head Hop
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Malcolm
 15 Sep 2011, 03:12 #129894 Reply To Post
Kurt Vonnegut: "We must acknowledge that the reader is doing something quite difficult for him, and the reason you don't change point of view too often is so he won't get lost, and the reason you paragraph often is so that his eyes won't get tired, so you get him without him knowing it by making his job easy for him."

Vonnegut always said what the world really needed was more courtesy. No doubt it was his courtesy to his readers that made him so popular.
This post was last edited by Malcolm, 15 Sep 2011, 03:14
No stars. No charts. Just crits.
unclearthur
 15 Sep 2011, 19:51 #129948 Reply To Post
You're preaching to the converted with me.

You need to be nagging all the idiot published writers who seem to think it's clever.


http://cavalrytales.wordpress.com
www.cavalrytales.co.uk

'The battle that never ends is the battle of belief against disbelief'
Malcolm
 16 Sep 2011, 06:36 #129961 Reply To Post
Quote: unclearthur, Thursday, 15 Sep 2011 19:51
You're preaching to the converted with me.

You need to be nagging all the idiot published writers who seem to think it's clever.


http://cavalrytales.wordpress.com


They're not more clever than Vonnegut, I'll wager.

A writer has to do whatever serves the story best, and nothing serves the story better than getting the reader to read it.

No stars. No charts. Just crits.
PERRY
 25 Sep 2011, 15:51 #130804 Reply To Post
Burgess - junk/ Tolkien - LOTR/ Eddings- Belgariad/ Asimov - Foundation. Head hopping galore. If you don't practice, you'll never get the hang of it.
RobertB
 26 Sep 2011, 20:59 #130876 Reply To Post
There are loads of head hoppers out there, I agree, and some of them have written best-sellers. I still think it's best avoided though!
unclearthur
 27 Sep 2011, 22:22 #130946 Reply To Post
Quote: RobertB, Monday, 26 Sep 2011 20:59
There are loads of head hoppers out there, I agree, and some of them have written best-sellers. I still think it's best avoided though!


There are plenty of badly written best-sellers out there. P'raps trying to write an easy-to-follow narrative is where I'm going wrong.

But it annoys me to death whenever I come across it, mostly because I'm a fairly quick reader (of fiction) and it ALWAYS breaks the flow.

Just because a writer's got a grasshopper mind doesn't mean it should be foisted on his readers, I reckon.

http://cavalrytales.wordpress.com
www.cavalrytales.co.uk

'The battle that never ends is the battle of belief against disbelief'
awrigley
 28 Sep 2011, 18:10 #131034 Reply To Post
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Break every friggin' rule
Till you find your style

It's the ability to interest people that matters in getting writing read. It has nothing to do with head hopping or not.
Memory... What was that?
Destinyschild
 28 Sep 2011, 19:08 #131043 Reply To Post
I'm with Andrew on this one. I found the quote by Kurt Vonnequt rather condescending. I'm perfectly able to follow stories which head-hop, rather enjoy them, actually. To suggest readers need the easiet way to access a story is to disparage their intellect. Some of us, perhaps many of us, want to be challenged.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about the 'rules'. They are obviously there to be interpreted. Take a look at the work of some of the critically acclaimed new novelists and see how they approach things. If it works, it works. Don't dumb down to meet the lowly expectations of some.

DC
This post was last edited by Destinyschild, 28 Sep 2011, 19:11
unclearthur
 28 Sep 2011, 22:49 #131069 Reply To Post
Quote: awrigley, Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011 18:10

It's the ability to interest people that matters in getting writing read. It has nothing to do with head hopping or not.


Or writing, from what you're saying.

http://cavalrytales.wordpress.com
www.cavalrytales.co.uk

'The battle that never ends is the battle of belief against disbelief'
unclearthur
 28 Sep 2011, 23:17 #131072 Reply To Post
Quote: Destinyschild, Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011 19:08
I'm with Andrew on this one. I found the quote by Kurt Vonnequt rather condescending. I'm perfectly able to follow stories which head-hop, rather enjoy them, actually. To suggest readers need the easiet way to access a story is to disparage their intellect. Some of us, perhaps many of us, want to be challenged.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about the 'rules'. They are obviously there to be interpreted. Take a look at the work of some of the critically acclaimed new novelists and see how they approach things. If it works, it works. Don't dumb down to meet the lowly expectations of some.

DC


Whoa! Are we ankle-deep in the same muckheap here? I'm not talking about omniscient or multiple POVs but stories with few character viewpoints where the author suddenly jumps into a (often) minor character.

That's not an intellectual challenge, it's just lazy. The writer can't be bothered to work a congruent changeover into his narrative. Actually, I lie: it's obviously a challenge too far for the author. Dumbing down to the writer's level, then.

If decent storytelling equates to lowly expectations, I've got 'em.

http://cavalrytales.wordpress.com

www.cavalrytales.co.uk

'The battle that never ends is the battle of belief against disbelief'
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