Knob

Viewpoint character

You might say: POV character, whose head we are in

The character whose senses and thoughts the reader shares in a scene. Switching heads inside a scene is called head-hopping.

What it does

Decides what the reader can see, know and feel in each scene.

Ask

Whose head gives this scene the most pressure?

Trouble

Head-hopping: the reader is unsure whose thoughts they are reading.

What to look for

1. One character’s senses and thoughts in a scene
2. The scene staying in one head

Connections

• Controls: Information gap

Sources

1. Susan DeFreitas, How Big of a Problem Is “Head Hopping”?, sections “Head hopping” and “How can omniscient POV be done well?”we feel like we’re really in the mind of the POV character, living the story

Use it on your project

teardown-apply: hold "Viewpoint character" (pov-character) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project

Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.

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