Head-hopping is when narrative perspectives change from one character to another without warning when writing in third person. This is abrupt and jumps from one character’s perspective in one paragraph to another’s in the next.

Too many perspective shifts can also confuse the reader as to who is speaking, especially if there is dialogue or internal thought that could be attributed to several characters. The reader can infer feelings and motivations about the other characters but can’t know. Their knowledge is based solely on what the perspective character can see and hear.

If the reader stays in one character’s perspective for a section of the book, the reader can forge a deeper connection with that character.