So I've been seeing some differing opinions on the forums about point of view conventions. My favorite point of view to write in is third person limited, but I must have been confused by someone's reply to some post I've long forgotten. It had me thinking that multiple point of views was a no no. But now I am thinking that person meant within the context of a single scene. In other words, head-hopping, as it's called. Am I right? For example, you start with a scene from the main character's point of view, and then he gets knocked out. It then switches to the sidekick's point of view, with a break and a clear delineation from the two. That's technically still third person limited, as it is one at a time. I'm assuming this is considered a standard POV switch as I am reading books that employ this method regularly. Am I understanding this correctly? From what I am picking up, first person is more of a fad, and omniscient is falling out of favor (and presents its own problems).
Yes, you understand it correctly. There does come a point of fuzziness if the author does these switches too frequently within a chapter or scene. If it starts to approach what feels like head-hopping, then this may prove a little annoying to the reader. None of the POV's is really a fad, they just have their waxing and waning as regards commonality of use. There was a time around the turn of the 20th century when 1st person was very popular and to be seen everywhere. 3rd person omniscient has long been on the wane in favor of 3rd person limited, but I've read articles recently where 3rd person omniscient looks to be the "new 1st person". Doesn't surprise given the level of disparagement often cast on 1st person by a largely 3rd person limited opposing camp.
