Every writer looks for someone knowledgeable to critique their work. While that's going on, we're on pins and needles waiting for the criticism we're either going to love or hate, or maybe both.
I guess the worse thing to hear is "You're head-hopping." Depending on how bad it is, it could ring the death knell on your project. At least it feels like it. I know that every time I hear it, I feel frustrated and a bit depressed. It'll take me a few days to get into the mindset to make repairs before I actually look at the work.
It took me a few months to understand POV (point of view) until one day the lightbulb clicked on. Until that happened my mentor/teacher used to send an occasional 'virtual' "Gibbs" before it became popular. But then there are some things that take me forever to get a handle on. Since that time I've been able to put a simple explanation to the problem. If you don't want to change the POV going on, then don't let other characters think. This is about as close as you can get to writing in first person without writing in first person. Consider this...
Two women, Mary and Jane are having a discussion about an upcoming local election in which one of the husbands is running for office. Jane is proud of her husband's accomplishments and has thoughts of him running circles around the competition. She's thinking about him moving up in a political career. The POV is hers for the moment. Then Mary starts thinking Jane's husband is an idiot to think he could win. Now the reader is wondering why Mary is thinking that, which changes the focus on the characters, and changes the POV.
Another way to change point of view is to have the scene move on... different people, different place. Or it could still be the same two people under different circumstances. The main thing is to be careful with who is thinking what. Thoughts are the focus...not dialogue and not action. Those things move the scene along, while thinking sort of holds it up a bit and grabs the reader's attention.
At some point, in fixing the edits in your work you learn to be creative. Too much head-hopping often means deleting bits and pieces of the story. And we all hate to do that. In a story I completed recently I was told there was too much head-hopping. I couldn't afford to delete any of the work, which meant looking for some creative ways to fix the problem. One way was to have the character with the POV watching the other(s) and thinking about what they see. After a while it can get rather boring. It's more telling than showing (another no-no) Then I realized the simplest way to avoid changing the focus was to put the second person's thoughts into dialogue. Let them think aloud. Since it then becomes part of the conversation, the POV will stay where it belongs until you find the proper place and time to change it.
It's unfortunate that big-name authors don't have to follow the same rules we lesser or unknown authors have to follow. Some of them have been known for their head-hopping, jumping back and forth with the point of view until you have no idea who's running with it.
The rest of us have no choice but to abide by the rules if we expect to get anywhere. But that's okay. By sticking to the rules we eventually learn how to bend, not break them. In the long run, we'll be better off for it.
So it boils down to "He who thinks, controls the POV"
I wish you success in your battle with handling points of view.
