Narrative Point of View – Third-person writing
Before you start this, you should read my blog Narrative Point of View – First-person as this is a direct follow on from that. Also, if you’re unfamiliar with the concept of POV, you might prefer to read my blog Point of View as an introduction to the, sometimes confusing, different points of view a writer can use.
1. The writer takes the part of an observer
Instead of using the ‘I’ of the First-person narrator, the writer will use ‘he, she, it, and they’ in the way an observer would. This is known as writing in the Third-person. Unlike the previous method, different perspectives of Third-person writing are available to the writer, each with its own constraints. I’ll outline them, trying to keep things brief and simple (like me!). The titles aren’t mine but they’re the generally agreed labels used in the writing business. Read on . . .
2. The writer sees and knows everything
The label here is Third-person omniscient.
If you’re not familiar with the word, omniscient means ‘all-seeing’ or ‘all-knowing’. Those terms explain more clearly how this approach works. The narrator sees and knows everything. Some refer to it as ‘like God’.
This has been the most commonly used point of view for hundreds of years. Novelists such as Jane Austen, the Brontës, Tolstoy, Dickens of the past as well as today’s authors like JK Rowling, Jojo Moyes, Lee Child, Stephen King, and thousands of others have employed Third-person omniscient.
An example from my book ‘The Beachcomber’. . .
‘Not that he would have remembered but Joss was standing on the spot where, five years earlier, he’d picked up what he initially thought was a bullet cartridge case.’
Here, the reader can see how the Third-person omniscient narrator knows everything. Joss doesn’t remember the spot but the narrator does. Joss doesn’t remember it was five years earlier but the narrator does and the same for the cartridge case. Who else now knows something Joss doesn’t? Most importantly, the reader.
3. The writer tells the story from the point of view of one or more characters
When it is one character (often the protagonist or sidekick) it is normally called Third-person limited because the reader is ‘limited’ to the thoughts of one person – similar to First-person but not using ‘I’.
When the point of view moves between several characters, it is known as Third-person subjective and is sometimes referred to as the reader ‘looking over the shoulder’, hearing, seeing, feeling everything a character does. The reader follows the story through the eyes of the character(s) so, if they don’t see something, neither does the reader.
This is subtly different from Third-person omniscient where the reader knows everything.
In the following extract from ‘The Beachcomber’, firstly the reader sees through Beth’s eyes and then through Gary’s.
‘Whilst Beth stayed in bed, tears of happiness filled her eyes. She’d wanted it to happen. She’d planned it – hoping. Gary floated home, his emotions unlocked from the corner where they’d remained secured for such a long time.’
Had that piece been written only from Gary’s point of view, as below, it would have been ‘limited’.
‘Gary left Beth in bed and floated home, his emotions . . .’
Hopefully, that hasn’t addled your brain because there’s another version coming right up after the break (sorry, that’s me in TV mode).
4. The writer narrates, but is detached from the story
This case is labelled Third-person objective. You should read the word ‘objective’ as ‘detached’ – seeing but not involved. Sometimes it’s called a ‘fly on the wall’ or even a ‘camera lens’ approach, recording only what it sees without any interpretation. Using the Gary example in the previous section, in this writing style you’d say . . .
‘Gary left Beth in bed and walked home.’
No interpretation of Gary ‘floating home’ or knowledge of his emotions; just plain, simple reporting of facts.
However, if you, the writer, want to convey Gary’s emotions, you’d have to do it in another way. For instance . . .
‘Gary walked home, a huge smile on his face broken only when he began whistling and singing.’
The ‘whistling and singing’ are observable facts and no interpretation has been added.
Can you mix points of view in one story?
Not so many years ago the experts’ answer would have been ‘at your peril!’ but in recent years it’s become common and acceptable – George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series (TV’s Game of Thrones) and Paula Hawkins’ Girl on the Train are just two successful examples.
If you want to try it, have a go but be careful; switching from I to he and then to she is more complicated than you might think. I’ve read some multiple POV books by famous writers which I’ve found downright confusing, not being certain which character’s voice I’m reading!
All this info on POV is good to know but, in the end, the most important thing is WRITE YOUR STORY; the rest can be sorted later. But don’t tell anyone I said that.
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