Author: | Nola | Published: | almost 7 years ago |
---|---|---|---|
Tags: | POV, point of view, distance, third-person limited, third-person multiple, third-person unlimited | Category: | Writing tips |
Conspiracy theories aside, that passage is written in third-person point of view. If the style feels familiar, it’s because it’s the most commonly used viewpoint in contemporary fiction.
Third-Person Limited POV
Third-person limited POV allows you to focus on the main character and filter everything through his or her eyes. While that enables you to really understand his or her motivation and actions, you don’t have the same access to other characters. You only know them through the protagonist’s experiences.
Third-Person Multiple (or Unlimited) POV
Third-person multiple POV solves that problem by allowing you to see the story through the eyes of more than one character. If you’re writing a romance novel, you might include the perspectives of the hero and heroine. If you’re writing a cosy murder mystery, you might show the perspectives of the criminal, the victim and the sleuth. In theory, there’s no limit to the number of viewpoints you can have. In practice, it’s better not to overdo it because it splits your reader’s attention across the characters. Whose story is it? Who should you care about? There is no magic number of characters, but Jodie Renner suggests that you still tell most of your story from the protagonist’s POV even when using third-person multiple. She recommends that at least 70% of your story should be from the main character’s viewpoint, or perhaps a 60/40% split if writing romance.
What about Distance?
Another criticism of third-person POV is that it’s a step removed from first-person and therefore more distant. However, you can still achieve a level of intimacy by zooming in on the protagonist and entering deeply into his or her world. Consider the following passage from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Montag, a futuristic fireman who burns books for a living, has been asked if he’s happy. He initially brushes aside the question, but it’s playing on his mind as he enters his apartment.
We see the bedroom as he sees it; not as something warm and welcoming, but as an impenetrable tomb he can’t escape. We’re watching him from close up, feeling his pain. This is third-person point of view at its best.
I’ll give more tips for dealing with this perspective in future posts. For now, can you give any examples of novels in third-person that have worked well or not so well? I’d love to hear your comments.
For Further Reading
Bell, James Scott. (2012). Revision and self-editing for publication: Techniques for transforming your first draft into a novel that sells (2nd ed.). Blue Ash, OH: Writer’s Digest Books. Bradbury, Ray. (1953). Fahrenheit 451 (50th anniversary ed.). New York: Del Ray Books. Renner, Jodie. (2015). Captivate your reader: An editor’s guide to writing compelling fiction. Kelowna, Canada: Cobalt Books.
Comments read 8 comments
The debate of distance and third-person vs first-person PoV is interesting, and worth exploring. Great examples here, Nola, of how third-person can still enable a reader a close-up 'feel what they're feeling' experience. Having written in both, I think I've come to prefer writing third-person over first, though I can't really give a sole reason why. Maybe it's all the 'I's? :) That said, I read a great example of first-person PoV narration recently in Aussie author Skye Melki-Wegner's novel 'Agent Nomad: The Eleventh Hour'.
Thanks for the tip about Agent Nomad. Will have to check it out. I'm reading Book 2 in Marie Lu's Legend series at the moment and she uses dual first-person, which is interesting. I've written short stories in both, but I'm not sure how I'd go writing a whole novel in first person. There are a lot of good tips around about deep point of view and I'm still getting my head around some of that. I might do a post on that at some point. But it's amazing how you can still have that close connection with characters when you use some of those tips for third-person POV. Thanks for your comment, Adele.
Third person multiple POV works well for me as reader in Janette Turner Hospital's Due Preparations for the Plague. From the first word we are plunged into Lowell's world with its sights and sounds, intuitions and mixture of real and imagined awarenesses. Later she takes us into various other people's worlds.
On a much lighter scale, Ashley Hay's A Hundred Small Lessons gives us a lot of deep POV for several third person characters, but at times I think she slips into omniscient author. On the whole, it works though.
Thanks for those examples, Jeanette. I've read 'The Railwayman's Wife' by Ashley Hay, but haven't read that one. I'm doing a post next week on omniscient POV and it is sometimes tricky to work out if an author's using omniscient or if they're head-hopping in third-person. Though a number of authors have melded the two. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to try omniscient for a longer piece. I don't think it's one for the faint-hearted. Thanks for stopping by.
Your next post sounds interesting - and a bit daunting.
I'm a bit daunted by it too - LOL
Hi Nola,
I think the third person POV is my very favourite, maybe because it's so versatile and traditional. It is limited for the reasons you've mentioned. I've tried writing books with 8 or 10 POV changing POV characters, and remember on one occasion in particular, I was instructed to cut them back to 6 or 7 at most :)
Hi Paula - Yes it can be tricky with all those perspectives. On the first draft of my novel, I had 12 POV characters. I clearly didn't know what I was doing when I started! LOL I've cut it back to five, but some would even say that's too many. I agree that the flexibility of third-person is a winner. I've written short stories in first-person, but not sure how I'd go on a full-length novel. Thanks for stopping by.
Comments for this post have closed.