How to Write Fiction

Point of View - Third Person

THIRD PERSON

Third Person POV is told from an outside perspective on the story. It is not a personal account or retelling of events. It is split into a few different categories (and even more subcategories below these that I'm not going to dive into). It is identified by pronouns like "he", "she", "they", "it", etc.

Third Person Limited

Third Person Limited is exactly how it sounds. It is limited to the perspective of one character. Harry Potter is my favorite example of Third Person Limited. All seven novels are told exclusively from Harry's perspective, but it is not Harry telling the story. Are you ready to have your mind blown? The narrator successfully tells things that Harry isn't supposed to be present for with the use of things like the invisibility cloak and the pensieve.

In a lot of ways, Third Person Limited is like First Person. It has the same constraints as far as your POV character needing to be present during important scenes, but it allows for more objectivity in your reader.

Third Person Multiple

Third Person Multiple is telling the story from a select group of characters. Each chapter is told from the perspective of specific characters. The key to writing this POV well is CONSISTENCY. You must be able to stay behind the specific lens of your designated character throughout an entire scene. When you have two POV characters in one scene, you must be diligent to not shift POV.

My novels, The Bed She Made  and To Be Her First (both on Wattpad), are written in Third Person Multiple.

Third Person Omniscient

Third Person Omniscient is when the narrator assumes an "all-knowing" perspective on the story. Third Person Omniscient knows private thoughts as well as events that take place outside of the current scene. The narrator is able to give and withhold information, bending space and time for dramatic effect. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a good example of Third Person Omniscient POV.

Third Person Omniscient is the most freeing viewpoint to take... IT IS ALSO THE MOST DIFFICULT. It's difficult because there are major holes that authors can trip and fall into. Before we can talk about those holes we need to talk about VOICE.

What is Voice? Voice is the sense of a person behind the narration.

Head-Hopping

Head-Hopping occurs when the narrator switches VOICE from character to character within a scene without effective transitions. The effect is dizzying and annoying.

Most often, the cause of nauseating head-hopping is that an author fluctuates between Third Person Omniscient and Third Person Multiple. Rather than the narrator staying "above" the story in a truly omniscient way, the reader is forced into the heads of each character as they are seeing the story unfold. This would be best explained by example:

Jackson rolled down his window, his narrow eyes scanning the street as he flicked his cigarette butt on the sidewalk. If that stupid brat expects him to wait all day, he's in for a rude surprise. Little Alex's knees were knocking as he watched his father from the safety of the house. Inside the rusty old sedan, his dad lit another cigarette. That wasn't a good sign. Butterflies of fear rippled through the boy's stomach, but he couldn't put off the inevitable forever. He wrenched the front door open and walked out to face his doom.

Let's break that paragraph down, assuming we are trying to tell this story from an omniscient POV:

Jackson rolled down his window, his narrow eyes scanning the street as he flicked his cigarette butt on the sidewalk. This sentence is told from the vantage point of someone who is watching Jackson. This is omniscient.

If that stupid brat expects him to wait all day, he's in for rude surprise. Now, we've switched to Jackson's VOICE. We are inside Jackson's head.

Little Alex's knees were knocking as he watched his father from the safety of the house. Now we are inside the house with Alex.

Inside the rusty old sedan, his dad lit another cigarette. That wasn't a good sign. Now, we've switched to Alex's voice.

Butterflies of fear rippled through the boy's stomach, but he couldn't put off the inevitable forever. He wrenched the front door open and walked out to face his doom. This could be omniscient, but it is so closely tied with the last sentence that it still feels like we are watching from Alex's POV.

THAT IS BAD HEAD-HOPPING. DON'T DO THAT.

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I'm currently reading Watty 2015 winner "Cursed Times, Now What?" by linahanson! I suggest you do the same!