{"id":24150,"date":"2021-05-28T03:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=24150"},"modified":"2021-05-26T04:58:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T11:58:31","slug":"third-person-pov-by-kay-keppler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/28\/third-person-pov-by-kay-keppler\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Person POV by Kay Keppler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Third<\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist, editor, and novelist, Kay Keppler<\/a>, as she shares with us \u201cThird Person POV.” Enjoy! <\/em><\/p>\n

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Most of the books you read today are written in the first-person or third-person point of view.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are style choices that authors make to help readers identify with\u2014or distance themselves from\u2014their characters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The POV you use helps to shape the narrative and frame the story for maximum impact.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Choosing which point of use to employ\u2014and being consistent with it\u2014are challenging.<\/span><\/p>\n

First Person POV: Strength and Intimacy\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

First person is fairly straightforward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you read \u201cLast night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,\u201d<\/strong> Daphne du Maurier puts you directly in her character\u2019s head.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rebecca<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0is a spellbinding story, still powerful today, eighty-two years after it was published. However, that \u201cI\u201d is the only character whose dreams and fears you\u2019ll come to know intimately.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll never learn what another character is thinking or feeling<\/strong>\u2014except through her eyes, in her interpretation of events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And if readers don\u2019t like the character who\u2019s telling the story, if they aren\u2019t sympathetic to her plight, they\u2019ll stop reading.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No author wants that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Third Person POV: Depth and Character<\/b><\/p>\n

Authors who choose to tell their stories in third person often do so precisely so they can present a range of characters more fully. But the third person point of view is trickier to maintain because you have to navigate its facets: third-person omniscient, third-person limited, and deep third-person.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Omniscient third-person<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>POV.<\/b><\/h3>\n

This style puts you, the writer, as the all-seeing, all-knowing storyteller.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You navigate space and time, telling the reader everything s\/he wants to know about everyone in the book, sometimes in the same paragraph.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Limited third-person\u00a0<\/b>(or \u201cclose third\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

In this mode, you stick to one character.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can reveal all that\u2019s in your character\u2019s head, but no one else\u2019s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because you\u2019re an external observer, you know more than s\/he does and can offer commentary on your character.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDeep\u201d third-person.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

This POV style limits you to a single person at a time in which you \u201care\u201d the character: you think and feel and know what your character thinks and feels and knows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, you can include the POVs of other characters in your story, as long as these are developed in separate scenes or chapters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using your chosen POV style consistently adds clarity in your work and helps readers engage with your story. However, each style has some pitfalls you want to avoid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Troubleshooting Third-Person POV\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Omniscient POV<\/i>.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When the narrator can shift from one character\u2019s perspective to the next, revealing everything, you risk giving readers too much, too often.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHead hopping\u201d can disorient readers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s like readership channel surfing\u2014readers can\u2019t figure out where they should settle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Limited third-person.<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Because you\u2019re an observer using the POV of a single character, the only way you can convey any other character\u2019s inner life is by having your POV character interpret someone else\u2019s behavior and thoughts based on what s\/he sees.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the narrator, you can observe something the character misses, like the phone off the hook, or the way someone watches when your character isn\u2019t looking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(In omniscient POV, you can reveal everything, including, for example, what the watching character is thinking and feeling.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Deep third:<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You the narrator are, essentially, the point-of-view character.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You experience events as though you were using first-person POV, but with third-person pronouns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you change scenes, you shift to another character\u2019s POV and experience everything through that character\u2019s lens.<\/span><\/p>\n

When POV Slides\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

The error that most writers make is head hopping\u2014and we\u2019ve all done it\u2014is not holding onto one character\u2019s POV through an entire scene.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adding another character\u2019s reaction or thought is almost an unconscious move.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Make sure that your POV character doesn\u2019t know what another character is thinking or feeling.<\/strong> S\/he can infer it, but that\u2019s as far as it can go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, in deep third, you are your character. If s\/he doesn\u2019t know something, you don\u2019t either.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, you can\u2019t write,<\/strong> \u201cshe didn\u2019t see the killer hiding behind the door.\u201d If she didn\u2019t see it, you can\u2019t bring it up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re writing in limited third, you, as narrator and observer, can notice that there\u2019s blood on that off-the-hook phone or offer an emotional commentary that your character might not see or realize that s\/he\u2019s feeling.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can move in and out of that character\u2019s actual experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

POV Mechanics\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

If you use the omniscient point of view, in which you reveal all about everyone, you probably need to tell the reader what the character is feeling with descriptors such as \u201cshe thought\u201d or \u201che felt.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, if you use limited and deep-third POV, you won\u2019t need these, because you\u2019re in a single character\u2019s POV and every thought or sensation is theirs alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That Said\u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Consistently executing the point of view you want is difficult for all writers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having an outside reader or editor can help point out shifts that might confuse readers.<\/strong> But sometimes writers use these shifts to great effect or with no loss of clarity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nora Roberts<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Toni Morrison<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Kevin Kwan<\/span><\/a>, among many others, have broken the \u201crules\u201d of POV with great success.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the end,<\/strong> all that really matters is that the story works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Want to read more articles like this one Writer\u2019s Fun Zone? <\/span>Subscribe here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/h2>\n

\"On<\/a>Kay Keppler<\/a> is an author Zero Gravity Outcasts<\/a><\/em>, Betting on Hope<\/a><\/em>, Gargoyle: Three Enchanting Romance Novellas<\/a><\/em>, and editor of fiction and nonfiction \u2013Angel\u2019s Kiss<\/a><\/em> and Outsource It<\/em>!<\/p>\n

She lives in northern California. Contact her here at Writer\u2019s Fun Zone in the comments below, or at kaykeppler@yahoo.com<\/a> to ask questions, suggest topics, or if you prefer, complain.<\/p>\n

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More popular articles by Kay Keppler on Writer’s Fun Zone:<\/strong><\/p>\n