{"id":2133,"date":"2016-09-04T00:17:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T00:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/index.php\/2016\/09\/04\/point-of-view-3rd-person\/"},"modified":"2023-06-15T17:50:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T17:50:25","slug":"point-of-view-3rd-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/2016\/09\/04\/point-of-view-3rd-person\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd person Point of View (3rd POV)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a work of fiction or creative nonfiction, one of the choices for the narrator’s point of view (POV) is called “third person.<\/strong>” For this POV, the narrator is not present in the story but rather outside<\/strong> of the story and relaying it to the reader. When a story is written in 3rd person, you will note the pronouns of he, she<\/em>, and they<\/em> in the descriptions of the characters’ actions. Any mention of “I”<\/em> or “we”<\/em> will only be within the quotations.<\/p>\n

The 3rd person POV can be limited<\/strong> or omniscient<\/strong>. It is helpful to study the “extremes” in both of these categories.<\/p>\n

One extreme of 3rd person limited is the intimate 3rd person<\/strong> where the author tells the story while holding back information, only revealing what is necessary for a scene to proceed and the plot to thicken. When a character enters a scene, or is “on stage” so to speak, the narration takes on the voice quality and inner dialogue of the character who “rules” that scene. Sometimes this type is called intimate 3rd person. The imaginary storyteller has no voice of his own, but rather describes actions objectively, and when it is necessary, shares what a character is thinking or feeling. This will be done with the colloquial expressions common to that said character.<\/p>\n

Let’s make an example of intimate 3rd person on the spot. I will write about a man named Mark who is visiting a favorite vacation spot of his. I have to imagine what kind of thoughts, feelings and word choices he would make:<\/p>\n

Mark stood in front of a shoe repair shop located at the intersection where the fish market used to be. How disgusting! Where was Randy’s Bait and Tackle? A tanned couple in their cotton shirts and shorts passed him, sipping on their coffees, so he stepped out of their way. Farther down the block, new four-story condos of coral-painted stucco glared back at him. Even the street name had changed. Shoreline Drive? What moron thought up that innocuous name?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note how this POV reveals Mark’s opinion about the area and how it has changed. It doesn’t explain how or when the neighborhood changed; it gives no information beyond what Mark can discover in that moment standing on the street. Also, the word choice is not mine (the author’s), but rather words that I imagine Mark might use in his disgust (moron, innocuous<\/em>). I’ve never used those two words in my life, but I imagine Mark does. Also, note what is missing. There are no literary elements like similes or metaphors. Why not? Because Mark doesn’t think in smilies and metaphors.<\/p>\n

Authors in your favorite books who use the intimate 3rd person never<\/strong> need to write, “He thought…,” “He saw…” “He noted…”<\/em> It’s like the author hovers near the character, listens in on the character’s thoughts, and reports it back in 3rd person phrasing.<\/p>\n

\n
See Sense of Direction, a story about my son’s first days living as an expatriate in Mongolia. Will he make it in this strange new location? Watch for the intimate 3rd person narration-slash-point of view, a technique fiction writers used for this creative piece of nonfiction.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

(See the book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers<\/em>, by R. Browne, and D. King for a more detailed explanation of 3rd person as well as a jump start on your fiction writing style.<\/p>\n

Another helpful website:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/grammar.about.com\/od\/tz\/g\/thirdpersonpovterm.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Back to Writing Tips<\/a>
\nGo on to Writing in 3rd Person: a Continuum<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a work of fiction or creative nonfiction, one of the choices for the narrator’s point of view (POV) is called “third person.” For this POV, the narrator is not present in the story but rather outside of the story and relaying it to the reader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[40,107],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2133"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2868,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions\/2868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldsobright.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}