Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Third Person Limited POV, Sometimes tricky

Fiction writing today, more than ever before is supposed to be written in third person limited POV. I've always liked third person. But I had been accustomed to third person omniscient, which is what authors used historically. But in today's fiction, it's third person limited. And it took some getting used to. The thing that makes third person limited different is that each scene is to be written in the perspective of only one character. And only what that character knows is what the reader knows in that scene. So you wouldn't describe that character's face, meaning you wouldn't write, "...his face twisted..." or "...his eyes turned wild..." because, unless that character is looking in a mirror at that moment, he wouldn't be seeing his own face twisting, or his own eyes turning wild.

You can say, however, what he was feeling or what facial movements he might be making, like, "...he was shocked..." or "...he narrowed his eyes..." which doesn't stray from the third person limited standard. But just as importantly, you wouldn't write what another character in that scene is feeling, because your character would have to be a mind reader for that. But you can write how another character's face is moving, because your POV character can see that other person's face moving, e.g.: "...his face twisted..." or "...his eyes turned wild..."

Nor can you use any kind of info dump for a character who is not the POV character. If you want to do that, then you must change the scene and establish the other character as your POV character, and then you're ready to roll in that regard. It took me a while to really get a handle on all of that, and there's a lot more to it, too. But I've got a full understanding of it now. And my writing is tons better as a result.

No comments:

Post a Comment