We All Wanna Hear That Fight Song

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GENERAL TIPS

Now, let's discuss some general ideas to keep in mind when writing in third person limited.

> Use Names

You might be thinking what? No duh I have to use names, but I'm being dead serious. In third person, you might find yourself writing out names of characters more often than when you might be using first person. This is because pronouns get confusing. If there are two girls talking, then which one is 'she'? Remember that your protagonist is also an outside character.

Use names, use different ways to identify people (the taller student, the younger employee, etc.), because even if you know who is who, the readers might not.

> Objectiveness

One of the pros of using third person to storytell is the objectiveness that it grants. First person comes with many biases, which can warp how the reader views the characters, actions, and events of the story.

However, in third person, you want your narrator to be as unbiased as possible. Be objective. Describe things as they are. Sure, sometimes a character's opinion might influence the story, but it shouldn't be too excessive.

> Be Descriptive

I'm sure I've said this only about one million times now, but third person POV is broad. You can talk about anyone, anything, and you can even explain events unrelated and outside of your protagonist's bubble, which you normally can't do in first person.

So be descriptive. You don't have to worry about how a specific may view something because we're in third person. There's so much more for you to describe, you just have to take advantage of it.

You can describe your protagonist's enemy with both distaste and detached neutrality; you can describe minute details of a tree without making your main character seem overdramatic--you just have to do it.

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ADDITIONAL TIPS

> When to Change Perspectives

In third person limited POV, it's common and often necessary to change the character the narrator hovers around. This is because only following the protagonist is, well, quite limited. So, when do we change which character we follow?

Show Events Outside of the Protagonist: If you have part of the cast (such as the antagonist) that's taking action outside of what the MC is aware of, and you want to show what's happening, this is a good time to switch perspectives! ----

Show Different Reactions to the Same Event: Let's say an intense incident just occurred that affected multiple people. Switching perspectives here can be quite useful because it allows you to show how different characters handle and view the same situation. This also helpful because it gives the reader deeper insight to the characters!

> Incorporating Character

I talked about this alone in a separate post, but I'll reiterate it again. Many people believe that third person POV is less interesting because there's "less personality" in its writing compared to first person.

This is mainly due to the standard objectivity that comes with third person, but it doesn't mean you can't include hints of character within your writing outside of dialogue and thoughts.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to word choice and a bit of sentence structure. Different words and phrases have different connotations, and though it seems like a very subtle detail to focus on, it does impact your writing.

Try to use vocabulary that fits the character you're hovering. Vocabulary that they might use.

If you're writing from the perspective of an angrier character, maybe you'll use cruder language during their section. If it's a more dramatic character, perhaps you'll use more theatrical language and flowy sentence structures mixed with choppy ones.

EX:

1. He felt stupidly annoyed at the man's assumptions. 2. He felt irritated at the man's assumptions. 3. He felt fed up with the man's assumptions.

Those three examples all have similar meanings and identical sentence structures. However, you'll notice that there are slightly different connotations per each sentence.

For number one, it sounds like the character is upset that he's so annoyed. This offers the idea that the character feels he shouldn't be as annoyed as he is, quietly hinting that he isn't the type to get ruffled easily or at least, not towards such assumptions.

For number two, the statement is very direct. The character is irritated. He might not be as displeased as number one or three, but he is still annoyed. However, the forwardness of the statement might suggest that he's a pretty straightforward guy who's expresses his emotions frankly.

Lastly, for number three, the character sounds more tired and possibly angry. He's done with the assumptions. It can be assumed that he's the type who's more likely to take action than the other two.

Now, these are really simple examples, but you can see that the word changes do slightly alter the meaning of the sentence and evoke separate emotions based on the character of the perspective's owner.

If the character uses the word "excessively" instead of "very," we might think that the character is more eloquent.

Yes, all of these descriptions technically belong to the narrator, but there's no linear way to write the narrator. In this case, they act like a mirror, reflecting the voice of the character.

CONCLUSION

We're at the end! This was a MUCH larger post than I expected to write, so kudos to anyone who's read more than 50% of this LOL.

All in all, third person POV isn't actually terribly difficult to get the hang of. You'll need some practice, as with anything, but you'll understand it better the more you work on it--with or without my help!

The biggest point is to make sure your pronouns are in check. Don't use "I, me, my or you, yours, you're" unless you're writing dialogue or thoughts!

Hope this has been helpful! Reach out to me for any questions; I'd love to answer them!

Happy writing~