Lorna Izoma
The third-person point of view can be hard to maintain, and unless you write often, it takes a while to sustain it.
Personally, I don’t think there is a shortcut to learning this. All we can do is, practice and practice.
3 Types of Third Person POV.
1. Third-person omniscient point of view.
This narrator knows everything about the story and its characters. This narrator can discuss anyone at any time.
They know everyone's feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Bascically an omniscient narrator.
2. Third-person objective.
This point of view has a neutral narrator that is not particular to any characters’ thoughts or feelings.
The narrator presents the story with an observational tone.
They just explain and describe what is taking place as it takes place.
An example is Lady Whistledown in the Netflix series Bridgerton.
3. Third-person limited omniscient.
This point of view (often called a “close third”) is when a narrator sticks closely to one character but remains in the third-person.
The narrator can stick with one character for the entire story, or switch between different characters for different chapters or sections.
This 'sticking to one person' is made to limit the narrator's perspective and, also to control what the reader knows.
In my terms and a way for you to understand it better;
The 3 types of third-person narrators can be described as: An over-sabi, an aproko, and someone with short-term memory loss😅
I know, quite unprofessional but these help me remember the 3 different types of Third person narrators.
I hope they help you too.
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Now, if you, like me work better with visual examples, this is for you.
Let’s say we want to write about a girl called Fathia using the over-sabi POV which is the 3rd person omniscient.
It would go like this:
Fathia woke up to the sounds of waves crashing against each other, she always loved how the river fought against itself.
Her mother was in the other room waking up her younger brother, Emmanuel, for school but the boy wouldn’t budge as always.
“Fathia,” her mother shouted, “bring me a bowl of water.”
Her mother heard Fathia grumble under her breath as she stood from her bed to bring the water.
She knew Fathia hated touching cold water so early in the morning, but she had to.
We all have to do things we do not like in this world.
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In this scene we just wrote together, Fathia could not see the other room and she did not know what was going on.
But the omniscient or over-sabi narrator knew what was going on in the other room because they knew and saw all.
Now, let's write in the Third-person limited omniscient.
Remember, this is limited omniscient. So, short-term memory.
Here, this narrator only knows the mind of the character they are attached to.
Let us write the previous scene with this narrator:
Fathia woke up to the sounds of waves crashing against each other, she always loved how the river seemed to fight against itself.
She was enjoying the sounds of waves coupled with the early morning sea breeze until she heard her mother call out to her loudly.
“Fathia, bring me a bowl of water.”
"Emmanuel again?" Fathia grumbled to herself.
Emmanuel, her younger brother could never wake up unless he was drenched in cold water.
That boy slept like a log and she was always tasked with the water fetching, which would be used to wake him up.
This annoyed her to bits as she hated to touch cold water, early every morning.
She sluggishly stood from her comfortable bed and went to get a bowl of water from the kitchen drum.
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Here, Fathia’s mother is introduced into the story through Fathia's sense of hearing.
Because, again, this narrator is limited, and has to see the world through the character they are attached to.
Whether it is through a sense of smell, sight, or hearing, all other characters or elements have to be introduced through the attached character.
Remember, your story should be written in a way that your main character is the center.
Always pick one type of third-person narrator per story, and stick to it.
It brings a level of professionalism.
My favorite is the short-term memory loss narrator, as I get to see the story through various characters' eyes.
For the last narrator example, you can watch Bridgerton😁