Writing in the Third Person

The key to writing in the third person like a professional is to have a complete understanding of the logic behind 3rd person viewpoint - and you can get that by reading Third Person Narrative Point of View.

Read it? Then I'll be honest: some people have difficulty imagining the narrator of a third person novel as an invisible, godlike witness to the events of the novel. They understand what I'm talking about, kind of, but they still can't quite manage to get their heads around the concept.

And what I advise them to do, if they really can't understand the logic behind writing in the 3rd person pov, is to try to imagine the narrator more as a camera shooting a movie.

Now, this third person narrator-camera is no ordinary camera...

• Ordinary cameras record visual information only, but this one can also record sounds, smells, tastes and textures.

• Oh, and it can hear thoughts and feel feelings, too, or at least the thoughts and feelings of the viewpoint character once it has positioned itself inside their skin.

• And you know how I said that 3rd person narrators must always keep their words neutral and non-opinionated when they are setting the scene? Well, cameras (being machines) have no personality, and so it is impossible for them to inject attitude or commentary into the prose; they merely record whatever is in front of them - which is perfect!

Whether you think of the narrator of a third person novel as a godlike being or a magic camera, or perhaps something else entirely, it really doesn't matter. Whatever works for you is what is best.

But sticking with the camera analogy: the key to mastering writing in the third person point of view is to learn how to control the camera.

How do you control the camera? It's actually very simple, once you know how. And it will truly raise your prose from the amateur to the professional. The method is explained in considerable detail (with a worked example) in the full version of this article, which you will find in the downloadable, 500 page Ultimate Guide to Novel Writing.

Writing in the third person will never seem complicated again!