All About Writing in Third Person

This was super helpful. I also really appreciate the tone and speed of your videos . Thank you.

Thank you for this :)

I’m going to be writing a book for fun, I may or may not try to publish it but either way I just want to make it :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! My novel used to be third person limited, but I had trouble making the different storylines feel connected. So I changed it slightly to omniscient, but I still delve deep into the character's thoughts at times. I have honestly never thought about putting a third-person POV novel in present tense. I really liked the excerpt you read, and I wonder if my novel would be easier to read in present tense. It has many sections where a character will remember something, but it gets annoying to write the word "had" over and over again when you're trying to convey that something happened in the distant past. I'll give it a go and see how I like present tense.

With regards to head hopping, I dont see how the example you gave is any more confusing than Dune's.

I had o stop listening to this. Pity though. The music was annoying and I would have to really concentrate detracting from the message.

The true masterpiece of switching perspectives is Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. A million times superior to JRR Martin.

My focus is usually very psychological. Head hopping has become essential for my writing style.

I've just employed a writing coach who has told me not to switch between third person limited and third person omniscient. This completely messes up my whole writing style and my entire, 113k word novel. Watching this, I don't think I've done anything wrong!

Thank you thank you for doing a whole video on 3rd person, including Omniscient! This is the deepest dive I’ve seen on the subject. I’m always begging creators to go into the differences

As always, an excellent video. I just love them.

dolphin narration got me intrigued

Thank you!! I had searched in several places but only your video helped me! I will use third person omniscient to narrate my book! (๑˃̵　ᴗ　˂̵)و

Thank you for this one. Really well done.

Very useful video. Thank you for sharing.

You should check out "Heart of the Country" by Greg Matthews. I was blown away by this amazing novel.

I needed some direct advice and examples. fortunetly found your video. it was a masterclass in third person pov and im so glad you covered tenses as well. All this had been immmensely confusing for me as a beginner 2 years ago when I started working on my novel. Wish I watched this sooner. Either way, Thank you a great deal in helping me figure this out!

Six ads... Wtf

Teacher, I've got another question that I couldn't find anywhere. I hope you will be able to help me.

For exemple...
If the readers already know a character called ADAM. Because ADAM appeared in the first chapter.
But in the fourth chapter, we anchor the chapter in a character called LILY.
In the middle of the fourth chapter, ADAM appears.
But LILY doesn't know him. Only the readers.

Is it ok to specify the name ADAM in a paragraph or in a dialogue before LILY learns his name?

Adam had a smile on his face.
or
"Hi", said Adam.



Or LILY must first learn the name and then we can use it?

I hope it wasn't too confusing. 😅
Thanks again.

is it ok to write your novel in different points of view, can you mix the chapters between 1st and third person ? i mean make some chapters 1st person and others 3rd person.

Love you for all the content you put out.

I love the fact that you use books I've actually read as examples. Easy answer for me, H2G2, as I know the dolphins quote off by heart. Far too many YT channels only focus on American literature.

From Indonesia, love your channel it's help a lot

i'm thankful for this explanation, because i found harry potter interesting in narrative tone
and it helps me be able to write mine too! thank you:)

Keep strong. Dont forget that despite the evil in this world, God is full of justice, mercy and love.

Justice said we broke His perfect law - causing the world's previous perfection to be destroyed - and therefore we deserve Hell (like a punishment in any legal system but this is eternal as His perfect law is eternal too). Don't think you fit in that category? Ever done one of these?: lying, stealing - regardless of how small the object EVER, hating others - which is murder in God's perfect law, lusting (plus God sees our entire thought life). Justice says "the soul that sins shall die" - if we break one in thought/word/deed it's as if we're guilty of all of them. Quite simply, living by the law (which is doing everything perfectly) is impossible for sinful humans

. The law shows us that 1. We will die in Hell if we fail to follow it and 2. We cannot save ourselves BUT, 3. God's perfect, immovable law points us to Christ, who followed and fulfilled the law in thought, word and deed perfectly in our place. He did what we couldn't and did it on our behalf. He was then sentenced to death on a cross, and took our personal punishment for our sin, paying our penalty (like paying our fine) completely FOR us, and has given us freedom.

If we turn from the sins we have committed and repent (pursue the opposite direction of love through Christ) He will, overtime, recreate us into His image through The Holy Spirit which Jesus sends to all who accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior of their life. We cannot purify ourselves, but Christ lived that perfect sinless, pure life and then allotted it to our "account".

That's where our righteousness comes from. Not from any good, works that you or I could do.
It is not based on the amount of good works we do. God starts the changes, He carries it on, and He completes it in those who let Him.

It's about letting Christ in to guide and teach you and obeying Him, again, through His power and instruction).

He is our substitute in His life, death and resurrection. He essentially rewrote history in our place so that, if you believe in Him, it will be as if YOU had never sinned if you accept Christ's death as our own in our place.

He is in Heaven right now preparing a place for us so that He can take His faithful, believing children home with Him when He returns. He will ressurrect us from death when He returns, giving mercy to those who accept His love, forgiveness, instruction and teachings in their life, and give justice to those who refuse it.

He doesn't want ANY of us to go to Hell and die for continuing in evil and rejecting His way to life, thats why He died FOR us. Hes giving EVERYONE a chance, He wants everyone to take the free gift of salvation from Hell. He wants us to be His and begin to follow His life of love and service through His power and abiding (staying) with Him. So long as we keep our hearts near to Christ through His strength, strive to follow His will of perfect love revealed in the Bible, and let Him lead in the midst of (very certain) pitfalls and struggles, we will, in time, win the ultimate victory over sin, pain and DEATH through Christ. Even if you are willing to be made willing, pray for Jesus to come in and He will do what we can't. Give us The Holy Spirit who will guide us in the right way.

NOTE: You are NEVER too sinful or messed up that God cannot turn your life around through Jesus. EVER
If you have any questions let me know

A “Stark difference.” I see what you did there😎

Horse & Lincoln Highway

Hye Diane, thanks so much for your videos! Is there any way you plan to delve into the topic of focalisation vs perspective?

I tried to write in second person omniscient, but you don't know everything.

Love the Video. Pity I can't switch between first and third person limited from one chapter to another. Multiple POV in my current project. Oh, by the way anyone interested in beta reading or editing an adult Fantasy novel about women's rights and freedom? I've got one brewing about a witch fleeing inquisition....

I play your videos to Snatch me back to reality…😌…do not ever not make a video 😊🤓

Let's try it by ourselves guys, You can reply me with your self made Short Example, okay? Go...

The lamp hanging outside the ancient chinese temple is glowing in a way that can surely melt or ignite the chance many students are missing at the very moment, Nevor walks out with the sharp Silver Blade hiding under his Nightgown for his Extra practice, Yes, He knew that He's the weakest Students under Head Monk but He will do anything to make himself stronger by years of training.

With the striking metal slashing the air in two halves, He slide above the tip of the blade straight on the moon giving him a perfect ambitious reflection on his Sleepy but Desiring Eyes.

"Who's there!" The voice of a guy startle him as he tries to hide but unfortunately with the next wrong unbalance shift, he fell on the ground with the loud thud, and guess what...He groan in pain and embarrassment.

LOL...I HAVE TO STAP....

WHAT AM I WRITING....BUT okay but you can surely make your own stupid or great story things on the comments, it's fun actually 😊😂

Will look for something similar

The background music cured my writer's block

i feel like rick riordan does a good job in executing the multiple third person pov thing in his heroes of olympus series, it's usually not too many perspectives, mainly around 4 or 5 per book-

Third-person can come with the immersion of inhabiting someone's head, you just have to know how to use it properly! Free indirect speech is one way to almost have your cake and eat it too, allowing for direct insight into a character's head as found more in first-person but not being bound to this more limited perspective. It can even blur the lines between narrator and character voice which can immerse you in the characters head without drawing explicit attention to it all the time such as through the use of italicised thoughts - though these remain a perfectly valid technique depending on the stylistic intent of the author.

Head-hopping meanwhile, whilst it is undoubtedly a tricky technique to pull off, can be very effective in providing a wide array of viewpoints across an expansive story without having to be completely tied to a more direct POV all the time, even if there is still a main POV anchoring the story. Dostoevsky is probably one of the masters of this technique, known as polyphony, and his novels are some of the greatest works of literature, so I think this is a technique worth considering for any prospective author, all depending on what type of story they are intending to tell of course. Whether it is 'in fashion' or not should not be a consideration whatsoever for telling the best story you can.

Thanks for the class! Your lessons are really helping me! I have a doubt that I can't find anywhere. In Third-person limited omniscient, we have a anchor in one character per time, right? To avoid head-jumping I decided to anchor each chapter in just one character. So imagine that I decided to anchor the first chapter in a character named Adam. In this chapter I'm able to describe the feelings and thoughts of this character, but no one else. The question is, am I restricted to describe only things that he sees? For exemplo, I can't describe something that is happening behind his back and he can't see. Or describe a room before he enters. Is that how it works? Thanks for the help!

I saw would u did there😎

He watches this video years after it was posted, finds it incredibly useful and inspiring, and knows at once that he will be watching it again for years to come.

Excellent production. You obviously know your craft and explain it well. HOW would you relate the 3rd Person Limited or Omniscient past tense—regarding quoting characters in their “real time?” Thank you!

Third person, past tense is the best in my opinion 😌

Children of Time is a wonder book, kind of like Dune, to read to get a different flavor of storytelling. Without any REAL spoilers, there's a non-human, non-verbal POV character(s) and I L-O-V-E those chapters.

Also, remember that one Brienne chapter end with Biter? That is the gold standard, for me, on how to bring someone into a visceral situation, even in 3P.

I'm a new writer. I needed this.

this was a fantastic listen! thank you very much.

I couldn't stand reading Dune exactly because of the head hopping 👎

I find that thrid person is easier for me

"The Religion"- Timothy Willocks