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Third Person Point Of View :

Third person Point Of View :

It means that here the author is telling a story that happened to someone else. The author doesn’t become the voice of character like a first person POV. He is narrating the action that he has not experienced himself. Each and every character is referred to as "he", "she", "it", or "they". The narrator doesn’t use  "I" , "we" or "you" . The one who is telling a story is never identified. Readers  understand that there is somebody who can relate all that happened without ever being involved in it. That means the narrator is an uninvolved person who is just conveying the story and he/she is not any character within the book.

For example,

All at once she felt a tremor under her feet, as if the ground was shaking beneath her. 

Third person point of view may be omniscient or limited. We will discuss it other time.

 Often beginners feel most comfortable with first person but third person allows more freedom. Let’s see how.

Differences between First Person POV and Third Person POV:

You can either keep third person POV to just one person, selecting to tell the story through the eyes of just one character (like a first person POV)Or You may select to choose more than one characters. My book ‘In Honour Of the Heart’ has more than one POV and I rotate it according to situations.

There are some issues to be discussed here.

The most important one is that in the third person,  the writer can tell readers about everyone's secret thoughts. He can also describe actions which main character doesn’t know about .

It’s just a common understanding that when I am narrating a story in the first person, I may forget that I am writing the book and may confuse myself with the character. I may become little biased here. Perhaps I might concentrate more on the good traits of character and don’t mention the weaknesses.

If I am using the third person, it would be as if someone who knows me is telling readers  about me. Then he/she may include my positive and negative qualities and give you the accurate picture of my personality!

Let’s see it by examples.

If I am writing in first person, I may become my character Isabelle(as there is a thin line between two). In this case, what readers receive may be a glorified version  that works to make the viewpoint character look good

I may describe her  like this.

I inspected myself in the photographs. Even after childbirth, I had not gained too much weight. Whatever I  had put on during pregnancy was lost within one year. 

How vain this sounds!

However, if I am writing in third person, I may be more honest.

She inspected herself in the photographs. She was never a much of foodie and she had not gained too much weight. Whatever she had put on during pregnancy was lost within one year. 

She did not look like a mother of five year old child because she kept a vigil on her food now days. But despite all care, few of her dresses didn't fit.  She had to think about making yoga a routine like her mom.

People said women had the tendency to gain few kilos in late thirties. Isabelle didn't want that.

Of course, this is just my point of view. And your views may differ from this!

Another issue is if you are using the first person, you have to find ways to have your viewpoint character be present in every major scene. I feel it’s a big challenge. As you are narrating the story from the viewpoint of that character, you can’t afford to lose it. Because you don’t have an option of presenting story from the viewpoint of other characters.

So the third person POV can be less confining compared to first person POV.

In third person POV, freedom to switch POV and keeping a little distance from the storytelling gives  much required space to a story. Here, the narrator becomes like a movie camera, taking in the wide sweep of history, Capturing many things at one time. It is not a just single voice talking to readers.

First person might be a limiting way to approach the story. .

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Let me repeat myself again that I am not a professional writer. There are various views and different opinions on this topic and I don’t claim to know it all.

I hope this was useful. Please come forward . If  you like what I am doing here, do vote, comment and spread the word. It must reach those who want to write.

Big thanks to all of you who are reading. I appreciate your support.