When I think about what POV a book is in, this is usually the one that comes to mind. Even though I write primarily in First Person, this is always the POV I think of. Third Person Limited is what some of the most popular books of our time are written in, and many of my favorite books are written in Third Person Limited.
The Harry Potter series is written in Third Person Limited, as is the Eragon series (which are some of my favorite books). This POV is popular across all genres and age levels, from Middle Grade Fantasy to YA Sci-fi to Adult Romance. While First Person POV is popular in primarily YA novels, Third Person Limited is a good choice for any story.
(If you want to read my post on First Person POV, you can find it here.)
What Is Third Person Limited?
Before I dive into my tips and tricks, let’s go over what Third Person Limited is and isn’t.
Third Person is seeing the story like you would a movie, as an outside viewer, while with First Person you see the story as if you are the POV character. Third Person doesn’t use “I” tags, it uses character names, or “him” “her” “it” etc.
Third Person Limited shows the story the way the Main Character would see it, except you aren’t seeing it through their eyes. You know their thoughts, and their thoughts alone. With Third Person Omniscient, you know the thoughts of all the characters, and you see the story from a sort of god-like perspective. With Third Person Limited, it’s like you are a camera following around the Main Character, seeing the story from their POV, and also hearing all their thoughts.
In Harry Potter, you see the story from Harry’s perspective, you know his thoughts about things, but you don’t see it through his eyes.
This type of writing is very movie-like.
Tip #1: Thoughts and Head-Hopping
When it comes to Third Person Limited and thoughts, you have to be careful not to stray into Omniscient territory. If you aren’t careful to keep inside your main character’s head, you may slip and let in some other character’s thoughts, which is called head-hopping, and leaves readers wondering why we suddenly are seeing the story through his eyes, and not hers.
Now, head-hopping shouldn’t be confused with multiple POV. Head-hopping is where you suddenly and without warning jump into another character’s mind for little reason. Multiple POVs are where you have more than one character who we know the thoughts of, and they are usually rotated through in an orderly fashion, with scene or chapter breaks between jumps.
I have read a few good books that head-hop (The How To Train Your Dragon book series does this well, however it is a very particular type of story telling that isn’t quite Third Person Limited or Omniscient), but head-hopping is something to avoid, so you must be careful how you write multiple POVs.
Also, coming back to thoughts, you should be careful that the thoughts are that of your main character and not of a narrator, because in Third Person Limited the Main Character is the narrator, rather than having an all seeing god-like person seeing and narrating the story.
Tip #2: World View
With First Person POV, everything is seen through a characters eyes. With Third Person Limited, the story is experienced as if you are watching the characters, so you can possibly do more with description than you could with First Person. With First Person, you only see what a character sees, with Third Person Limited, you can see things the character doesn’t.
You can describe things in a more in depth way, with less personal opinion involved. However, a character’s thoughts can add to a description of a setting or person. A camera behind you may see more than you do.
But, because this isn’t Third Person Omniscient, you have to be careful to not show things outside of a character’s realm or perspective. This can be tricky, but let’s simplify it for a second. You wouldn’t show something half way across the world from your character, you show what is near your character. Keep that in mind as you describe things, or hint at plot developments, which brings me to my last point.
Tip #3: Foreshadowing
Now, I’ve never been the absolute greatest with foreshadowing, but let me tell you who is. Author of the Green Ember series, S. D. Smith, is amazing at foreshadowing, especially in his latest book, Ember Rising. These books are absolutely amazing, and I recommend reading them for learning about foreshadowing really well. (I just really love these books and these rabbits okay? It’s all amazing.) (And don’t dismiss it for a children’s book, because it’s really amazingly written and is so well thought out I can’t even begin to comprehend how long it took him to plot it all out.)
Now, let’s actually talk about foreshadowing in Third Person Limited (which is actually what the Green Ember series is written in). Foreshadowing is all about knowing your story before you start it, and wording things really carefully.
Foreshadowing in Third Person Limited, like any other POV, is very tricky, but it can also be very well done. By just changing one word, so that you describe something and also hint at another thing, you can foreshadow things almost under a readers’ nose. However, you must be careful to make it stand out just a teeny bit, but also not proclaim the whole rest of the plot. This is a very hard skill to learn, but it’s easier in Third Person POV than it is in First Person POV. You can just drop a tiny hint offhandedly, and there you go.
My tip for you is to know your story, your characters, and the way your Main Character perceives things very well, and be conscious of how you word things. (Or maybe you’ll just get luck and accidentally foreshadow things you didn’t know you were gonna do.)
How your character perceives things is very important. You must master their way of thinking, their way of speaking, and how they see things, and then you can manipulate them to your will.
You must also be careful to keep your readers slightly in the dark, to keep tensions up, and to drop hints that will only amp up their feelings of impending doom. Only give half a hint, only give a part of the answer, and then in the climax, let everything some together, and reveal what the whole hint is, have your reader and your character discover the whole answer. Don’t give anything in wholes, not right away, but be careful not to make holes. All of it is a very trick business, and each writer has to learn a lot of it for themselves, but remember, don’t give away the whole answer, only give half.
Present Tense Vs. Past Tense
Now it’s time to talk about Present Tense and Past Tense for Third Person Limited.
Both work well for Third Person Limited. Present Tense can amp the tension up, while Past Tense may feel more natural. You will, most likely, see more Third Person Limited stories in Past Tense, but there is nothing wrong with writing in Present Tense.
Past Tense
Past Tense is what you’ll most likely think of when it comes to tense. It makes it appear as if the story has already happened, that it’s in the past, and that you are just telling the story, or the main character is telling it.
This is generally a safe choice, when it comes to writing Third Person, or any other POV style. I can’t find any downsides to writing in Past Tense with Third Person Limited, so it’s a safe bet if you aren’t sure you want to delve into Present Tense, or if you aren’t sure what tense fits your story best.
Present Tense
Present Tense can be hard to do well, and if it isn’t done well it can be jarring, but after a while it can become just as natural and well done as Past Tense. This can be used to up the tension in your story, make it feel more urgent, like a ticking bomb. This tense works best with story that have lots of action or are extremely fast paced. Other wise, it could make your story appear extremely slow.
Tense really just depends what type of story you are writing, and what you feel fits your story best. Trust yourself, when it comes to your story. It’s your story, and you know it best.
What do you think about Present vs Past Tense for Third Person Omniscient?
What are some of your favorite stories that are written in Third Person Omniscient? What do you think the author did well?
Thanks for reading, and comment down below!
Write Tricks 