A third person omniscient narrator can tell us the killer is lurking in the shadows while describing how blissfully unaware another character is. Suspense! - If you’re looking to build suspense, sometimes the best way to do it is by letting your reader know what’s on the other side of the door, even when your protagonist doesn’t. Authorial narrators are especially common in classic works, where it feels as if you get to know the writer themselves through their narration. This is like writing yourself into a novel, but in a way that won’t make people mad. The author as a narrator - When your narrator isn’t a pseudo-character, they can use your authorial voice as their own. Whether your narrator is somber, serious, or hilarious, some omniscient narrators are the most beloved parts of their stories. This can add extra depth, flair, and personality to your story. The narrator becomes a character - As mentioned at the end of the last section, a third-person omniscient narrator almost becomes a character themselves. So, with that in mind, here’s why you might want to use a third-person omniscient point of view. What would it be like if the author had chosen a different perspective? It might still be awesome, but it would be a completely different story, right? I opened this article with a bold statement: determining your POV is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your story. Third-person omniscient provides a bigger scope than other POVs. With that said, let’s look at why you’d want to use third-person omniscient POV. We’ll chat about this more when we cover how to use third-person omniscient POV, but know that this kind of narrator develops their own voice, quirks, and sometimes even flaws. Smash them both together and you get third-person omniscient narration: a detached, non-character narrator who can tell your reader what’s happening behind closed doors, in multiple character’s heads, and interject some information your characters don’t know yet (how suspenseful!).īefore we go on, it’s important to note that, though a third-person omniscient narrator isn’t a character in the story, they almost become a character themselves. This is the opposite of third-person limited point of view, where the narrator is confined to a single character at a time, usually the main character. This might mean they know everything or can know everything that is going on in the story, or they just know more than what any one character knows. Omniscient means the narrator is not limited to a single character’s perspective at any given time. They’re detached from the events of the tale, providing more breadth for their narration than first-person perspectives. Third-person POV is a narration style where the narrator isn’t a character in the story. Let’s break down “third-person omniscient” into its two parts. How to write in third-person omniscientīy the time we’re done, you’ll be as all-knowing as the omniscient narrator you’re writing.Once you’ve got the feel for them, I’m going to cover why third-person omniscient might work for your story. It will give you a nice primer on all the POVs. If you haven’t checked it out yet, click here to read our article on point of view. One of those points of view is third-person omniscient, a type of third-person narration that grants you a bigger scope to play with than any other POV. It might seem like a simple thing or maybe one that you decided without much thinking, but your POV can really make or break your story. Determining your novel’s point of view (POV) is one of the most important decisions you, as an author, will have to make.
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